All the Money in the World

This week we examine Ridley Scott’s All the Money in the World (2017), the thrilling drama based on the infamous 1973 kidnapping of John Paul Getty III, the grandson of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty. We dissect the film’s intense portrayal of wealth, power, and familial dysfunction, while comparing it to the true events that shocked the world. The episode also explores the Getty family’s vast fortune, their legacy in the oil industry, and the personal tragedies that plagued the bloodline for generations. Why did one of the richest men in history refuse to pay his grandson’s ransom and what does this reveal about the darker side of immense wealth? Whether you’re a fan of the film or curious about the true story behind it, this episode is a deep dive into a family saga that continues to intrigue the world.

Primary Source:
Pearson, John. Painfully Rich: The Outrageous Fortune and Misfortunes of the Heirs of J. Paul Getty. St. Martins Press (1995).

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Chapters

• 0:13 Criminal Adaptations
• 7:47 Film Director Ridley Scott's Filmography
• 15:28 Hollywood Reshoot Controversy
• 31:41 Family Dynamic of Wealthy Grandfather
• 46:54 Getty Kidnapping Ransom Negotiations
• 1:05:34 Michelle Williams and All the Money
• 1:11:36 John Paul Getty's Business Legacy
• 1:27:05 Family Dynamics and Financial Disputes
• 1:38:42 The Getty Kidnapping Ransom Negotiation
• 1:54:35 Paul Getty's Tragic Post-Kidnapping Trauma
• 2:01:56 Getty Family Saga

Transcript

Ashley: 0:14

Welcome to Criminal Adaptations, the show where we take a look at some of your favorite movies and the true crime stories that inspired them. I'm Ashley. I'm a clinical psychologist and forensic evaluator in the state of Oregon.

Remi: 0:27

And I'm Remy. I spent over a decade working in the film and television industry in Los Angeles, California.

Ashley: 0:34

Hello everyone, welcome back to your regularly scheduled program of Criminal Adaptations. I know we took a little bit of a detour in between this episode and our last of the Town that Dreaded sundown, but hopefully everyone has had the chance to listen to our bonus episode on the life and tragic death of Judith Barsi and found it as interesting and honestly moving as we did.

Remi: 1:01

We had heard the story and were extremely moved by what we heard and thought that it was a very necessary thing to share with everybody. But we are here to discuss something completely different today. Ashley, would you like to say what we are discussing?

Ashley: 1:19

Today, we are talking about Ridley Scott's 2017 film All the Money in the World, which is about the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III and, honestly, about the rise of the Getty family and also the repeated tragedies that their wealth has brought upon them.

Remi: 1:42

Had you heard of this story before, Ashley? Was this a story you were like familiar with? Had you been in any way acquainted to it for this episode?

Ashley: 1:53

familiar with? Had you been in any way acquainted to it for this episode? I was well aware of the Getty kidnapping. As I mentioned at the end of our last episode, there was an FX show called Trust that focused on the kidnapping. I didn't know as much about how Jean Paul Getty got his billions, how Jean Paul Getty got his billions John Paul Getty. John Paul Getty. Yes, my bad.

Remi: 2:14

I know that from Jean-Luc Picard.

Ashley: 2:19

I didn't know much about how he came to be, but now I do. But with the kidnapping portion of this story, I was well aware of the details, including the maiming that went on.

Remi: 2:29

I had not heard of this story at all, basically, but, being from LA, I've been to the Getty Museum a number of times. I remember back in college, me and my friends would park all the way down in the parking lot that was before the tram area, because you had to pay for parking but the museum was free. So we would park all the way down pay for parking, but the museum was free, so we would park all the way down, way down. It was about half a mile away from the museum and then we'd have to walk up the hill to the actual museum. But the Getty Museum itself is an amazing museum. But I had really never heard of this kidnapping or Jean Paul Getty in general, actually.

Ashley: 3:09

Well, I will definitely get into a little bit about the museum, including why it is free. It is not because Jean Paul Getty wanted you to see all of his furniture and art out of the goodness of his heart. It definitely does have something to do with tax exemption.

Remi: 3:27

And it is an amazing museum. If you're in Los Angeles or around the Los Angeles area, I highly recommend a trip to the Getty Museum. But what about this movie? Had you heard of this movie or any of the controversy, I guess, that was surrounding it?

Ashley: 3:44

I had heard of the movie because after I watched the miniseries I looked into this case a little bit more and the movie had been out by then. So I did know that it was with Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Williams, but I didn't know some of the controversy about the recasting of the man himself, john Paul Getty. The first.

Remi: 4:05

And that is one of the biggest things that I knew about this movie going into it. Actually, I remember being in LA when this trailer first was released and it was Kevin Spacey in the lead role and I remember thinking that the movie looked pretty good. And then all of the controversy about Kevin Spacey, which I will say, off the record and on the record fuck Kevin Spacey. He's an asshole. Off the record and on the record, fuck Kevin Spacey. He's an asshole and a horrible person for what he's done. But I could not believe the turnaround. I remember the trailer came out and I think the movie came out maybe like two months later and it was completely redone with a different actor, which was something I had never seen before. So it was a very unusual production and one that really garnered my attention at the time because of what was going on.

Ashley: 4:58

The only other thing I knew about the production before we went into this episode is through the couple random movie production podcasts that I listened to. One of them had talked about this specifically how the cast had to come in to do their reshoots because of the change in casting, and the biggest thing that was touched upon with that is the pay deferential that was given between Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Williams. She basically got nothing for her rewrites.

Remi: 5:30

We will get into that in just a little bit. But there is a lot of controversy around this film, not around the subject matter but more around the people involved with the production and how the production was carried out. But with all that, should we dive into this movie? Ridley Scott's All the Money in the World.

Ashley: 5:54

Yes, let's, and I hope at some point you kind of give me a refresher on some of the other big blockbuster movies that Ridley Scott has done, because I know he is a very prominent, well-respected director.

Remi: 6:06

He is a very, very well-respected director, but not necessarily a director I feel like people who are not plugged into the film industry are super aware of. But I'll get into that in just a second. Let's start off with the pre-production for All the Money in the World. All the Money in the World All the Money in the World is a 2017 film written by David Scarpa and directed by Ridley Scott. The film stars Michelle Williams, mark Wahlberg and Christopher Plummer as John Paul Getty. Screenwriter David Scarpa had always been fascinated by the story of the Getty kidnapping due to the fact that John Paul Getty was literally the richest man in the world at the time, yet still refused to pay for the ransom of his grandson.

Ashley: 7:01

He was the richest American in the world, because you can't count the like sultans and people like that that come from more than generations, generations upon generations, upon generations, upon generations of government wealth. But, yes, he was insanely rich.

Remi: 7:19

That is true. Whenever I say richest man in the world, I guess I am referring to the richest man in America at the time.

Ashley: 7:27

And I'm pretty sure, if you take out people like sultans or kings and things like that, he would have been the richest man that didn't come from royalty in the world, because he actually really is a. Well, I'll say his father is a self-made millionaire, but John Getty is a self-made billionaire.

Remi: 7:48

Once the script had been completed, it found its way into the hands of Sir Ridley Scott, the famed director of such cinematic classics as Blade Runner, alien and. Gladiator. Have you seen any of these movies, Ashley?

Ashley: 8:03

I've seen all three of those movies and I'm not really sure what one is my favorite. They're all very different. Maybe this is the Titanic fan in me, but I prefer Alien 2 over Alien 1. I did like Gladiator, but I'm not as obsessed with it as I know a lot of people are, so none of those movies, in my opinion, are ones that I'm putting on again and again and again to watch. What are some of his ones, since Gladiator?

Remi: 8:35

Personally speaking, out of those three, gladiator is my favorite. But out of all of the movies in his repertoire, I would be surprised to say that Matchstick Men is my favorite of his films. It is a smaller film he did with Nicolas Cage and it involves con men, it has Sam Rockwell and there is a twist ending and, yeah, I really really like this film. And he's done a lot of other offbeat films like that. He did Thelma and Louise. He's done many, many movies. He does like two movies a year. It is crazy how prolific this guy is and he's like 80 years old now and he's still doing this.

Ashley: 9:16

Okay, so I'm looking at some of his movies now. I love Matchstick Men. It's probably one of my favorite Nicolas Cage movies he did do of some of the ones he'd done. Recently he did that last Duel movie that went completely under the radar because of COVID and that movie was phenomenal.

Remi: 9:35

Criminally underrated movie Adam Driver Matt Damon even. Ben Affleck as the king. It's a really, really good movie and nobody saw it.

Ashley: 9:47

And Eve from what was that show?

Remi: 9:50

Killing.

Ashley: 9:50

Eve. Yes, that movie was so good. Okay, so he's also done American Gangster, which we watched recently.

Remi: 9:58

And is on our list for later seasons. Denzel Washington is amazing in that film.

Ashley: 10:05

Black Hawk Down Hannibal GI Jane.

Remi: 10:08

I have never seen Black Hawk Down, but I have seen Hannibal and GI Jane all great films. His resume is really impressive. He is very, very active. For a director, he basically never stops. Ridley Scott was attracted to the project because of Scarpa's script stating I just consumed it. I knew about the kidnapping, but this story was very provocative. Gale Getty was all exceptional characters and there are many facets of the man Getty that make him a really great study. There's this great dynamic. It's like a play and not a movie. All the Money in the World is also one of the rare few film projects by Scott not to originate from his own initial conception, meaning he didn't think of this idea by himself and he was just so into it that he needed to make this film. As the project was in development, natalie Portman was offered the role of Gail Harris but had to decline because she was pregnant with her second child at the time.

Ashley: 11:20

I could have seen her as Gail. I think she would have done a good job. I love Michelle Williams and I have a feeling she also did a phenomenal job, but I could have seen Natalie Portman in this role.

Remi: 11:30

I agree, but I do just have to highlight that I think Michelle Williams really did get a raw deal in this production. I'll get into it a little bit more later, but she was not the first pick and she was treated like not the first pick.

Ashley: 11:46

So you think that if it would have been Natalie Portman, she wouldn't have gotten as fucked over as Michelle Williams did?

Remi: 11:53

Yes, absolutely. I do agree. I think that is exactly what would have happened. I think Natalie Portman, in the public mind frame, is considered a higher value actress than Michelle Williams. Michelle Williams is a phenomenal actress and by far the most successful person to ever come from Dawson's Creek, but she is not a named actress. She is not someone that if you say her name to the general public it immediately sparks interest because people are just not as familiar with her. She's never done like a big blockbuster or anything like that familiar with her. She's never done like a big blockbuster or anything like that besides Venom.

Ashley: 12:32

But I'm not even going to count that. Well, in the TV series, Gale was played by Hilary Swank.

Remi: 12:37

I've not seen any footage from the real person that Michelle Williams is playing in this Gale, but I feel like she did a great job. But I would look to you to confirm that or not. Apparently, there's not a lot of media with Gale in it that is readily available to the public. Currently, in another bit of casting, jack Nicholson was originally offered the lead role of John Paul Getty, but also declined due to his retirement from acting his retirement from acting. In the end, Michelle Williams and Kevin Spacey were cast in the lead roles of Gail Harris and J Paul Getty respectively. Scott stated when I read the script I started thinking who was Paul Getty? In my mind I saw Kevin Spacey. Kevin's a brilliant actor, but I've never worked with him and I always knew I would have to have him portray Getty in this film.

Ashley: 13:36

Does he say why he chose Kevin Spacey despite the insane age difference? I mean, John Paul Getty is supposed to be like 80 at the time of this kidnapping. Is it just because Kevin Spacey is so good at playing like diabolical men that just seem like just so evil inside?

Remi: 14:12

had a lot to do with the fact that Kevin Spacey was a very popular, very successful, academy Award winning actor when he was cast in this role. Not knocking Christopher Plummer at all, but, like I was saying earlier, kevin Spacey was one of those names that if you said that to an everyday person walking down the street, they would probably know who he was compared to Michelle Williams.

