Film director Nick Leisure grew up in South Sacramento, and Saturday night he'll premiere a film inspired by a 1991 hostage event that remains the largest hostage rescue attempt in US history. The director is local and so is the story. Its based on the hostage stand off at the "Good Guys" electronic store near the Florin Mall. What started as a suspected robbery turned into a 10 hour stand off between Sheriffs deputies and four Vietnamese gunmen holding 41 hostages. Leisure says he studied the case but insists his film is not a documentary or a piece of journalism.
The movie is called "A Clear Shot" and stars Mario Van Peebles.
It was shot in 18 days at a studio in Mexico originally built for Director James Cameron. Leisure says the production crew built a replica of that south Sacramento shopping center with such detail it gave him chills when he got to the set. Below you'll find our segment from the KFBK Morning news and two interviews: One with the director, Nick Leisure and one with KFBK's John McGinnis, who was there that day and lists the events of the Good Guys hostage rescue attempt as one of the most impactful events of his law enforcement career.
A Clear Shot premiers Saturday night at the IMAX in downtown Sacramento.
About the Good Guys hostage event: On April 4, 1991, Sacramento, forty-one people were taken hostage at a Good Guys electronics store located near the Florin Mall by four gunmen after botching a prior robbery. During the hostage crisis, three hostages, as well as three of the four hostage-takers, were killed. The fourth hostage-taker was captured by authorities, and an additional fourteen hostages were injured during the crisis. To this day, the hostage crisis remains the largest hostage rescue operation in U.S. history, with over forty hostages having been held at gunpoint.
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