Ransom! (1956)

Leslie Nielsen: Charlie Telfer

Photos 

Quotes 

• Police Chief Jim Backett : You could pay the ransom, and get your boy back, or you could not pay and not get him back.

  Charlie Telfer : Or you could refuse to pay, and lose. Or you could refuse to pay, and you still get him back. You see, Stannard, the odds are still 2 to 1 in your favor.

  David G. Stannard : You mean my paying the ransom won't affect the odds of my getting him back at all? Then why pay? Why do people pay?

  Police Chief Jim Backett : It'd be easier for police if nobody did.

  David G. Stannard : What do you mean?

  Charlie Telfer : No ransom, no kidnapping racket, no profit margin.

• [first lines] 

  Charlie Telfer : [voice over as the camera pans down an upscale tree-lined suburban street]  Millions of people are named Stannard. Used to be just the name of a vacuum cleaner. But just a few months ago, it suddenly became more than that. To people all over the country, it became... a man... and his family. A man who lived here in this house. One of the most beautiful houses in town. A man with a wife and an eight year old boy, and a warm family life.

• Mrs. Partridge : [to the Stannards, deflecting any blame]  I am the first victim in this!

  Charlie Telfer : Now I've heard everything.

  Mrs. Partridge : [to the Stannards]  Who is this man?

  Charlie Telfer : Jack the Ripper. Times Chronicle.

• David G. Stannard : Hot or cold, I have to press on like my son's still alive. That's the barrel they have me over. They don't have to trust me. I have to trust them.

  Charlie Telfer : Exactly. Trick, or treat.

• Charlie Telfer : That's right. Trick or treat.