Ashley: 14:31

But the age difference is like 25 years here. But on the other hand, when you think about Kevin Spacey's iconic roles, the ones that come to mind for me personally are House of Cards, the Usual Suspects and Seven, and he is just so good at playing this psychopath but also someone that you're not actively hating and wanting to turn off, which I do think fits with the character of John Paul Getty. But still, the age difference. He should have never casted him in this role.

Remi: 15:06

I do remember seeing the original trailer with Kevin Spacey with his prosthetic makeup and thinking that it looked a little odd.

Remi: 15:15

And you know, with the benefit of hindsight I can say that Christopher Plummer does make a lot more sense in this role, him being older than Kevin Spacey was.

Remi: 15:26

But we will get into all of that in just a moment. Regarding Michelle Williams, ridley Scott admitted that while she wasn't his first choice, he found her to be extremely intelligent and assertive, in a similar vein to the real-life Gail Harris. You will have to tell me if that is true or not, but Williams, who was unfamiliar with the true story, read several books on the subject and based the majority of her performance on just three video clips of Harris she was able to find on YouTube. Williams described her preparation for the role as a two-part process to create the character, with the first part involving dry research, then filling in the gaps with her own imagination based on what she had learned. Mark Wahlberg, who had always wanted to work with Ridley Scott, accepted the role of Fletcher Chase the moment it was offered to him, despite recently promising his wife that he would take a break from acting to spend more time with his family. I guess, if Ridley Scott comes calling, you take the call, no matter what.

Ashley: 16:36

In the TV show. This role was played by Brendan Fraser.

Remi: 16:40

I wish he had played it in this film too. Honestly, I would prefer Brendan Fraser to Mark Wahlberg any day. Call me crazy.

Ashley: 16:48

Well, and this show came out in 2018, so it came out a year after. This is before. Brendan Fraser has now kind of had his re-uppens from the Whale and Killers of the Flower Moon, so he was on a hiatus at this point and he did a killer job in this series.

Remi: 17:19

His resurgence, I guess, would be the word Sure, sure, sure. Regarding his character, Mark Wahlberg has stated him there wasn't a single image of him, no images whatsoever. A former CIA guy, I guess he can make a lot of things go away. You'd think he'd have written a book and he'd be there with a big smile on his face on the cover. Instead, there was very little information other than his background.

Ashley: 17:46

Once I kind of tell you about Fletcher chase's role in all this kidnapping, it's gonna make a little more sense of why he's not this prominent figure. He had so little to do with anything at all well.

Remi: 17:59

The little information walberg was able to dig up was that fletcher chase was captain of the crew team at harvard, worked at the CIA and was J Paul Getty's right-hand man. In late October of 2017, numerous sexual misconduct allegations were made against Kevin Spacey, and the film's premiere at the AFI Fest, scheduled for November 16th, was cancelled as a result. On November 9th, it was announced that Reach Shoots had been scheduled to replace Kevin Spacey with Christopher Plummer in the role of J Paul Getty. Despite his previously contradictory statements, Ridley Scott now claimed that Christopher Plummer had always been his original choice for the role, but it was the studio executives that had persuaded him to cast Kevin Spacey instead.

Ashley: 18:58

How convenient.

Remi: 19:07

We will not be getting into the nitty gritty details of the Kevin Spacey scandal during this episode, unless they make a future true crime movie on it.

Ashley: 19:11

There is a really good documentary right now on HBO Max I think, because it was partnered with ID Discovery or something like that, but it includes I think it's like three parts and it includes all the information or not all a lot of the information you would want to know about what Kevin Spacey did or is accused of doing, and I highly recommend, if you want to know more about it, to watch it. It's very, very enlightening. It is very disturbing. So go to HBO Max, type in Kevin Spacey and get all the information you want about it from there.

Remi: 19:46

Christopher Plummer got the call from Ridley Scott just before he was about to go on vacation to Florida, but delayed his plan so that Scott could fly from London to New York to speak with Plummer face-to-face regarding the role. Plummer had always been a fan of Scott's which seems to be a recurring trend here and was eager to work with him, but still told the legendary director that he would need to read the script first, despite knowing full well that he would be accepting the part, even if the script was utterly horrendous. Christopher Plummer had less than two weeks to memorize his lines, but did have the advantage of meeting John Paul Getty personally at a few of his parties back in London in the early 1960s, so some first-hand experience there.

Ashley: 20:40

They must have both been living in London. Yeah.

Remi: 20:43

I believe. So I do not know where Christopher Plummer is born off the top of my head or originates from. 58-year-old Kevin Spacey had initially worn facial prosthetics for his portrayal of Jay Getty, who was 80 years old at the time of his grandson's kidnapping, whereas Christopher Plummer, who was 88 at the time, had no need for any additional makeup applications, so that must have been convenient. After Plummer had been cast, director Ridley Scott chose not to show him any footage of Kevin Spacey in character and never revealed how Spacey had originally chosen to play the same scenes. As a result, scott found both performances to be decisively different, yet equally effective in their own way, with Spacey portraying Getty as much more cold and unfeeling compared to how Plummer portrayed him.

Ashley: 21:42

I know this will never happen, but it would be really interesting if there would ever come a time where there would be some sort of release of Spacey's portrayal his version of the movie, I guess.

Remi: 21:54

I would love that, and literally, it seems like the only footage of Kevin Spacey in this role that has survived is from that initial trailer where I think he literally says one word. I think he literally says one word, and it is just no. And I would just be fascinated to compare their performances.

Ashley: 22:17

Because it does seem that this role is right up Spacey's alley.

Remi: 22:21

It really does. And, again, not supporting Kevin Spacey at all. He is a piece of shit and he is one of those actors that I have trouble watching his films today because of what he has done is a piece of shit and he is one of those actors that I have trouble watching his films today because of what he has done, but he is someone that seems like, even though he wasn't the right age, would fit this character really well. He had a cold-heartedness to him that I do think suited this character. Christopher Plummer has commented on his acting choices for the role by stating I tried to give him as much warmth as I possibly could in my performance. If you just played him black and white as a villain, you would lose the audience.

Remi: 23:05

The decision to re-film Kevin Spacey's footage with Plummer also meant that 22 scenes had to be re-shot. Spacey had worked on the film for 10 days, while re-shoots with Plummer lasted only 9 days, but added another $10 million to the film's final production budget. Once the re-shoots had been completed, only a single shot of Kevin Spacey remained in the final version of the film. Though his face is not clearly visible, I still spotted him when I was watching this film.

Ashley: 23:39

Point it out when you're going over the movie.

Remi: 23:42

The scene features Spacey in a wide shot disembarking a train in the middle of the desert a train in the middle of the desert. But they claim it would be too far away and too expensive to reshoot on such a tight deadline. It was initially reported that the other actors had filmed their scenes for the reshoots completely free of charge, but it was later revealed that Mark Wahlberg had actually been paid $1.5 million, while Michelle Williams received just $80 in per diems.

Ashley: 24:18

That is disgusting. I don't know whose choice it was to approve that. I'm assuming it was the production company or the producers, but shame on them. $80 when her co-host who, mind you, is hardly a footnote in this whole story got over a million dollars.

Remi: 24:38

It gets worse. And I will say Michelle Williams is the star of this movie. She is the main character. Mark Wahlberg and Christopher Plummer are supporting characters, and this film is entirely centered around her performance. So it is a travesty that she was paid and offered as little as she was. Mark Wahlberg's initial fee for the shoot was reportedly $5 million, while his co-star, michelle Williams, had allegedly only been paid $625,000, despite having higher billing and a much larger role and, being a sorry, Mark Wahlberg a better actor.

Remi: 25:24

I think Michelle Williams is, head over heels, a much better actor than Mark Wahlberg. But is she a bigger name actor? That's probably not the case. Wahlberg's contract also allowed him final approval of his co-stars and apparently refused to approve Christopher Plummer as Kevin Spacey's replacement unless he was paid an additional compensation. However, once news of this gender disparity in the actor's pay got leaked to the public, mark Wahlberg decided to donate his entire reshoot salary in Michelle Williams' name to the Time's Up Legal Defense Fund, which provides legal and media support to individuals who have been subjected to workplace sexual harassment. I mean, that's the least he can do, and it's only because he got caught. Let's be honest here.

Remi: 26:21

When Wahlberg finally returned for the reshoots, all of his costumes had to be refitted, since he had lost an estimated 30 pounds for his next film role in the movie Mile 22, which I have never heard of or seen, and it is very noticeable in many scenes of this film he changes weights between shots. Wahlberg also decided to play his character's final scene with John Paul Getty as angrier and more confrontational than he had done originally with Kevin Spacey. The first footage of Christopher Plummer in the lead role of Jay Getty was released on the same exact day that filming on the reshoots had been completed. And with that, are you ready to get into Ridley Scott's All the Money in the World, ashley?

Ashley: 27:14

Woof, I suppose that was a heavy, heavy pre-production segment.

Remi: 27:20

Seriously, it's one of the more intricate ones that I've had to research for this show, but let's get into it. Rome 1973.

Remi: 27:42

16-year-old John Paul Getty III, played by Charlie Plummer not Christopher Plummer casually strolls through the bustling streets of Rome one evening, smoking a cigarette while enjoying the city's ambiance. As Paul is making his way through the crowded streets, he suddenly finds himself on a deserted street walking alone. Moments later, paul is ambushed when a van appears out of nowhere and Paul is abducted by members of a mafia-esque organized crime group known as the Andragida. July 10th 1973. We see John Paul Getty, played by Christopher Plummer, going over his morning stock reports, surrounded by priceless works of art adorning his extravagantly large mansion. Getty's musings are interrupted, however, when he is informed by one of his many assistants that his grandson, paul, has been kidnapped. Yet Getty seems completely unfazed by this unsettling news. Through Paul's narration, we are told that John Paul Getty was the richest man in the history of the world at the time of his son's kidnapping, although that is up for debate.

Ashley: 29:03

Yes, grandson's kidnapping, and he was named by the Guinness Book of World Records as the richest American to ever live.

Remi: 29:11

Flashing back to Saudi Arabia 1948, we watch as a much younger Jay Getty arrives in the desert by train for a meeting with the Bedouin tribes, resulting in Getty becoming the very first US businessman in history to successfully negotiate a deal for oil drilling rights in Saudi Arabia. And this is the one scene with Kevin Spacey that remains in the film, the part where he is getting off the train.

Ashley: 29:44

Which is so funny because John Getty never stepped foot in Saudi Arabia. He bought this land sight unseen and never went there.

Remi: 29:54

That is funny. You needed the visual. I guess that's why they did it. By 1958, getty had unearthed so much oil that he had to commission the construction of a supertanker out of the Toulon shipyard in France to transport larger quantities of his surplus.

Remi: 30:16

We then cut to San Francisco in 1964, where we are introduced to Gail Harris, played by Michelle Williams, and her husband John Paul Getty Jr, played by Andrew Buchan, as they are rudely awakened by a trio of small children hopping on their parents' bed and demanding attention.

Remi: 30:40

Later that night, while gathered around the Christmas tree, jr confides in Gail that his own father never even gave him a single Christmas card or birthday card while he was growing up and regrets that he and his father never had a closer relationship. It doesn't seem like his father was trying very hard, since the family was currently struggling financially. Gail encourages her husband to write his estranged father a letter in an attempt to reconnect by asking for a job at Getty Oil. Junior receives a telegram response from his father not long after, requesting his son's presence in Rome to meet face-to-face and discuss a potential job opportunity. Job opportunity. Enticed by the offer, junior along with his entire family are flown directly to Rome via private jet and arrive at Getty's immense 16th century Italian villa shortly after. Upon entering their grandfather's abode, the children are awestruck by the lavish interiors exuding a level of wealth and power beyond any mere mortal's understanding.

Ashley: 31:56

Yeah, the Gettys weren't rich, they were wealthy, and I'll never forget the distinction, when I first heard about it, between someone being rich and someone being wealthy. When someone is wealthy, they have more money that they can't get rid of it in their lifetime.

Remi: 32:13

To the family's surprise, they discover Jay Getty Sr doing his own laundry and quickly puts the family at ease. By making light of his affluent first impression, we quickly learn that Jay Getty is an exceptionally shrewd and frugal man, even going as far as washing his own laundry to save an additional $10 cleaning fee from his maids. That is stingy. Getty also gives his grandson Paul a $1.2 million Minotaur figurine as a new toy, but only after sharing the following story.

