Movie
Ruthless People
Crime film with a runtime of 93 minutes, released in 1986. Presented in English.
At a Glance
Synopsis
Sinister comic tale about a slippery businessman who is secretly delighted when his wife is kidnapped, as he'd been planning to murder her anyway. What he doesn't know is that his girlfriend is planning to take him to the cleaners and that his wife is more than a match for the luckless kidnappers, who wouldn't - and couldn't - harm a fly. Directed by the team behind 'The Naked Gun' and 'Airplane!', 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.
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Cast
- Danny DeVito
- Bette Midler
- Anita Morris
- Judge Reinhold
- Helen Slater
- Bill Pullman
- William G. Schilling
- Art Evans
- Clarence Felder
- J.E. Freeman
- Jonathan Coleman
- Gary Riley
- Phyllis Applegate
- Jeannine Bisignano
- J.P. Bumstead
- Jon Cutler
- Susan Marie Snyder
- Jim Doughan
- Christopher Keene
- Arnold Turner
- Bob Tzudiker
- Louise Yaffe
- Janet Rotblatt
- Charlotte Zucker
- Frank Sivero
- Twyla Littleton
- Jan de Bont
- Gib Jaffe
- Ellen Chenoweth
- Dale Launer
- Don Woodruff
- Joanna Lancaster
- Rosanna Norton
- Walter Yetnikoff
- Arthur R. Schmidt
- Jim Teegarden
- Richard Wagner
- David Zucker
- Lilly Kilvert
