MOVIE · 1986

Ruthless People

ComedyCrime93 min

Sam Stone is a rich businessman who can’t stand his wife, so when Barbara is kidnapped for ransom, he sees an opportunity instead of a crisis. Danny DeVito is the smug, scheming Sam, while Bette Midler’s Barbara quickly becomes a hostage no one can control for long. The kidnappers, an aggrieved young couple with Judge Reinhold and Helen Slater in over their heads, expect a payoff and find a husband hoping they never call back. As the ransom scheme unravels, the movie bounces between marital contempt, criminal confusion, and one bad plan colliding with the next.