J. Paul Getty: 32:57

Would you care to guess how much I paid for it? Oh, I couldn't possibly $11.23. I picked it up at the black market in Heraklion. Some old cripple wanted to ask $19 for it. It took me one hour to bring him down to his bottom line. Thus today at auction, I hazard it could bring $1.2 million.

Ashley: 33:27

So this is a very, very good depiction of what Getty's kind of bottom line was. He had so much money, but he was also very, very stingy. So while he did have these extravagant purchases, he would only buy things if he could convince himself that it would continue to appreciate in value himself, that it would continue to appreciate in value. So this is a very good example of how he bought something for $11 and what? 40 years later it was a million dollars.

Remi: 33:58

This story comes back in the end as well, but I just love the whole idea of a billionaire arguing with someone selling this for $19 and he's spent an hour to get it down to what he did. Like dude, it's 20 bucks.

Ashley: 34:18

By the time he bought that he wasn't a billionaire, but he probably was a millionaire.

Remi: 34:24

He could afford a $20 Minotaur figurine. I think that is the point. Why would you spend an hour of your life doing this?

Ashley: 34:33

Especially during the time of the Great Depression, where most of America was struggling, but the Gettys certainly were not.

Remi: 34:41

That makes it even crazier.

Ashley: 34:43

It does say a lot about him, about his personality and his values, but one thing you cannot argue, and one thing that should be a big takeaway from this episode, is John Paul Getty was a phenomenal businessman.

Remi: 34:58

Though the family reunion appears jovial, there is nevertheless still an air of tension and unease that seems to emanate throughout the entire room. During brunch the following morning, getty has Paul dictate mail from desperate strangers who have written letters to Getty begging for financial assistance in order to pay for various hardships. Rather than showing even the faintest hint of compassion, getty instead, despite the fact that Junior is grossly underqualified for the position and would also be replacing Getty's current VP. As a result, getty and his grandson Paul grow close over time and at one point Getty even confides in Paul that he believes that he was the emperor of Hadrian in a previous life. A little delusional, but okay.

Ashley: 36:16

I wouldn't even say it's delusional, I would just say it's narcissistic. Tomato, tomato.

Remi: 36:22

Years later, in August of 1971, a now teenage Paul has just tracked down his father to an exotic opium den in Morocco, where he discovers Junior passed out with another woman and is far too sedated for any verbal communication. Back in San Francisco the following month, getty and Junior's wife Gail sit across from one another at an elongated table in a desaturated room, amidst a sea of attorneys, to discuss the details of her and Junior's impending divorce. To Getty's astonishment, gail offers to waive any personal financial compensation she is entitled to as long as Getty agrees to pay for child support and she is given full custody of the children.

Ashley: 37:15

moving forward, and this is true. This was the terms of their divorce settlement, which I think says a lot about Gail's character.

Remi: 37:23

Well, never one to pass up a good deal. Getty gladly agrees to Gail's offer. We then return to southern Italy, in the town of Calabria in July of 1973. Paul is driven to a remote rural location with a bag over his head, then locked in a dingy cell by his captors who wear masks to conceal their identity. Cell by his captors who wear masks to conceal their identity. The kidnappers then call Paul's mother from a payphone, informing her that they have her son held hostage and demand a 17 million dollar ransom for his release. When Gail protests, claiming that she doesn't have that kind of money, the kidnappers advise Gail to ask her father-in-law, because he has all the money in the world.

Ashley: 38:16

That's so funny. In my part I have this exact same scene written out and it's written the exact same.

Remi: 38:24

That is hilarious, heeding their advice. Gail makes repeated attempts to contact Jay Getty to discuss Paul's kidnapping, but Getty is consistently unavailable. Much to her surprise, gail sees Getty live on TV one day fielding questions from reporters regarding his grandson's kidnapping and directly stating that he does not intend on paying Paul's ransom, regardless of the amount. Aghast at Getty's dismissal of Paul's ransom, gale travels to England to speak with Jay Getty face-to-face at Getty Estate. While waiting in the foyer, gale briefly meets a Getty Oil negotiator and former CIA operative named Fletcher Chase, played by Mark Wahlberg, who has just been summoned from Saudi Arabia for an urgent meeting with Getty, who is currently drinking a Bloody Mary, watching some skeet shooting out in the backyard and just enjoying himself as a rich billionaire without a care in the world. Fletcher is then brought to speak with Getty and the two men partake in an afternoon stroll where we learn that Fletcher was previously married three times but has no children. During their conversation, getty confidentially confides that he truly does miss his grandson and instructs Fletcher to fly to Rome and bring Paul back as quickly and inexpensively as possible. When Fletcher inevitably returns from his meeting, he formally introduces himself to Gail, informing her that he will be the man in charge of finding her son, despite Gail's lobbying for Getty to just pay the ransom.

Remi: 40:15

Back in Rome, gail is mobbed by reporters, with Fletcher by her side, as she gives a statement to the media pleading for her son's release. Gail is then brought to meet with the lead investigator on the case, who reveals that the police have received dozens of letters from around the world, all claiming to be Paul's kidnappers, making it extremely difficult to decipher which one, if any, are actually legitimate. Gitter also puts Gail under police protection for her own safety, with a mini base of operations for the investigation being set up in Gail's home, much to her dismay. Meanwhile, in Calabria, paul shares a joint with one of his captors, as the kidnapper theorizes why Paul's family has not paid the ransom. Theorizes why Paul's family has not paid the ransom.

Remi: 41:14

Paul is then instructed to write a letter to his mother reiterating the urgency of paying the 17 million dollar ransom sooner rather than later. Otherwise the kidnappers will cut off one of Paul's fingers. Returning to Rome, Fletcher has a covert meeting in a motel room with a group of communists claiming to have planned the entire kidnapping, with Paul as an accomplice, several years ago in order to extort money from John Paul Getty. However, the communists now believe that Paul has carried out this plan with another group without their inclusion. Taking the communists at their word, Fletcher immediately brings this new information back to Jay Getty, who is not surprised but nevertheless still feels betrayed.

J. Paul Getty: 42:01

That's why I like things. You see Things, objects, artifacts, paintings, and they are exactly what they appear to be. They never change, they never disappoint. There is a purity to beautiful things that I've never been able to find in another human being.

Remi: 42:27

Getty then instructs Fletcher to return to Rome and wait for Paul's return. And on a personal side note here, all of Christopher Plummer's scenes are by far the best scenes in this entire film. I just feel like I need to give this dude props, because he really nailed this performance on an incredibly short time frame.

Ashley: 42:55

So I've read the book that this movie was based on. He's giving the same vibes of who he was as a person and also based on the show that I saw that Donald Sutherland is playing John Paul Getty, and he's giving the exact same performance and they both look like the real John Paul Getty. And he's giving the exact same performance and they both look like the real John Paul Getty.

Remi: 43:16

And I just have to point out that Christopher Plummer has played a lot of similar evil, rich person who hates his family type roles. He did it in Knives Out, which he was a great in, and the first girl with the dragon tattoo film as well, but I honestly think this is his greatest evil billionaire performance among them all. If anyone out there is a Simpsons fan, he reminds me so much of Mr Burns in this movie. Months pass until one day when Fletcher gets a call from the police informing him that they have discovered Paul's charred corpse submerged in seawater, but they will need Gail to come and identify the body.

Ashley: 44:06

This escalated quickly. This escalated quickly.

Remi: 44:08

Gail is relieved to find that the body is not actually her son's but that of a 33-year-old Andraghita member who is likely involved with Paul's kidnapping. Based on the deceased's known associates, the police are able to determine a possible location where Paul is being held. So the Italian civil police force known as the Carabria, are brought in to head down south to Calabria to conduct a raid. I hope you all are keeping all of these names straight somehow, because I'm having trouble. As the Carabria surround the perimeter with firearms drawn, a shootout ensues, resulting in the death of two kidnappers, while the last is mortally wounded.

Remi: 44:56

Though it is confirmed that Paul was held at this location at some point, we soon learn that Paul has been sold to a much more intimidating and debonair member of the Malavita crime family named Mamaliti. During Fletcher's next meeting with Mr Getty, he relays the news that Paul's kidnapping was not a hoax and has become much more serious now that the Malavita are involved. Fletcher urges Getty to relent and finally pay the ransom to ensure Paul's safety, but Getty still insists that he hasn't a penny to spare, despite the lift on a recent oil embargo, which has literally made John Paul Getty the richest man in the world.

Remi: 45:47

Sometime later, gale receives a phone call from the Malavita and Fletcher steps in to negotiate on behalf of Mr Getty. Fletcher tells the kidnappers that Paul is a juvenile delinquent whom his family doesn't even want. So Getty's final offer for his grandson's return is a paltry $200,000 to cover the kidnapper's expenses. Insulted by this proposal, the kidnapper hangs up, leaving Gail dumbfounded and understandably furious with Fletcher's stern negotiation tactics. After a swift punch to the face, fletcher confesses that he was really bluffing and has not actually been authorized to give the Malavita any money whatsoever, including the $200,000. Luckily, gale receives another phone call from the kidnappers later that night, lowering the ransom to a much more reasonable $7 million. Around this time, jay Getty purchases himself a rare stolen painting in cash for the hefty fee of $1.5 million, though he's not thrilled about the price.

Ashley: 47:08

This is why he doesn't have a single penny to spare about the price.

Remi: 47:12

This is why he doesn't have a single penny to spare. He's spending it all on priceless, stolen works of art. Of course that's totally reasonable. I understand why he was letting his grandson be tortured for that reason.

Ashley: 47:22

A rare stolen piece of artwork can appreciate in value, a kidnapping ransom cannot.

Remi: 47:28

It gets worse, but I digress. Meanwhile, paul, who has become increasingly impatient with his delayed liberation, manages to create a small fire just outside of the barn where he is currently being held captive. As the growing flames divert his captor's attention, paul successfully breaks through the door of his confinement with a rusty old wheelbarrow and makes a mad dash run to freedom. Paul frantically flees through the night, dirty, desperate, weak and barefoot, until he stumbles upon a lonesome road where he is eventually picked up by a local police officer. Paul is escorted back to the officer's home, where Paul is given a warm meal while the officer makes a phone call in the other room. Paul is then allowed to call his mother, gail, who is both flabbergasted and relieved to finally hear from her son, until the line suddenly goes dead after it is revealed that the police officer is actually an associate of the Malavita, and Paul is promptly returned to his captors.

Remi: 48:41

After the incident, the Malavita deliberate killing Paul to cut their losses after all the trouble he's caused. But Mamaliti has another idea. After hearing her son's voice for the first time in months, gail has an epiphany and realizes that she may have a way to pay for Paul's ransom without John Paul Getty's involvement, gail begins frantically searching every corner of Paul's room until she finally uncovers the minotaur figure Geddy had given to Paul during their first meeting many years ago. With a newfound sense of hope instilled, gail brings the minotaur to Sotheby's in Rome for appraisal, but is devastated after learning that the minotaur is in fact just a worthless trinket sold in gift shops around the country, only costing around $15. We then cut back to Paul, who is given alcohol by his kidnappers and told that a doctor will be removing his ear. Paul tries to fight but is chloroformed into unconsciousness, then carried into another room where his body is placed on a kitchen table and his ear is surgically removed using a straight razor.

Ashley: 49:58

And it's like the whole ear right, not like the tip, it's the entire thing.

Remi: 50:07

It is the entire thing movie. I don't know if this happened in real life, but in the movie he wakes up briefly because of the pain and then passes out again because of the pain.

Ashley: 50:18

From what I read, they didn't chloroform him. Basically. They got him hammered on brandy and they gave him like a cloth to bite on, but they did like cut off his entire ear, the entire thing, which would be so incredibly painful and so prone to infection, given his environment.

Remi: 50:37

I could not imagine what this poor teenager teenager was going through during all of this, Like, oh my God, he was so young.

