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The 1986 movie '''Ruthless People''' is a black comedy loosely based on the O. Henry short story The Ransom of Red Chief, that starred Danny DeVito, Bette Midler, Judge Reinhold and Helen Slater. It was directed by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker.

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Plot description

Trivia

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Plot description

When Ken (Reinhold) and Sandy Kessler (Slater) find themselves in an untenable financial position, they hatch a desperate scheme to get rich by kidnapping Barbara Stone (Midler), the overweight loud-mouthed wife of ruthless businessman Sam Stone (DeVito). This scheme is motivated in no small part by the fact that Sam has stolen successful fashion designs from the couple and is thus largely responsible for their woes. They plan to demand a large ransom from Stone.
Things go astray, however, when it becomes obvious that Sam is not only sick of his wife, but is actually overjoyed to find that he doesn't have to go through the trouble of murdering her - all he needs to do is not pay the ransom, and the kidnappers will do his dirty work for him. Unfortunately for him, the Kesslers, while desperate, are not about to murder anyone.
Sandy and Ken discover that Barbara is not keen to return to Sam, either, and the three hatch a plot to get back at him.

Trivia

The film's theme song was written and performed by Mick Jagger. Assuming the song would be a hit, "Weird Al" Yankovic requested (and received) permission from Jagger to record a parody version, "Toothless People", for his upcoming ''Polka Party!'' album. When Jagger's song failed to crack the Top 40, Yankovic considered not recording his version; because Jagger had "authorized" the parody, however, he decided failing to produce it would be an insult to the artist and recorded it. ''Polka Party!'' also failed and became Al's worst-selling album.
Directors Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker are best known for their spoof comedies like the ''Airplane!'' and ''The Naked Gun'' films. This film, by contrast, is a straight comedy bordering on farce, with very few of the innumerable sight gags and puns and jokes of the others movies.

Quote

"I've been kidnapped by Kmart!" - Barbara Stone, on learning that Sam has beaten down the price that Ken has demanded as a ransom.
"I knew that." - Earl Mott, repeatedly.
"We're not cut out to be kidnappers. I can't even sell at retail, and that's legal." - Stereo store clerk Judge Reinhold after steering a naive shopper away from a high margin sound system to a better value system recommended by a consumer's digest.

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