  ruthless people is a 1986 black comedy film written by dale launer, directed by david zucker, jim abrahams, and jerry zucker, and starring danny devito, bette midler, judge reinhold, anita morris, and helen slater, with bill pullman in a supporting role in his film debut. it is the story of a couple who kidnap their ex-boss's wife to get revenge and extort money from him. they soon realize he does not want her back and was planning to kill her himself. meanwhile the boss's mistress plans a blackmail attempt on him which also does not go as planned. although it has been perceived that ruthless people was influenced by o. henry's story the ransom of red chief, writer dale launer claims that it was inspired by the kidnapping of patricia hearst and that the similarities between the film and the earlier story was a coincidence.van gelder, lawrence (july 17, 1986). "hearst case inspiration for `ruthless.`" chicago tribune. ==plot== millionaire sam stone (devito) intends to murder his hated wife barbara (midler) to gain control of her $15 million family fortune and run off with his mistress carol (anita morris). however, he is pre-empted by a phone call from an anonymous man announcing that barbara has been kidnapped and that sam must pay a ransom of $500,000 or she will be killed. overjoyed, sam deliberately disobeys all of the kidnapper's demands (e.g., not paying the ransom, contacting the press and the police), believing this will ensure his wife's death. he is happy that she will die and he won't be legally implicated in her death. the kidnappers are ken (reinhold) and sandy kessler (slater), who want revenge on sam for stealing sandy's fashion design, along with the kesslers' life sav
1980s_comedy_films 1986_films Adultery_in_films American_black_comedy_films American_criminal_comedy_films English-language_films Films_about_abduction Films_directed_by_David_Zucker Films_directed_by_Jerry_Zucker Films_directed_by_Jim_Abrahams Touchstone_Pictures_films