Ashley: 50:47

He's 16 years old and in his mind and in his entire family's mind, he's his grandfather's favorite grandson and there's nothing that can be done to get him out of the situation. He was probably so afraid.

Remi: 51:04

A Polaroid copy of Paul shortly after the procedure with the ear itself are then mailed to an Italian newspaper. Gail is called in to meet with the newspaper editors, who offer her $50,000 copies of the impending newspaper itself as a form of payment, with each copy being sent directly to John Paul Getty's doorstep.

Ashley: 51:37

Oh, that is good. I didn't hear anything about this. There's a lot of details of this kidnapping that now I'm thinking about it. I should have tried to find more, because there's a lot here that was not in the book that this movie is supposedly based on. But if this did happen, this is a fucking power move I love gail.

Remi: 51:57

She is such a badass bitch in this to save her son, and she is the only person doing so in this family.

Ashley: 52:18

That is the richest family in the entire world.

Remi: 52:21

Could you imagine being in this position where you are a mother with your son and the father of your son whom you are now divorced? His grandfather is literally a billionaire and your son is being held captive for 17 million dollars, which to a billionaire that is like nothing. That's like filling up your gas tank 17 million for a billionaire. I couldn't imagine what this woman was going through. Such frustration, such anger. Oh my God. I really hope this happened. I'm doubtful it did, but I just could not in a million years, imagine what this woman was feeling throughout all of this. Like he could do it, he could free your son and he just fucking won't fuck this old billionaire, fuck him and it's not only that, it's even the media.

Ashley: 53:21

She is not getting any help from anyone. The media thinks it's a hoax the Mark Wahlberg character in this even though he's definitely portrayed better in the movie than he is in real life, he thinks it's a hoax. The husband, which they haven't talked about in this movie at all. He's drug addicted and just non-existent.

Remi: 53:43

They basically write him off as being a drug addict very early on in the film and he's a non-factor for the rest of the film.

Ashley: 53:52

And the police can't find any leads, so they also just think this is all fake. So it is literally just this woman fighting for her son, whose ear has now been mailed, and this is kind of, finally, what causes her to be like anyone. Believe me now.

Remi: 54:10

Well, luckily for Gail, following repeated negotiations with the captors after this incident, the ransom is eventually lowered to a much more reasonable $4 million. Gail's newspaper plan proves effective, however, as she receives a phone call not long after from one of Getty's representatives informing her that Getty has finally agreed to pay for Paul's ransom. But she must return to London first to meet with Mr Getty face-to-face to iron out all the details.

Ashley: 54:45

If I were her, I would be so mad because, in all actuality, she's been trying to contact him this entire time, which I don't think this meeting ever happened. Basically, she was trying to contact him and talk to him face to face or just over the phone this whole time, and he refused all her phone calls and never returned them.

Remi: 55:04

The movie also portrays that she calls him repeatedly, she tries going to his estate, and he just ignores her time and time again. It is so fucked up. When Gail arrives for her meeting, she is surprised to see that her ex-husband, jr, is also there in attendance. Getty then reveals that, since ransom payments are not considered deductible under the tax code, he will instead be loaning the money to his son, junior so that Gettys can write off the interest of the ransom, essentially using Paul's kidnapping as a tax deduction.

Ashley: 55:44

World's greatest grandfather here people in exchange junior will be given full custody and parental rights over all of their children, including paul I omit this for my portion, but he did initially ask to agree to pay his portion of the ransom which he paid, which is a little different than how it's depicted right here. But he did originally ask for custody, but then he quickly rescinded.

Remi: 56:12

We will get to that in just a minute. But with no other options, gail reluctantly signs the agreement to save her son's life.

Ashley: 56:22

Also as a side note, which I do mention in my part. At this time, when he is asking for full custody of all of his kids, gail is also the primary custodian of a child he had with his wife after her because he couldn't care for her. So Gail was like this two-year-old kid would be better suited living with their siblings. I will look after your child with another woman out of the goodness of my soul. And then this motherfucker says sure, I'll pay to save our 16-year-old from a kidnapping and maybe walk out of the situation with at least one ear intact if you give me custody of all of our kids, including mine with another woman.

Remi: 57:09

You are jumping the gun on this one, but we will get into all of those details more in just a minute.

Ashley: 57:18

I couldn't hold it in. It's just like so infuriating.

Remi: 57:22

Well, this will probably piss you off a lot more because, unfortunately, once all of the contracts have been signed, a loophole is discovered stating that Getty is only required to loan up to the amount that is tax deductible, and under the US tax code, only the first million dollars qualifies for deduction. So that is the exact amount that Getty wires for the ransom.

Remi: 57:51

As a result, during Gail's next phone call with the kidnappers, she is regrettably forced to only offer $1 million of the $4 million ransom.

Remi: 58:03

So in return, the kidnappers offer Gail a quarter of her son for a quarter of the ransom. When Gail returns to Getty's estate to beg for the remaining ransom, getty of course refuses to speak with her. So instead Gail and Fletcher devise a plan to rescue Paul during the exchange, before the kidnappers are able to realize that the payment is short. After Gail holds a press conference broadcasting her intention of paying Paul's kidnappers, getty summons Fletcher back to his estate to interrogate Fletcher about how Gail was able to come up with the remainder of the ransom. Fletcher is soon pushed to his wits end by the cold-hearted billionaire and inevitably snaps, finally giving Getty a piece of his mind before storming out of the room in sheer exasperation. In a surprise turn of events, just days later Fletcher receives a telegram from Getty gifting Gail the entire four million dollar ransom, along with full custody of her children. Bravo to you for finally doing a decent human being thing, mr Getty. It's the bare minimum.

Ashley: 59:19

And this is the grandpa sending the mail about the custody arrangement.

Remi: 59:24

Yes, because they had signed the contract arrangement earlier where Junior was given custody. And this is basically him saying forget that, you have full custody.

Ashley: 59:37

And so through this, Getty and Junior are kind of on the same side.

Remi: 59:40

Junior is a non-factor in this movie, but it does with the custody.

Ashley: 59:45

So that's why I'm asking, because it's going to be important in my portion. So they kind of seem to be fighting together for the custody arrangement here.

Remi: 59:53

In the film the contract is arranged that Junior would get custody if Getty pays for the ransom. Again, I don't know if this happened in reality, but he has a change of heart after his interaction with Fletcher who, like, tells him off for the first time and he basically sends a telegram to Fletcher saying that Gale has full custody now and he will be paying the full ransom. During the exchange, the Malavita instruct Fletcher and Gale to drop the money off on a deserted road, then wait for a phone call on a payphone at a gas station a few kilometers away. After the drop has been confirmed, paul is freed and told to wait at a nearby construction site for his eventual rescue. Things go awry, however, when the Malavita realize that the jig is up after noticing several police helicopters circling. The area resulted in Mamaliti dispatching his men to seek out Paul and finish him off. Before the rescue efforts have been completed, paul spots the Malavitas in pending return while they are fast approaching and quickly flees from the pickup location, stumbling upon a small town, frantically searching for a place to hide with the Malavita still hot on his heels. Luckily, the police soon arrive on the scene and begin rounding up and arresting all of Paul's kidnappers as Gail discovers a dirty, bloodied and broken Paul wandering the streets alone, and the two tearfully embrace for the first time in several months.

Remi: 1:01:35

Simultaneously, jean-paul Getty passes away completely alone, surrounded by his endless possessions, amid his monumental estate. Sometime later, gale is called into another meeting with Gale's former representative to discuss succession plans for Getty's empire and, in an ironic twist of fate, gale is given the opportunity to take the reins until her children come of age. Gale gladly accepts, and all of Getty's priceless works of art are soon shipped off to Getty's unused villa he had constructed in Los Angeles, california, which you can still visit to this very day and has since been renamed the Getty Museum. The film's closing credits read J Paul Getty's vast art collection became the cornerstone of the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. His family has donated much of his fortune to humanitarian efforts. This film is inspired by true events. Some scenes, characters and dialogue have been fictionalized for dramatic purposes. And that was Ridley Scott's All the Money in the World. What do you think, ashley? I saw you writing so many notes during my little spiel here.

Ashley: 1:02:58

I do have notes. Since we started our new portion of this, of our Dresschon of the Week, I've been writing down notes and then, as you have gotten closer and closer to the ransom, I started jotting down notes for me later for when we say our verdict. So I don't want to do any spoilers on either of those. But what I will say is I very much enjoyed the tv show that I watched of this and the few clips you showed me of this. It is a movie I want to see. It looks like it's shot really cool.

Remi: 1:03:30

It looks like it's dark it is a very dark film. It's very desaturated. All of the shadows are very accentuated.

Ashley: 1:03:38

It is a very dark, dreary looking film and it looks like plumber did a really good role as getty. I am most interested in interested in Michelle Williams' role as this mom who is put in this impossible situation. After hearing your description of the film, I am just even so much more disgusted about this pay differential that was between her and Mark Wahlberg. Mark Wahlberg, his character is like so on the sidelines, but it just pisses me off so much more that Michelle Williams got paid so little for this role and she is the main character. This movie is about, this kidnapping, but she ends up being the main character in this, in this movie, and she just got paid nothing and got fucked over with all these reshoots and it is so disgusting to me that this happened to her.

Remi: 1:04:34

She is definitely the star of this film and it's sort of crazy to me that Mark Wahlberg got paid more. His character is very I don't know. It's like attached to her character. You could remove his character from every scene and just have Michelle Williams' character, and it would still have the same effect. So again, I guess it just comes down to level of celebrity, which is why he was paid so much more. But I think it's insane that Michelle Williams, who is the star of this movie let there be no debate about that, this is a Michelle Williams movie, but she was for some reason paid a fraction of the amount she deserved for this role and she is great in the role. I haven't praised her at all all, but she does do a fantastic job in this film and it's just even so crazy to me because it's not like in 2017.

Ashley: 1:05:35

Michelle williams was like a random girl where this is her first screen role. She was still a star.

Remi: 1:05:41

She had been in brokeback mountain, she had been blue valentine, that's my favorite one blue valentine is one of the most tragic love stories committed to film I have seen, and so long, and her and ryan gosling are fucking brilliant had she done that marilyn monroe movie probably not yet my life with marilyn.

Ashley: 1:06:06

That movie wasn't very good but it was still a big one. But at this point in time everyone still knew who she was, if not for her acting roles, because of her relationship with Heath Ledger. So she wasn't like a random person who hadn't been in any movie roles before. She was a known actress and now if you see a Michelle Williams movie, you know it's going to be a respected film.

Remi: 1:06:31

And I honestly just think it's because Michelle Williams has chosen a lot of roles that are more small, more independent. They are not blockbuster roles. Michelle Williams is an actress. She likes to perform in roles, no matter what the caliber of it is, and I think that she was drawn to this role beyond the fact that Ridley Scott was directing it, beyond the fact that it was this big Kevin Spacey movie. I think that Michelle Williams is a very underappreciated actress and I think this movie is a very good example of that. More so Blue Valentine, I highly recommend. I think that is her best performance, but she is magnificent in this movie as well.

Ashley: 1:07:19

What happens next?

Remi: 1:07:21

Well, All the Money in the World currently has an approval rating of 79% on Rotten Tomatoes, with a critical consensus that reads All the Money in the World offers an absorbing portrayal of a true story brought compellingly to life by a powerful performance from Christopher Plummer. Again, no mention of Michelle Williams in any of these reviews.

Remi: 1:07:44

Christopher Plummer is great, but come on, man, you gotta give her props. She's amazing. All the money in the world went on to gross just over $25 million in North America and an additional $31 million overseas, for a worldwide total of $56 million against a production budget of $50 million. So this movie really didn't make any money.

Remi: 1:08:10

But if you take away the $10 million they had to do for reshoots, but you usually have to add double the production for marketing and promotion and all of that stuff. So in that regard this movie did fairly badly.

Ashley: 1:08:26

True, true, I forgot about the marketing.

