DVD cover

Ronin is a 1998 film which tells the story of a group of former intelligence agents who team up to steal a mysterious metal case. It stars Robert De Niro, Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone, Stellan Skarsgård, Sean Bean, Skipp Sudduth, and Katarina Witt. http://images. ... http://images. ... 1998 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... This article is about the plot device; a MacGuffin is also a block cipher named after the plot device. ... Robert De Niro Robert De Niro, Jr. ... Jean Reno Jean Reno as Léon Jean Reno (born Don Juan Moreno y Jederique Jimenez, July 30, 1948 in Casablanca, Morocco) is a French actor. ... Natascha Taylor (born March 23, 1971 in Hampstead, London, England) is a British television and movie actress. ... Stellan SkarsgÃ¥rd  listen? (born June 13, 1951, Gothenburg, Sweden) is a Swedish actor and father of Alexander SkarsgÃ¥rd and Gustaf SkarsgÃ¥rd. ... Sean Bean Shaun Mark Bean (born April 17, 1959) is a British actor from Sheffield, Yorkshire. ... Skipp Sudduth Robert Lee Sudduth IV (b. ... Katarina Witt is a German figure skater. ...

The movie was written by J.D. Zeik and David Mamet, and directed by John Frankenheimer. David Mamet served as a script doctor on the screenplay, being billed as "Richard Wiesz". The Writers' Guild refused to allow him to get top billing for the writing credit, so he refused to allow his real name to be used. David Alan Mamet (born November 30, 1947) is an American playwright, screenwriter, director and poet born in Flossmoor, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois. ... John Michael Frankenheimer (February 19, 1930 – July 6, 2002) was an American film director. ... The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is the collective bargaining representative, or labor union, for writers in the motion picture and television industries. ...

The title is derived from the Japanese term ronin, used for samurai who had no master; some of the characters in the movie are unemployed agents set adrift by the end of the Cold War. The movie also makes a lengthy reference to the classic Japanese story, the 47 Ronin. Graves of 47 Ronin at Sengakuji A ronin (Japanese: rōnin 浪人: literally, wave man - one who is tossed about, like a wave in the sea) was a masterless samurai during the feudal period of Japan that lasted from 1185 to 1868. ... Japanese samurai in armour, 1860 photograph. ... The Cold War was the open yet restricted rivalry that developed after World War II between the United States and its allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. ... Incense burns at the burial graves of the 47 Ronin at Sengakuji. ...

It is notable for a number of fine car chase scenes, the last being a particularly fantastic and lengthy one through the streets and tunnels of Paris; some scenes utilized up to 150 stunt drivers. Excellent car work has been a specialty of Frankenheimer, a former racing driver, ever since his 1966 classic, Grand Prix. Although action sequences are often shot by a second unit director, Frankenheimer did all these himself. While he was aware of the many innovations in digital special effects since then, he elected to film all these sequences live, to obtain the maximum level of authenticity. To further this, many of the high-speed shots have the actual actors in the cars: Sudduth did nearly all of his own driving - crashes were handled by a stuntman. In movies and television a car chase is a scene involving one or more automobiles being pursued by other vehicles. ... The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... 1966 was a common year starting on Saturday (link goes to calendar) // Events January January 1 - In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa ousts president David Dacko and takes over the Central African Republic. ... Grand Prix is a action film released in 1966. ... Special effects (abbreviated SPFX or SFX) are used in the film, television, and entertainment industry to create effects that cannot be achieved by normal means, such as depicting travel to other star systems. ...

The contents of the metal case are never revealed (see MacGuffin). Mamet has written that he believes revealing such details can be anticlimactic, that a director is wiser to allow the audience's imagination to answer the question. This is a technique Mamet has used repeatedly in his films. This article is about the plot device; a MacGuffin is also a block cipher named after the plot device. ...

Ron Jeremy has a bit role, credited as Hyatt. However, scenes involving him were eventually cut by the studio. Ron Jeremy Ronald Jeremy Hyatt (born March 12, 1953), better known by the stage name Ron Jeremy, is a well-known American porn star and director. ...

A footnote to this film about former intelligence agents is that it is the first (and as of 2005, only) film to feature three actors that were former villians in a James Bond film: James Bond, also known as 007 (pronounced double-oh seven), is a fictional British spy introduced by writer Ian Fleming in 1953. ...

• Michael Lonsdale (Jean-Pierre) played Hugo Drax in Moonraker.
• Sean Bean (Spence) played Alec Trevelyan in GoldenEye.
• Jonathan Pryce (Seamus O'Rourke) played Elliot Carver in Tomorrow Never Dies

Another interesting note is that in the James Bond video game Nightfire, one of the weapons is the "Ronin 2.0", a miniature machine gun turret that is hidden inside a metal briefcase. This weapon is probably a reference to the Ronin movie. A 2002 Penguin Books paperback edition Moonraker is the third James Bond novel written by Ian Fleming. ... Sean Bean Shaun Mark Bean (born April 17, 1959) is a British actor from Sheffield, Yorkshire. ... GoldenEye is the seventeenth James Bond film and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as Ian Flemings British secret service agent, James Bond. ... Jonathan Pryce (b. ... This article is about the film Tomorrow Never Dies for the video game see Tomorrow Never Dies (video game) Tomorrow Never Dies is the eighteenth James Bond film made by EON Productions, and the second to star Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. ... Nightfire is a first-person shooter video game based on Ian Flemings British secret agent James Bond. ...

External links

• Ronin at the Internet Movie Database