The Patriot (1998 film)
| The Patriot | |
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Region 1 DVD cover
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| Directed by | Dean Semler |
| Produced by |
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| Written by |
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| Based on | The Last Canadian by William C. Heine |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Stephen Edwards |
| Cinematography | Stephen F. Windon |
| Edited by | Derek Brechin |
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Production
company |
Touchstone Pictures
Interlight Pictures |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Home Entertainment (USA) |
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Release date
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Running time
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90 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $25,000,000 |
The Patriot is a 1998 American action drama film loosely based on the novel The Last Canadian by William C. Heine. The film stars Steven Seagal and is directed by Dean Semler. The plot involves an American patriot who has to foil the plot of a militia to release a deadly virus. It is Seagal's first direct-to-video film.
Near the town of Ennis, Montana, local doctor and former government research immunologist Wesley McClaren (Steven Seagal) who has an interest in herbal medicine and is also a weapons and self-defense expert, is called to a hospital when people start dying from an unknown but very deadly disease. He determines that the cause is a highly dangerous airborne virus and calls in a Biological Response team, who seal off the town while doctors start treating sufferers with a vaccine. Several have already died.
The source of the virus is traced to a local self-styled rebel militia leader, Floyd Chisholm (Gailard Sartain), who has given himself up after a long siege and has been arrested on weapons charges. In court, having ingested the virus himself (believing that he also possesses the vaccine) he spits at the judge, and starts the rapid spread of the disease.
Floyd's militia followers, who have been allowed to go free, attack the prison and rescue Floyd. They then proceed to invade and besiege the hospital, with much loss of life, and take medical personnel hostage including Wesley and his daughter Holly (Camilla Belle). But too late, they realize that the vaccine they were seeking at the hospital is the same as the one they possess which only delays the effect of the deadly virus. Working at gunpoint, Wesley takes a sample of Holly's blood; it shows that Holly has been infected, but somehow her body is fighting it off. Wesley and Holly contrive to escape and travel to a farm where Holly's grandfather lives. Wesley takes a blood sample from his friend Dr. Ann White Cloud (Whitney Yellow Robe), and realizes that her body is also fighting off the infection.
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Wikipedia