Remi: 1:08:29

Well. This film was nominated for a slew of awards, however, with director Ridley Scott and Michelle Williams both being nominated for Golden Globes, but it was Christopher Plummer's standout performance as John Paul Getty that was largely considered to be the highlight of the entire film, and I would be inclined to agree with that statement. Christopher Plummer is great in this movie. This is probably the best performance I've ever seen Christopher Plummer do. Plummer was nominated in the category of Best Supporting Actor at the AARP Movies for Grownups Awards, the British Academy Film Awards, the Golden Globe Awards and, at 88 years of age, Christopher Plummer became the oldest Academy Award nominee in an acting category, surpassing Gloria Stewart, who was 87 when she was nominated for Titanic.

Ashley: 1:09:29

I knew it. I knew it was going to be Titanic. I knew it.

Remi: 1:09:33

I was keeping that as a last minute surprise. I knew you would see it coming, but I thought that would be a fun little thing to add in there. But yeah, Christopher Plummer, oldest Oscar nominee ever before, Gloria Stewart from Titanic, which I can't believe she was nominated. She's barely in that movie. Christopher Plummer has so many more scenes than she did.

Ashley: 1:09:56

Okay, so I'm gonna push back on that. It's not that I can't believe she was nominated. It's I can't believe she and literally every single other person who touched their fingers on Titanic, except for Leonardo DiCaprio was nominated.

Remi: 1:10:11

Gloria Stewart should not have been nominated for an Academy Award over Leonardo DiCaprio in. Titanic.

Remi: 1:10:19

I will commit to that, to my death. Gloria Stewart is barely in that movie, and that line where she's talking about it was the most erotic experience of my life. She is not even good in that movie, and that line where she's talking about it was the most erotic experience of my life. She is not even good in the movie. Leo is the star of the film. That movie wins every award and you don't nominate the star of the film. What the hell, Hollywood?

Ashley: 1:10:42

We have lots and lots and lots of opinions about Titanic and Leonardo DiCaprio. But back to All the Money in the World.

Remi: 1:10:50

That is besides the point, but that was All the Money in the World directed by Ridley Scott. It is a very interesting tale and one that I don't know anything about the real story so I am actually really anxious to hear the side of it. Ashley, would you fill us in on what really happened with J Paul Getty?

Ashley: 1:11:15

Yes, and before we even get to the kidnapping, I want to talk a little bit about who John Paul Getty was and how this global oil empire came to be.

Remi: 1:11:27

And I really want to know, because the movie really did not dive into that much at all, other than the fact that he discovered oil in Saudi Arabia.

Ashley: 1:11:37

John Paul Getty was born in Minneapolis on December 15, 1892. Two years prior, his parents' first child died from typhoid, when she was just 10 years old. Their mom, sarah, also contracted the illness and sustained permanent hearing loss which left her almost completely deaf by the time she was 50. Out of fear of losing a second child, sarah was overprotective of John and discouraged contact with other children out of fear of contagion. She was also careful not to show him too much affection in case he suffered the same fate as the younger sister. He never knew the patriarch of the family, george Getty, used his law degree to start a prospering insurance business and traveled to a reservation in Oklahoma to settle an insurance claim in 1903. Since he was there during the beginnings of the oil boom which we talked about in our episode on Killers of the Flower Moon.

Remi: 1:12:35

I was going to ask did he drill for oil on any of the Osei Indian reservations?

Ashley: 1:12:41

He did. He leased a plot for $500.

Remi: 1:12:44

How much did that plot end up being worth?

Ashley: 1:12:48

Well, soon after, he was averaging 100,000 barrels of oil per month and started the Minnehoma Oil Company, turning him into a millionaire by 1906.

Remi: 1:13:01

And a millionaire at 1906 is, let's face it, a billionaire by today's standards.

Ashley: 1:13:08

I do want to note that the amount of money in this episode one there's just so many numbers and by any sort of standards a millionaire now versus a millionaire then it's still an insane amount of money. So I didn't do any sort of adjustment for inflation. It just goes to show you that in the years when we're saying this is how much this family had times that by God only knows a lot. As George was spending more and more time in Oklahoma, sarah decided it was time to move to California and built a home outside of LA. Being cut off from the family's support further fueled John Getty's introversion. He made few friends during his four years in military school and was nicknamed Dictionary.

Remi: 1:14:04

Getty, as he always had his nose in a nickname.

Ashley: 1:14:07

He briefly studied at USC and Berkeley, but put his studies aside in favor of the nightlife scene by the time he was 17 years old. After a few years, his fascination with European culture prompted him to fly the nest with the goal of getting into Oxford College. After about a year, George grew tired of funding Getty's excursion and decided it was time for his son to come home to learn the family business. Getty was given $10,000 and instructed to find his own oil in exchange for a 30% commission rate. At this point in 1914, World War I and the automotive industry had just taken off, resulting in a high demand for the product. Getty secured his first oil lease in August 1915. Several plots later, he became a millionaire by the time he was 24 years old.

Remi: 1:15:00

He was a millionaire at 24 years old in the early 1900s.

Ashley: 1:15:06

Around 1917, he had the idea to expand the oil company to fields in California. With the growing success of the company, the name was soon changed to Getty Oil Inc.

Remi: 1:15:18

Which you all have probably gotten gas at maybe even this week.

Ashley: 1:15:23

Getty loved two things throughout his life money and women. His first of five failed marriages to women much younger than him started in 1923.

Remi: 1:15:34

Five marriages Wow okay.

Ashley: 1:15:37

At the age of 30, he secretly married 17-year-old Jeanette Dumont 17?.

Remi: 1:15:43

What the fuck is with these old dudes and marrying teenagers. What the fuck is with these old dudes and marrying teenagers.

Ashley: 1:15:49

Although he was quite the drummer, he had a tendency to become disinterested in his wives soon after the marriages and subsequent pregnancies, resulting in repeated affairs, divorce proceedings and allegations of domestic violence Before his first divorce was finalized in 1926, he briefly married 17-year-old Aileen Ashby, but the union was dissolved shortly after he was really into 17-year-olds, apparently. Well, just wait. This marriage to Ashby was the only wife with whom he did not have children. In 1928, when he was 36 years old, he married his third wife, 17-year-old Adolphine Helm.

Remi: 1:16:32

I'm noticing a pattern here.

Ashley: 1:16:35

This union started just days after his divorce to Aileen was finalized. Soon after this marriage ended, he married 21-year-old Ann Wark in 1932. His last and longest marriage was to Teddy Lynch. They were together from 1939 to 1958. Getty's rapid succession of marriages and word about how he treated his wives and employees resulted in his father substantially writing him out of his will. When George died in 1930, Getty inherited just $250,000 of his father's $10 million fortune. In addition to the third state in Getty Oil, Sarah, his mother got everything else, which included controlling interest in Getty Oil. The board of directors made him president of the company under the assumption that as a minority shareholder, he wouldn't have enough power to make any serious decisions. This was problematic, as Getty wanted nothing more but to prove his father wrong by expanding Getty Oil into every branch of the business.

Remi: 1:17:42

A little side diversion here. We just watched a documentary on Vince McMahon from the WWE and there is a weird pattern of these old billionaires just seeking their father's approval through these cold-hearted, ruthless means. I will never understand it. It's a different generational thing, especially with billionaires, so I'm definitely never going to understand it. It seems like fathers were cruel to their children back in the day, even rich children, just to teach them the ways, or something like that.

Ashley: 1:18:23

And this is a trend that Getty will continue to live by. I think it's kind of like I had to do all of this hard work. It shouldn't just be handed to you. You have to prove yourself.

Remi: 1:18:36

And I'm just going to make a personal side note here. This is something that I feel is very prevalent in the filmmaking industry, where people were treated very poorly by the people that were above them previously and, as a result, they treat the people below them when they reach those same positions very poorly, and it is just a mindset that I will never understand. Like you had to struggle and you hated it, why would you make other people struggle and hate it the same way that you did?

Ashley: 1:19:10

Well, I think for George Getty it was because his view of his business was different than the one his son has adopted, and thus he treated his employees different. So I think really the real reason why he was not just automatically given this company and why he was only given I mean, I don't want to say only because $250,000 in 1930, certainly nothing to scoff at, but his father also had $10 million in that time, from what I've read, what it sounds like what was most concerning to George Getty was not that he didn't believe in his son, but that he disagreed with how his son treated other people. So anyway, getty had this desire to expand to not only oil production but every part of the oil business, everything from refining it to pumping it at gas stations. So because of that he begged Sarah, his mother, to sell him the remaining two-thirds shares of the company, but she held on to them as she felt Getty's expansion was against George's wishes.

Remi: 1:20:19

I'm sorry to keep bringing up Vince McMahon, but this is very, very. We just watched the documentary about the whole thing and this is a very similar story of a father not believing that their son would handle their business correctly, so making them do these other hoops to jump through and, as a result, their son turning out to be even more ruthless and cold-hearted than their father would ever have imagined and cold-hearted than their father would ever have imagined.

Ashley: 1:20:54

Although the Great Depression and stock market crash in the 1930s devastated most Americans, it provided Getty a unique opportunity With shares in other oil companies at record lows. He embarked on an expansion mission, quietly purchasing shares of publicly traded companies to gain control of them. At the same time, he finally convinced Sarah to sell him two-thirds interest in Getty Oil in return for promissory notes at the price of $4.6 million plus 3.5% annual interest. Sarah was also a very smart businesswoman. Sarah was also a very smart businesswoman. Three years later, she created the Sarah C Getty Trust to protect the family's assets and interests of Getty's children in case his desperate pursuit for global domination bankrupted him.

Remi: 1:21:42

Wow, good on her.

Ashley: 1:21:47

The trust was a happy medium for Getty and Sarah. As principal trustee, he had absolute power over the capital and could invest and use it to continue to purchase shares of other oil companies. He could also decide how payments from the trust would be made, either in cash dividends or further shares in the trust, by limiting cash payments or withdrawals. This meant the income was protected from taxation and overutilization. For Sarah, she could rest assured that a majority of the funds would continue to procure interest for years to come, providing a comfortable nest egg for her grandchildren.

Ashley: 1:22:24

As Getty continued to purchase shares in other oil companies at record low prices while at the same time continuing to increase his oil production. The Sarah C Getty Trust reached $18 million, an almost 600% increase in just two years. America's demand for oil reached an all-time high by the end of World War II. As the US started to shift their attention to the Middle East, getty learned about the neutral zone 2,000 miles of desert with shared oil rights between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Although everyone viewed this land as essentially useless, getty decided to take control of it sight unseen useless Getty decided to take control of it sight unseen.

Remi: 1:23:12

So he did not arrive via train in the middle of the desert to discuss oil rights with the leaders of Saudi Arabia.

Ashley: 1:23:17

Oh no, not only was he not there, but to do this, he offered the king of Saudi Arabia and the Sultan of Kuwait a deal they couldn't refuse 40% profit from each barrel of oil they produced, plus a $20 million down payment, regardless of if anything was found on the land.

Remi: 1:23:38

How much did this end up being worth in the end? I am fascinated. I know it's a fortune.

Ashley: 1:23:45

Well, Getty did find oil, and lots of it, but it was low grade and thus in low demand. So to circumvent this, he spent close to $500 million updating or building new oil refineries in the states and creating tanker fleets that could transport it. He even had to build a port and deepen the Delaware River so it could accommodate his massive ships.

Remi: 1:24:12

This must be the super tanker that is talked about in the film.

Ashley: 1:24:17

It is, and, as we all know, the Middle East is rich in oil. So, basically, getty jumped ship no pun intended on America's quest to get oil from the Middle East and, instead of doing some sort of deep surveillance to see if it was worth it, he got lucky and was like I'm going to take control over this 2,000 miles of desert, and it proved to be a gold mine.

Remi: 1:24:42

He rolled the dice and it was one of the biggest wins in financial history, from the sounds of it.

Ashley: 1:24:50

Oh, it sure was. Over the next 12 years, Getty Oil built 15 separate wells in the neutral zone. By the mid-1950s, he completed his acquisition of several of his biggest oil competitors, including smaller subsidiaries in the European market, and merged these holdings into Getty Oil. By 1957, at the age of 66, he was accruing half a million dollars a day, earning him the title of the richest American in the world.

Remi: 1:25:22

Half a million dollars a day. I cannot even fathom that amount of money.

