December 14, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Gus Van Sant
Culture Representation: Taking place in 1977, primarily in Indianapolis, the comedy/drama film “Dead Man’s Wire” (based on true events) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans and one Asian person) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: Disgruntled property owner Anthony “Tony” Kiritsis takes a mortgage broker hostage because he blames the banker’s family-owned company for ruining his life.
Culture Audience: “Dead Man’s Wire” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, filmmaker Gus Van Sant, and true crime stories about desperate hostage takers.
Although it’s not as compelling as “Dog Day Afternoon,” the darkly comedic drama “Dead Man’s Wire” is also a taut and suspense-filled portrayal of a 1970s desperate hostage taker who wants a big ransom and is angry at society. Bill Skarsgård gives a memorable performance as Anthony “Tony” Kiritsis, the disgruntled hostage taker who believes he is also making a statement about the common man fighting against a corrupt system.
Written and directed by Gus Van Sant, “Dead Man’s Wire” is based on real events, with a screenplay adapted from the 2018 documentary “Dead Man’s Line,” directed by Alan Berry. “Dead Man’s Wire” had its world premiere at the 2025 Venice International Film Festival and its North American premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. The movie’s story takes place primarily in Indianapolis, in 1977. “Dead Man’s Wire” was actually filmed in Louisville, Kentucky. For the purposes of this review, the real people will be referred to by their last names, while characters in the movie will be referred to by their first names.
“Dead Man’s Wire” begins on February 8, 1977, by showing Tony (who was born and raised in Indianapolis) walking into the Indianapolis office of Meridian Mortgage. Tony is carrying a long, rectangular box, which viewers will later see contains a shotgun. Tony demands to see the company owner M.L. Hall (played by Al Pacino), who isn’t at this office but is on vacation in Miami. Instead, M.L.’s son Richard “Dick” Hall (played by Dacre Montgomery) comes out in the lobby to talk to an agitated Tony.
Tony, who is a bachelor who lives alone, accuses Dick and M.L. of conspiring to steer potential investors away from Tony’s 17-acre property in Speedway, Indiana. He wants to develop this property into a lucrative shopping center. Tony took out a loan from Meridian Mortgage to buy this property. He is now heavily in mortgage debt for the property. He can’t pay off this debt and is on the verge of financial ruin.
Tony believes that M.L. and Dick want the property for themselves, which is why he thinks this father and son have sabotaged Tony’s ability to pay the mortgage, which could result in Meridian Mortgage seizing ownership of the property if Tony defaults on the mortgage. Dick denies Tony’s accusations. Tony has missed the final deadline to pay the mortgage. And he’s about to take drastic measures to keep his property and get millions of dollars.
To the shock of people in the office, Tony takes out a wired shotgun from the box and holds it to Dick’s head. He tells anyone who’ll listen that if Dick tries to escape or if anyone attacks Tony, the wire will automatically shoot Dick and kill Dick. Tony forces Dick to walk with Tony out of the office while police stand by and do nothing at first.
On the way to the Meridian Mortgage office, Tony’s car key got stuck in his car ignition. He can’t use his disabled car as the getaway vehicle, so Tony steals a police car and forces Dick to drive the both of them to Tony’s apartment, where Tony barricades himself and Dick. Before making this getaway, Tony announced to nearby law enforcement that he and Dick would be going to Tony’s apartment building, which police eventually evacuate, and this crime scene turns into a media circus.
Tony eventually reveals what his hostage demands are: He wants to keep his property, have his Meridian Mortgage debt erased, get a formal public apology from M.L., and get $5 million, which is the amount of money he thinks he would’ve made if the property had been converted into a shopping center. “Dead Man’s Wire” depicts what happens during this hostage crisis, which in real life lasted 63 hours.
The cast members, led by Skarsgård, give dedicated performances of the roles that they have in the story. However, “Dead Man’s Wire” would’ve benefited if the role of Tony had been portrayed by someone who was closer to the real age that Kiritsis was (44 years old) when he committed this kidnapping. Skarsgård was in his mid-30s when he filmed this movie. There’s something more believable about the desperation of a middle-aged person, compared to someone who’s younger than 40, committing this type of crime for the reasons that Kiritsis had.
Cast members in supporting performances include Colman Domingo as Fred Temple, a smooth-talking radio DJ at R&B station WCYD; Myha’la (also known as Myha’la Herrold) as Linda Page, an ambitious TV reporter; and Cary Elwes as Detective Michael Grable, who becomes a chief negotiator in the crisis. In smaller supporting roles are Kelly Lynch as M.L.’s wife Mabel Hall; Daniel R. Hill as Tony’s brother Jimmy Kiritsis; Todd Gable as Indianapolis Police Chief Gallagher; Michael Ashcraft as Indiana’s Marion County prosecutor George Martz; and Jordan Claire Robbins as Dick’s wife Doreen. Fred gets involved because he is Tony’s favorite DJ, and Tony insists on talking to Fred while holding Dick hostage.
“Dead Man’s Wire” might get some comparisons to the Oscar-winning 1975 classic “Dog Day Afternoon” (directed by Sidney Lumet and written by Frank Pierson), because both are high-anxiety movies based on true 1970s stories about “outsider” men who felt wronged by society and got involved in a hostage-taking crime to steal money. Pacino is in both films, but in “Dog Day Afternoon,” he played main character Sonny Wortzik, who took employees in a New York City bank hostage in 1972, because he wanted money to pay for his transgender girlfriend’s gender surgery.
“Dead Man’s Wire” capably recreates Kiritsis’ high-profile 1977 crime and includes some real-life archival footage. The movie’s cinematography, production design and costume design are above-average. And the performances are gripping. However, “Dead Man’s Wire” is not an Oscar-worthy movie like “Dog Day Afternoon,” which did a better job at diving into the hostage taker’s psychology and personal history. Tony isn’t a complete mystery in “Dead Man’s Wire,” but the movie leaves many questions unanswered about him.
“Dead Man’s Wire” can get a bit repetitive with Tony’s erratic antics. And even if viewers don’t know what happened in real life with this hostage crisis, it’s still easy to predict how everything is going to end. However, the epilogue tells an even wilder tale of what happened to Kiritsis after the hostage crisis was over. “Dead Man’s Wire” is an intense movie that has as much to say about true crime as it does about the fallout over real and perceived greed in capitalism.
Row K Entertainment released “Dead Man’s Wire” in select U.S. cinemas on December 12, 2025. The movie will be re-released in select U.S. cinemas on January 9, 2026, with an expansion to more U.S. cinemas on January 16, 2026.