Ruthless People (1986)

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Directed by Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker, David Zucker.

Starring Danny DeVito, Anita Morris, Helen Slater, Bette Midler, Judge Reinhold.

The last film to be co-directed by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker, Ruthless People stars Bette Midler (capitalizing on her comeback performance in Down and Out in Beverly Hills) as Barbara, a spoiled rich woman who is kidnapped by the kindly Ken and Sandy Kessler (Judge Reinhold and Helen Slater). Barbara's forceful husband Sam (Danny DeVito) has ripped off the Kesslers and they decide to hold Barbara for ransom. Sam, who hates his wife, refuses to pay. Eventually Barbara befriends the Kesslers and together they figure out how to exact revenge upon the obnoxious Sam. Bill Pullman makes his film debut here as a very dim, would-be criminal. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

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Reviews and discussions

Your overrated list
by Risselada in Totally Over-rated

lost interest.

"Swingers's detail pageI thought I wouldn't like participating in this group at first because it get's frustrating complaining about movies, but I can't seem to hold myself back. Puhnner, you asked me to list some of my overrated movies, referring to my definition of overrated by ratio. Well I'm not sure if this is going by the same criteria, but I've come up with a list from another source. I also rate movies at the website movielens. It will give you recommendations based on your ratings and whatnot. It also gives some interesting statistics. For one, it tells me which movies I have rated the lowest compared to the average rating on their site. So I have looked at that list and picked several of them. The thing about this method is that I am not using what my impression of the ammount of acclaim a movie has received for the ratio but rather what the ammount of acclaim a website thinks a movie has based on the votes from it's users. Some of t ... " [More]

Review by All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

is neutral about it.

Directed by the same people responsible for Airplane! (1980) and Top Secret! (1985) -- Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and David Zucker -- Ruthless People is a decidedly different effort from the team's trademark gag-a-minute movies. Screenwriter Dale Launer came up with a snappy, low-brow comic farce based on the O. Henry story Ransom of Red Chief, in the process giving the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker trio one of their most cohesive, consistent efforts. The solid casting is highlighted by Bill Pullman's debut performance as an inept petty criminal and Danny DeVito's hilariously spiteful millionaire husband. DeVito is one of the rare actors who can remain charming even when he's being nasty; his frustrations at not being able to get rid of his wife are show-stopping. ~ Brendon Hanley, All Movie Guide

Tags: extramaritalaffair , revenge , betrayal , blackmail , conscam
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