Ashley: 1:25:31

It goes back to the difference between someone who is rich and someone who is wealthy. The Getty family is wealthy. They could never spend all the money they have in their lifetime. There's no way. This is an insane amount of money this person was making.

Remi: 1:25:46

It's a level of wealth that any normal person will never even be able to comprehend. Imagine if money meant nothing to you whatsoever. I can't even think of that.

Ashley: 1:26:02

An important part of Getty's financial strategy was to plow all the company's profits back into the trust, thus ensuring its capital would steadily increase and remain untouched from overspending and taxation. So, essentially because all this money was being put back into a trust, none of it was being taxed. In all of Getty's life, he barely paid more than $500 in taxes a year.

Remi: 1:26:29

I hate to say it, but that doesn't seem too rare for millionaires and billionaires these days in America. It seems like there are ways for the richest of the rich to place their money in other areas that can help them pay the least amount of taxes possible. Other areas that can help them pay the least amount of taxes possible.

Ashley: 1:26:49

I could go on and on about this, but I'm not, because this is not a politics podcast, it's a true crime movie podcast.

Remi: 1:26:57

True, I hold my tongue. Continue with the story, please.

Ashley: 1:27:06

Since Getty managed and directed every detail of the company remotely from Paris, followed by England in 1960, he essentially wrote off everything he possibly could as a business expense, so this includes pretty much everywhere he lived Before he ended up buying his like Tudor style mansion castle. He would rent because he could write it off as business expenses. And even when he bought his castle, it was written off because it was his headquarters.

Remi: 1:27:33

I guess it's smart doing that sort of thing, but I can't help but feel like damn dude, like why even worry about it? You're so rich, why care about those little things?

Ashley: 1:27:46

Because his biggest goal in life was to make sure that the Getty name had money, and so this was one way he did it.

Remi: 1:27:54

He's making millions of dollars every single week. I just can't even fathom this amount of money.

Ashley: 1:28:03

He was also very frugal when it came to operating costs. He reused envelopes, had small electrical fires in his Tudor-style mansion in place of central heating and installed an actual payphone for guests so he wouldn't have to pay for visitors' phone calls. He also never bought anything unless he could convince himself that it would appreciate in value. So this ended up paying off well for him, because during World War II, when everything was cheap, he would buy very, very expensive like European furniture at basically pennies on the dollar. Hold on to it. And then, after the war, when everything just jumped up, it was worth millions of dollars and he got it for essentially nothing.

Remi: 1:28:53

I'm still hung up on the whole reusing envelopes thing that you just said.

Ashley: 1:28:58

Oh, he would get envelopes and he would take off the stamps and then, like, resend them.

Remi: 1:29:04

That is fucking bonkers.

Ashley: 1:29:08

Now that we know how Getty built his empire, it's finally time to move on to the rest of the family. Getty had five sons born between 1924 and 1958. George, ronald, gordon, eugene this is Junior and Timothy.

Remi: 1:29:26

So he did not have a son named after himself.

Ashley: 1:29:30

He ends up changing his name later, eugene does. Getty hardly ever saw or spoke to his kids while they were growing up, even though most of them were raised in California. The only time four of the five were together was for Christmas Eve in 1939. Since they were essentially strangers with the exception of Gordon and Eugene aka Junior they were understandably suspicious of one another, especially once Getty started to establish contact and groom them for the Getty dynasty around the time each of them started to turn 18.

Ashley: 1:30:05

Timothy was the only one who didn't take up a job with Getty Oil. When he was six, he needed brain surgery to remove a tumor which left him partially blind and disfigured. While Getty was in Paris in 1958, he got a call from Teddy informing him that Timothy was getting cosmetic surgery to remove his forehead scars. Although Timothy begged Getty to return to the States, he opted to stay in Paris and was meeting with an art dealer at the day of his 12-year-old son's head operation. Four days later he learned that his son had not survived. This general disinterest in his son's life outside of the work they did for the company extended into adulthood, as he never attended any of their weddings, sometimes not even acknowledging the celebratory events. Firstborn, george, started his Getty Oil career as a representative in the neutral zone, eventually becoming president of the Tidewater Oil Company at the age of 31. The second son, ronald, joined the marketing department in 1951 and was running it three years later.

Ashley: 1:31:17

Of all of Getty's children, ronald was the only one that was essentially excluded from the trust. While all of the other children received percentage payments based on the value of the trust, which by the early 1980s was reaching about $28 million in annual interest payments, ronald's payments were limited to just $3,000 per year, why? Well, getty's divorce was a bitter one, since he blamed her and his father-in-law for the hefty settlement he was forced to pay. He convinced Sarah to limit the payments when they established the trust, arguing that since Ronald's father was rich which, by the way, he was basically in prison and lost all of his money because he refused to work for Hitler. But Getty was like well, ronald's gonna get money anyway, which he didn't. Although Ronald was later made the executor of Getty's will and a trustee of the J Paul Getty Museum, which I'll talk about a bit later, ronald was never written to the trust, despite intermittent promises from his father to do so.

Ashley: 1:32:31

Being employees of Getty Oil did little to form a relationship between the half-brothers. George resented having Ronald in the company, and Ronald became increasingly aware of the massive handicap of being the only son excluded from the trust. Although Ronald was promoted to a German branch and did well there, he realized he didn't really have a future with the company and left in 1964, determined to make his own fortune. George, on the other hand, certainly didn't fare much better. As president of Tidewater he received the most scrutiny from his father. Their communication centered around the most minute mistakes or failures, with all of Gordon's successes being completely ignored.

Ashley: 1:33:18

The stress of it all caused him to start drinking in 1973, and before long he was mixing his booze with sedatives and speed. He was mixing his booze with sedatives and speed. After an argument with his wife in June 1973, just one month before the Rome kidnapping a heavily intoxicated George, locked himself in his bathroom, swallowed a large amount of pinot parvabitrol, which is a barbiturate most often used for anxiety and insomnia, and tried to stab himself with a barbecue fork. Since Getty despised drug use and bad publicity, he instructed first responders to take his comatose son to a smaller hospital further away. There was little pushback, since everyone assumed George was just in a drunken stupor, not realizing he was actively dying from a fatal overdose. George did not survive the night. Although Getty refused to talk to anyone about George's death, he did hang up a photograph of him in the hallway of his English mansion.

Remi: 1:34:23

I mean, I guess that's the least you can do. I mean I guess that's the least you can do.

Ashley: 1:34:26

Getty's fourth wife gave birth to Eugene and Gordon in 1932 and 1933, respectively. Despite being the only two sons raised together, they couldn't have been more different. Eugene was extroverted and always up for an adventure, while Gordon was more reserved and interested in music, poetry and economic theory. Getty only visited them once in pre-adolescence and hardly spoke to them for the next 12 years. When Eugene was 12, he wrote his father a letter which was mailed back unanswered, with all of the spelling and grammatical errors corrected. Both sons started working for their father in November 1956, shortly after Eugene's first son, john Paul Getty III, was born. The men reached out to their half-brother, george, who graciously offered them a job pumping gas. Two years later, getty called Eugene out of the blue and offered him an opportunity to prove himself through a position in the neutral zone. Since Eugene's wife Gail and his infant son would have to come along, getty summoned the young family to Paris to meet them. During the visit, a violent demonstration broke out near Paris, so Getty took the family to Brussels for a few weeks until things calmed down. So Getty took the family to Brussels for a few weeks until things calmed down. Getty actually enjoyed his first ever family vacation, he was delighted by 17-month-old Paul's curiosity and charmed by Gail. After getting to know the family, getty decided the Arabian Desert was no place for them and offered Eugene a job as a general manager at Golfo Oil. In a final act that would solidify Eugene's title as Getty's current favorite son, he changed his name to John Paul Getty Jr. Since Getty decided he still needed someone in the neutral zone, he decided it was as good a place as any for Gordon. This stand was short-lived, since Gordon helped a female staff member who had an affair flee the country to avoid prosecution. As a result, the Saudis placed him under house arrest. Getty was unsympathetic to Gordon's good deeds, since he wanted to maintain a positive relationship with the government and thought well, since the woman knew the rules, she should be ready to pay the price for breaking them. Gordon was transferred to a managerial role with a trailer company in Tulsa, oklahoma, but he soon grew tired of it and quit to finish his college degree at Berkeley.

Ashley: 1:37:03

By 1970, gordon was in a happy marriage with three sons but found himself strapped for cash, which the couple found ridiculous given who his father was. With encouragement from his wife, he filed a lawsuit to try to access some of his money locked away in the Sarah C Getty Trust. He tried to explain that the lawsuit wasn't personal and just a way to clarify an obscure financial situation, but the old man was furious and viewed it as a threat to the future of the Getty fortune. You see, to avoid taxes, getty paid his children in stocks rather than cash dividends, which increased the beneficiaries holding in the trust but wasn't considered taxable income. In the lawsuit, gordon claimed he should have been paid 6-7% interest in cash, not in stocks, since the trust was developed in 1936. This lawsuit dragged on for seven years and although Gordon ultimately lost his wife, anne did persuade Getty to make a payout to her husband, junior and George. While you think this would have been the end of the relationship between Getty and Gordon, it actually did wonders to forge a bond. Gordon was the only son who demonstrated the will and determination to oppose his father and Getty respected him for it. He started spending more time with Gordon's family and appointed him as the trustee of the John Paul Getty Museum and as the Sarah Getty Trust in 1972.

Ashley: 1:38:43

Gale and Jr had three more kids by 1962, aileen, mark and Aradine. But Paul remained Getty's favorite, which makes everything that transpired during the kidnapping even more alarming. Despite the large family, paul and Gail were essentially living separate lives. Junior spent most of his time at home drinking alone and hated working for Getty Oil. Their divorce in 1964 was amicable. Gail didn't try to get any of Junior's money and the couple started a new trust for their children with the caveat that anyone who married before the age of 22 would get nothing, as they hoped it would protect them from potential gold diggers.

Ashley: 1:39:29

Two years later Junior met and married Talithia Pole. By this time Junior had fallen out of favor with his father, mostly because a golfo oil refinery in Naples was doing poorly. Getty also learned the couple had adopted a hippie lifestyle and started using drugs, two things he disapproved of. Junior's newfound lifestyle of worldwide travel and drug use didn't bode well with his former life as a family man and businessman he saw his children less and less was blacklisted by Getty until he got off heroin and resigned from Gulfo Oil in May 1968. Shortly after he and Talitha had a son whom they named Tara Gabriel. Galaxy Gramophone Getty.

Remi: 1:40:18

Why? Why was she named that?

Ashley: 1:40:21

It's a he.

Remi: 1:40:22

Why were they named that?

Ashley: 1:40:24

It's a very interesting name, that's for sure, I mean.

Speaker 1: 1:40:28

It's a ridiculous name, it's for sure. I mean it's a ridiculous name.

Ashley: 1:40:30

It's the 60s free love saxophone like gramophone saxophone what was it?

Remi: 1:40:38

gramophone? Oh my god, that's ridiculous.

Ashley: 1:40:41

Don't name your children gramophone well, shortly after the, they resumed the lifestyle of drugs and infidelity and Gail offered to take custody of Tara Gabriel Galaxy Gramophone.

Remi: 1:40:57

Why is he named Galaxy? Why is the Galaxy part even thrown in there?

Ashley: 1:41:01

By the summer of 1970, junior was splitting his time between his mistress Victoria who he did marry in 1994, and Talitha. Talitha managed to kick her heroin addiction and shocked Junior when she asked for a divorce the following year. He insisted he still loved her, promised he would get clean and convinced her to stay with him for a few days on July 9, 1971. The next morning Talitha was rushed to the hospital in a coma and died without regaining consciousness. The post-mortem examination revealed she died of cardiac arrest and had high levels of alcohol and barbiturates in her system. Junior left Tara with Gail and fled to Thailand after an investigation was opened into Talitha's death to determine if he contributed to her death by supplying her any sort of illicit substance. Basically, the rumors was he injected her with heroin and she died even though there was no heroin found in her system. Stricken with guilt and grief, he relied on drugs more than ever to numb his pain. Two months later he moved back into the London home he shared with Talitha and kept all of her belongings right where she left them. Although he only lived 30 minutes away from his father, getty refused all contact with his son and removed him from the will entirely. Of all of Gale's children. Junior's growing absence and Talitha's sudden death had the most impact on Paul. By 1973, at the age of 16, he'd quit school, started dating a 24-year-old single mother and moved into a studio with two other aspiring painters.

Ashley: 1:42:50

Paul was kidnapped while walking home around 3am on July 10, 1973. I'm only including this next part because it might play into our objection of the week later. But he was not kidnapped in a van. He was kidnapped in a small white Fiat. The kidnappers were a gang of petty criminals loosely associated with the Calibrian Mafia, an ancient federization of families from the poorest part of Italy who made their money by offering protection for local racketeers and poor residents. A few months prior, some younger members decided kidnapping the wealthy teen would be a quicker source of profit, as they were certain the ransom would be paid quickly. Paul was driven to the rural countryside at the toe of Italy and held captive in forested huts. He was chained by his ankles and fed a minimal diet consisting primarily of cold spaghetti, canned tuna and water for the next five months.

Remi: 1:43:55

There was a member of the kidnappers that Paul not befriended but was like nice to him throughout. Was there someone in this group that was at least a little bit compassionate to Paul during this whole thing?

Ashley: 1:44:11

I'm assuming it is supposed to be the one person who is the one that, like, facilitated the communication between the gang and Gail that is who it is in the movie. The following evening, gail received a call from a man informing her Paul was kidnapped and would only be released once a hefty ransom was paid. After she said she didn't have much money to give, she was instructed to call her father-in-law, since he had all the money in the world.

Remi: 1:44:40

Did they have an actual dollar amount that they were asking?

Ashley: 1:44:44

Not, yet it does come in a minute.

Remi: 1:44:46

So what were they asking during this time?

Ashley: 1:44:50

At this point they were just saying yo, lady, we got your kid get a ransom together. It's going to be a lot, but they didn't give her a specific amount yet.

Remi: 1:44:59

So they may have known that she didn't have the money and they were kind of giving her a heads up like hey, we're asking for a ransom. You should get a hold of your father-in-law.

Ashley: 1:45:09

Oh, they probably just assumed they would call the mom of this super wealthy teen and say this is the ransom for your son, and she'd be like, ok, when and where. And when she said no, they obviously knew who John Paul Kitty was. So they're like, ok, you don't have any money, go to that guy. Gail immediately contacted local authorities and was interrogated for the next five hours. In the end they assumed Paul just ran off and would turn up on his own. The media got wind of the news the next morning and casted further doubt on the kidnapping's legitimacy. Most of the articles focus on Gail as a mother and Paul's character as a supposed drug-addicted, sex-crazed teenager. In reality, paul had adopted some of his father's lifestyle habits, albeit much to a lesser degree. He did smoke hash, he posed for a photo shoot nude one time to make some cash and he spent a night in jail for participating in a political demonstration.

Ashley: 1:46:14

Gail spent the next 10 days waiting for an update on her son. She felt totally abandoned by the Getty family, as no one reached out to her and the patriarch refused to return her calls. Finally, she received two letters. The first was made from a colorful collage of magazine letters and demanded roughly $17 million for Paul's release. The second was, in Paul's handwriting, begging her to talk to his grandfather and convince him to pay the ransom as soon as possible. Getty made his attitude about paying the ransom clear to the press by issuing the following statement, quote I have 14 grandchildren and if I pay a penny of ransom I'll have 14 kidnapped grandchildren. End quote.

Ashley: 1:47:02

In reality, getty disapproved of Paul's lifestyle and blamed him for being kidnapped in the first place. Over the next month, gale received a few calls from a man who used the codename Sequinta, which is Italian for 50. He was baffled at the old man's refusal to pay the ransom and warned her that his friends were becoming increasingly impatient. With the police making no leeway on the case, they decided the kidnapping was a hoax to extort money from Getty. This theory gained popularity with the press and caused Getty to dig his heels in even deeper.

Ashley: 1:47:39

At the five-week mark, Gale's father, a respected judge who had a friendly relationship with Getty, convinced him that something had to be done. Although he still refused to pay the ransom, he sent Fletcher Chase, a former spy for the CIA and security advisor for oil installations in the neutral zone, to Rome to act as a sort of liaison between him and Gale and to conduct his own investigation into the kidnapping. Fletcher tried to make contact with 50, but his rusty Spanish just annoyed the man. Since Fletcher's investigation turned up nothing, he too started to believe the hoax theory. He also convinced Gale to not attend a planned meeting with 50, which was probably smart, but also further aggravated Paul's captors. They took their anger out on him by confiscating his radio, killing a bird he made a pet right in front of him, keeping him bound and gagged for hours and forcing him to play Russian roulette With little end in sight.

Ashley: 1:48:45

The kidnappers sold their stake in Paul to higher-ranked mafia members who were much colder and more ruthless. To put an end to the hoax theory, they decided to make a clear statement in October. By cutting off his right ear, 50 told Gail about the maiming on October 21st. Around the same time, polaroids of Paul were found in a garbage can in Rome. He also told her the ear was mailed, but postal strikes delayed the package until November 10th. This development gained the attention of the Vatican and President Richard Nixon. To help with the investigation, nixon sent ex-FBI agent Thomas Bamonti to Rome. Although he was successful in reducing the ransom to $3.2 million, getty still refused to paya single cent. Soon after 50 told Gale that if a deal wasn't struck soon, paul's left ear or possibly other parts of his anatomy would soon follow.

Remi: 1:49:49

They said it would be his foot in the movie.

Ashley: 1:49:53

To make matters worse, paul developed a severe infection, pneumonia and a penicillin allergy from the large quantities they started injecting him with to treat his grotesque ear injury. Poor.

Remi: 1:50:07

Paul, that's all I have to say. I feel so fucking bad for this poor kid.

Ashley: 1:50:13

Oh, he is basically scarred for the rest of his life, not only physically but like internally, because of this whole fiasco. Basically, the only reason they like did all this bodily injury stuff was because they were like oh, you think this is a hoax? Well, it's not.

Remi: 1:50:30

Yeah, they were just trying to prove how serious they were. This poor kid is so fucked up he's a teenager.

Ashley: 1:50:38

He's 16 years old, yeah just a high school kid.

Remi: 1:50:42

I could not have met this poor kid.

Ashley: 1:50:45

After Gail's father again contacted Getty, he finally agreed to pay $2.2 million, which was the tax-deductible portion of the ransom. Junior, who was MIA throughout this whole ordeal, reluctantly agreed to pay the last million. But he didn't have any money because he spent it all on drugs, so Getty loaned it to him at a 4% interest rate. A severe winter storm delayed the money exchange for a week. Two days after, three bags of money were given to a man on the side of the road at a rural Italian countryside.

Ashley: 1:51:24

50 told Gail where Paul was going to be released. She hopped in the car and drove there that same night, but when she got there no one was there. However, she did find a blanket and a blindfold that were surely his. Thankfully, paul was quickly found and taken to a rural police station the next day, after five months of this captivity, where their grandfather refused to pay anything and then finally agreed because he could get a fucking tax return on it. Well, it was his 81st birthday, and so Gail said hey, paul, you should call your grandpa and say thank you. When that call came through, getty refused to take it.

Remi: 1:52:09

Of course he's a coward.

Ashley: 1:52:12

Gail and her children spent the next several months recuperating in the Austrian mountains and soothing Paul, who was plagued by depression and nightmares. That summer, Paul and his former girlfriend married and moved to Los Angeles. Since he wasn't yet 22 when they married, he was disqualified from receiving any funds from the trust set up by Galen Jr in 1966.

Remi: 1:52:38

Poor Paul man.

Ashley: 1:52:50

Usually, when you hear about wealthy families like this, it's like anything that happens. You're like whatever.

Remi: 1:52:52

They're rich, but there's a lot of people in this story that you hear about and you're just like, ugh, that is rough. Yeah, they really got put through the wringer, so to speak, in the worst terminology.

Ashley: 1:53:00

Gail and Paul returned to Rome for the trial of seven accused kidnappers in late 1975. As is common in most mafia trials, it was pretty clear that none of the ringleaders were among the defendants. Those convicted received four to ten year prison sentences. Not long after his 80th birthday, in 1972, getty started developing a sense of failure and feared the dynasty would end, as none of his children were good enough to succeed him in the business. It's like strong succession vibes. After the kidnapping, he made attempts to build relationships with his children and grandchildren, including Paul, although Paul's maimed ear was a constant reminder of what happened. Getty refused to acknowledge the kidnapping. Junior was the only member of the family who wasn't invited to Getty's mansion, causing him to slide deeper and deeper into his addiction. John Paul Getty died from prostate cancer alone sitting in his favorite chair, at the age of 83 on June 6, 1976. Per his wishes, his body was laid to rest for a week in the Great Hall, but the only mourners were the security employed to protect his body from potential kidnappers.

Remi: 1:54:20

Yeah, who would give a shit about this old greedy billionaire?

Ashley: 1:54:26

Well, the only one of his kids who went to the funeral was Junior, marking the last time he would be photographed in public for 10 years. Other than the money from the trust, the family pretty much didn't receive anything else, since Getty wanted all of his belongings to be displayed at the John Paul Getty Museum in Malibu. Getty decided to create this museum to hold his art and furniture collection in 1968. He never laid eyes on what the media dubbed a vulgar, tasteless and straight out of Disneyland replica of a Roman castle destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. This didn't seem to bother Getty, though, since he saw the museum as a tax-affected way to continue to accumulate wealth long after his death. Thanks to California's policy to count museums as charities, the IRS couldn't collect taxes on the museum as long as the director spent 4% of the value on new acquisitions each year. Since Gordon was the co-trustee of the museum and the Sarah C Getty Trust, which was valued at $1.8 billion at this time, he became the richest and most important member of the family. After Giddy's death, ronald filed suit against both organizations as he was the single offspring not entitled to any trust money. The museum did settle for $10 million, but he got nowhere in the lawsuit against the trust. By the 1980s, the remaining brothers were receiving $28 million each year from the trust's dividends.

Ashley: 1:56:10

Within two years of the kidnapping, paul developed an addiction to alcohol and drugs to help cope with the trauma from his horrendous experience. He did start taking minor roles in Hollywood in 1981, which did help him reduce his drinking and drug use, since he discovered he couldn't act when wasted. But he had a severe overdose on April 5, 1981. He had a stroke, fell into a coma, was put on life support and sustained permanent liver and brain damage. Once his brain started to swell, doctors put him into a deep hibernation state, which was the first time this procedure was used on a human.

Remi: 1:56:48

What is a hibernation state?

Ashley: 1:56:52

So basically, from what I could gather, he was in a coma and they basically put him into a deeper coma and the goal was that by reducing your like bodily functions and brain activation, that it would slow everything down even more. Your brain would unswell and then they would slowly lift you out of the coma. So they do do that kind of thing now, and they had done it before this with animals to some positive effect. But Paul was the first person they had done this on and although when they started lifting him out of this deep hibernation state into the coma he was already in. It did reduce the swelling on his brain but he was still unconscious and he stayed unconscious for six weeks.

Ashley: 1:57:39

Gail researched everything she could find about comas, which in 1981 wasn't much, but she employed what she did find. She talked to him, read to him and played his favorite music. She also arranged for friends and family to sit with him around the clock. Miraculously, after six weeks Paul's coma started to lift, but he was paralyzed from the waist down, could hardly see and could barely talk.

Remi: 1:58:07

In the few photos I saw while doing my research for this movie of the real life Paul. He is in a wheelchair and my first assumption was it was associated with the kidnapping in some capacity. But this is the first I've heard about what actually happened to him and it's pretty tragic.

Ashley: 1:58:29

And you could easily argue that it was a result of the kidnapping, because he was basically fed brandy the entire time he was kidnapped. He got addicted to alcohol very soon. He was depressed and had severe PTSD symptoms. So he used drugs to combat those. And then when he tried to kick his addiction, he did with the help of several sedatives that doctors prescribed him. So when he went into his coma he was prescribed morphine on top of like four or five other benzos, and that's what put him into his coma, poor Paul.

Ashley: 1:59:07

After he awoke, providers told Gail that Paul would be bedridden and probably best served in an institution for the rest of his life. But she pushed back against that. She turned her guest house into a private clinic of sorts and hired around-the-clock care. Gordon was instrumental in this, as he made sure his nephew got the best care money could buy. After a year of refusing to shell out a single cent for his son's medical expenses, junior finally agreed to chip in, but the damage his reluctance did to his relationship with his kids had already been done.

Ashley: 1:59:47

Paul never fully recovered from his overdose, but he did slowly regain some independence, articulation and strength as the years progressed. He died at the age of 51 on February 5, 2011. After the co-trustee and lawyer for the Sarah C Getty Trust died in 1982, gordon decided it was time to learn more about the state of Getty Oil, since it was where the money was invested. He was met with opposition from the board, as they viewed him as a simpleton and treated him as such. In response to Gordon's probing, they tried to persuade family members to file a court petition to appoint Bank of America as an additional trustee under the grounds that Gordon was incompetent.

Remi: 2:00:34

Never appoint Bank of America as your trustee. That's just a warning to anyone out there.

Ashley: 2:00:40

Well, oddly, their first choice in family members to do this was Mark, which was one of Junior's sons, and he was so thrown off by this offer that he personally flew to California to tell Gordon about the plan. They then convinced Junior to file a petition on behalf of 15-year-old Tara Gabriel Galaxy Gramophone, but Gordon already knew about their plan, so to block it, he went to the co-chairman of the Getty Museum and got him to join him. With his help, gordon received enough stake in the company to dismiss the entire board of Getty Oil entirely and gain primary control of the company. In January 1984, he sold Getty Oil to Texaco for $10 billion, making it the largest corporate acquisition in US history at the time.

Remi: 2:01:36

That is more money than I can even fathom.

Ashley: 2:01:42

Overnight, the value of the Sarah C Getty Trust leapt from $1.8 to $4 billion, meaning Gordon made more money in this single deal than his father did in his entire lifetime. However, not everyone in the family was happy with this outcome. Most notably, gordon's three daughters went to court to punish Gordon by forcing him to pay taxes on the sale of Getty Oil. In response, gordon decided to put an end to the trust once and for all. After paying close to a billion dollars in taxes, he divvied up the rest into four separate trusts, giving each side of the family control of their own finances. Each side of the family control of their own finances. A fifth trust was created for Ronald's children, but since he couldn't ever prove Getty intended to add him to the trust, he essentially couldn't touch it. While we're on the topic of Ronald, he invested everything into the California building boom, but a hotel deal went belly up and since he had the Getty name, creditors only went after him for repayment. Once he filed for bankruptcy in December 1992, gordon and Jr set up a payment plan to help him pay down the debt. In order to reach a settlement, gordon also arranged for Ronald to get an annual payment as a paid consultant for his own family's trust. He died at the age of 80 on July 13, 2009. With Junior now receiving a million dollars a week in interest payments, he started to make steps to improve his life. Shortly after the merger with Texaco, he checked himself into a long-term rehab clinic, started going to church and worked on repairing his relationship with his kids. He also began donating most of his funds to charity. In 1985, he opened a charitable trust and used the funds to donate to environment conservation and social aid causes involving mental illness, addiction, homelessness aid causes involving mental illness, addiction, homelessness and abuse survivors. He remarried in 1994 and died from a chest infection at age 70 on April 17, 2003.

Ashley: 2:03:56

One of the last travesties to befall the Getty family involved Junior and Gil's daughter Aileen. She rebelled against her family after her brother's kidnapping as she no longer trusted most of them. By the age of 20, she was addicted to drugs, required nasal surgery from the amount of cocaine she was using and was prone to bouts of depression. She married Elizabeth Taylor's son in 1980, but the couple struggled to have children. As luck would have it, she learned she was pregnant immediately after they adopted a son in a last-ditch effort to save their marriage in 1984. Eight months after her delivery, she tested positive for HIV. As president of the American Foundation for AIDS Research, elizabeth Taylor was the best suited to provide Aileen the support she desperately needed. She let Aileen stay in her mansion and comforted her whenever she needed, which, after reading this, made me have so much respect for Elizabeth Taylor. This was at a stage in history when everyone was terrified of HIV and Elizabeth Taylor was like oh, I got you, I know about it.

Remi: 2:05:09

Props to Liz.

Ashley: 2:05:10

Aileen was hopeless after learning about her diagnosis and ramped up her drug use, causing her to lose her marriage and children. She was diagnosed with full-blown AIDS and told she had six months left to live in early 1990. Aileen was terrified about dying, but she also wanted to advocate for better treatment for female AIDS survivors, which she did through visits, campaigning and also planning a hospice center. She also started to kick her drug habit and regain shared custody of her children. She's still alive to this day and lives in an estate which she purchased from Brad Pitt last year.

Ashley: 2:05:51

Gordon is the last living son of John Paul Getty. He is currently 90 years old and made headlines again in the late 1990s when he acknowledged leading a secret double life that included a mistress and three daughters. The latest Getty tragedy occurred on April 1, 2015, when his 47-year-old son, andrew, was found dead in his home in the Hollywood Hills. The cause of death was an ulcer-related hemorrhage, complicated by methamphetamine intoxication and heart disease. And that is the true story of Ridley Scott's All the Money in the World. Well, remy, what did you think about that wild ride of a summary of not only the kidnapping, but of the Gettys as a family?

Remi: 2:06:40

I have always had a fascination with the super wealthy and how they got to where they got, and I think it is one of the more fascinating stories that is in that sort of genre. I guess I am astonished with the greed, I am astonished with the amount of children that were left out of the film and it is really just flabbergasting what a selfish greedy prick this guy was. What do you think, Ash?

Ashley: 2:07:11

One thing I found really interesting was how Getty made his money really out of spite to his dad for writing him out of the will, and Ronald followed down that same path, albeit much to a lower success rate, that is for sure.

Remi: 2:07:27

Spite is a strangely powerful motivator. With that we are going to trot along to our section of the show, which is our objection of the week. Your Honor I object. And why is that, Mr Reed? Because it's devastating to my case.

Ashley: 2:07:47

Overruled. Good call. Remy, why don't you kick this one off? Because I have two, so I want to see if one of the ones I have you're going to take.

Remi: 2:07:56

Alright, and again for those listeners who are just joining us for the first time and might not be familiar, our objection of the week is a change made in the film adaptation of the true story. That was completely superfluous and meaningless and pointless Like why even bother making that change? So for this week my objection is the fact that in the film Paul is kidnapped in a van. You know they hop out and throw Paul into the back, but in reality he was kidnapped in a Fiat. So that is my objection of the week.

Ashley: 2:08:31

I didn't catch that one and that's a really, really good one. The one I'm going to go with, I know, is when you had written down, and that was the fact that they said one million of the ransom would have been tax deductible, when it was really 2.2 million.

Remi: 2:08:47

And the ransom was lowered to 3.2 and not 4 million. So again there's like strange little number variations going on that I guess are for dramatic purposes, but the car thing I don't know. I think that one's pretty pointless.

Ashley: 2:08:59

Yeah, I'm gonna ditto that one and you take the cake on this one.

Remi: 2:09:03

Two in a row one and you take the cake on this one, two in a row, sustained, double sustained.

Speaker 1: 2:09:09

All right, and now we will carry on to the final portion of our podcast at the conclusion of each episode, our hosts will deliver a verdict based on the film's accuracy. If the film is an honest portrayal of the events, then it will earn a not guilty verdict. If the adaptation is mostly factual but creative liberties were taken for the sake of entertainment, the film will be declared a mistrial. But if the film ultimately strays too far from the truth, then it will be condemned as guilty and sentenced to a life behind bars.

Remi: 2:09:42

And since I kicked things off for our objection portion, Ashley, would you like to tell me what your verdict is?

Ashley: 2:09:50

Yes, I will. I'm pretty surprised at my verdict, and I think you are too. But hear me out, I am giving all the money in the world a guilty verdict.

Remi: 2:10:02

Okay, you're going to have to explain this one.

Ashley: 2:10:05

So it is just pretty much focusing on the kidnapping only, since all the other stuff was omitted, which is fine. That's not my issue with it. I have several differences or discrepancies that I noticed as you were talking. Some of the smaller ones are like where Fletcher first met Gail at Giddy's house instead of at her apartment in Rome, which, whatever. I also think that Fletcher's entire role in the film was ramped up. He sounds like he was just doing so much more than he actually was and I think his character was kind of a composite of both him, who he's based on, and also the former FBI agent that Richard Nixon sent to help.

Ashley: 2:10:56

But really my biggest qualm about the film is just how Getty was depicted. He doesn't come off as ruthless as he is talked about in the book and at some points he kind of seemed like fun and funny and just kind of more caring than what I took away while reading the source material that this movie is based on. Perhaps the biggest issue I have is pretty much everything from the custody arrangement on isn't how the kidnapping really went down. The custody arrangement thing was different than what was really decided upon. The rescue efforts and how the ransom was exchanged was different. The whole succession thing they threw in the end with like Gail and her kids getting invited into that was not true at all. And then the escape scene they added. That was nowhere in any of the material I read. So for those reasons I'm saying it's guilty.

Remi: 2:11:58

Follow-up question to that. You mentioned that Geddy sounded like he was portrayed a bit more warm and caring in the film. Do you think that's something that came down to performance? Do you think Kevin Spacey would have portrayed Getty as the more ruthless, cold-hearted person that he was? I'm not saying that Christopher Plummer portrayed Getty as friendly or anything, but he was more approachable than I feel like Kevin Spacey would have portrayed him, if that makes sense.

Ashley: 2:12:27

Yeah, that's a good point. I can definitely see how that would come across.

Remi: 2:12:31

Well, that was a very daring bold verdict on your part, ashley. I don't think I'm going to be quite that bold. I am going to go with a mistrial, and this is one of the few times we disagree. Usually we see eye to eye on these things.

Remi: 2:12:47

A big part of why I am giving this film a mistrial is because this film did the rare thing where at the beginning and end of the film they emphasize the fact that large portions of this film were made up for dramatic purposes. They have that appear before the credits at the end and it is the first thing you see at the beginning. So this whole film is bookended with warnings saying take all this with a pinch of salt. I almost count that as a confession on their part. So I would give this film a mistrial based on that. I do think that there are a lot of key points that are dramatized for the film, but a lot of key points are still there. The framework is there. I see the story still there. Is it a good depiction of the story? An accurate one? Probably not, but I do think that the framework of the story is still there. So it's a weak mistrial verdict from me.

Ashley: 2:13:48

And those are all fair points. We can now let the audience decide, and if you are listening to this and would like to let us know what you think, please do reach out at Criminal Adaptations, either on Instagram or Gmail.

Remi: 2:14:02

And we also have a TikTok and, like Ashley said, an Instagram. Everything is at criminal adaptations All of our social media. If you want to reach out to us For any questions, comments or, better yet, if you would like to leave us a five star review. That really helps the algorithm and help get the word out and hopefully some more people can join in and listen If you've been enjoying and comment. Hopefully some more people can join in and listen. If you've been enjoying and comment something nice, we will read it on the air and thank you and you will have a praise on a podcast that you can save in your podcast library or something like that. That is it for this week, ashley. What are we doing next week?

Ashley: 2:14:41

Next week we're doing a movie and story that I had never heard of before, but it is based on the murder of a man called Bob Crane, who got famous through his role in the TV series Hogan's Heroes, which I have never seen. I think I've heard the name before but knew nothing about what the plot is. But the movie is called Autofocus, and all I know about it is from what you've told me and that it has William Dafoe in it.

Remi: 2:15:08

I saw this movie back when I was a teenager. It was that point in my life where I was seeking out messed up films and when I heard about this and the true story background about Bob Crane being a sexual deviant and supposedly murdered by someone who had been videotaping his deviancies for him. And I don't remember a ton about it, but I do remember. I liked it back in the day and I'm looking forward to revisiting it next week. But until then, everyone, thank you again. Court is adjourned.