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Price: $9.99The Sting
Actors: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw, Charles Durning, Ray Walston
ASIN : 0783225873
Sales Rank : 335
Director : George Roy Hill
Brand : Universal
Studio : Universal Studios
Region Code : 1
Format : Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780783225876
ISBN : 0783225873
UPC : 025192016523
Release Date : December 31, 1998
Publisher : Universal Studios
Manufacturer : Universal Studios
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Universal Studios
Running Time : 129
Product DescriptionThe winner of 7 Academy Awards including Best Picture, The Sting has become one of America's favorite and most critically acclaimed films. Robert Redford and Paul Newman star as two con men in the 1930's out to avenge the death of a friend. They seek revenge on a crime lord (Robert Shaw) with a "sting" that is one of the greatest double-crosses in movie history, complete with an amazing surprise finish. Directed by George Ray Hill and written by David S. Ward. Amazon.com essential videoWinner of seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay, this critical and box-office hit from 1973 provided a perfect reunion for director George Roy Hill and stars Paul Newman and Robert Redford, who previously delighted audiences with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Set in 1936, the movie's about a pair of Chicago con artists (Newman and Redford) who find themselves in a high-stakes game against the master of all cheating mobsters (Robert Shaw) when they set out to avenge the murder of a mutual friend and partner. Using a bogus bookie joint as a front for their con of all cons, the two feel the heat from the Chicago Mob on one side and encroaching police on the other. But in a plot that contains more twists than a treacherous mountain road, the ultimate scam is pulled off with consummate style and panache. It's an added bonus that Newman and Redford were box-office kings at the top of their game, and while Shaw broods intensely as the Runyonesque villain, The Sting is further blessed by a host of great supporting players including Dana Elcar, Eileen Brennan, Ray Walston, Charles Durning, and Harold Gould. Thanks to the flavorful music score by Marvin Hamlisch, this was also the movie that sparked a nationwide revival of Scott Joplin's ragtime jazz, which is featured prominently on the soundtrack. One of the most entertaining movies of the early 1970s, The Sting is a welcome throwback to Hollywood's golden age of the '30s that hasn't lost any of its popular charm. --Jeff Shannon Amazon.comWinner of seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay, this critical and box-office hit from 1973 provided a perfect reunion for director George Roy Hill and stars Paul Newman and Robert Redford, who previously delighted audiences with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Set in 1936, the movie's about a pair of Chicago con artists (Newman and Redford) who find themselves in a high-stakes game against the master of all cheating mobsters (Robert Shaw) when they set out to avenge the murder of a mutual friend and partner. Using a bogus bookie joint as a front for their con of all cons, the two feel the heat from the Chicago Mob on one side and encroaching police on the other. But in a plot that contains more twists than a treacherous mountain road, the ultimate scam is pulled off with consummate style and panache. It's an added bonus that Newman and Redford were box-office kings at the top of their game, and while Shaw broods intensely as the Runyonesque villain, The Sting is further blessed by a host of great supporting players including Dana Elcar, Eileen Brennan, Ray Walston, Charles Durning, and Harold Gould. Thanks to the flavorful music score by Marvin Hamlisch, this was also the movie that sparked a nationwide revival of Scott Joplin's ragtime jazz, which is featured prominently on the soundtrack. One of the most entertaining movies of the early 1970s, The Sting is a welcome throwback to Hollywood's golden age of the '30s that hasn't lost any of its popular charm. --Jeff Shannon
Reviews for the The Sting
List Price: $14.99Price: $9.99You Save: $5 (33%)O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Actors: Michael Badalucco, George Clooney, Frank Collison, Charles Durning, Wayne Duvall
ASIN : B00003CXRM
Sales Rank : 550
Brand : Buena Vista Home Video
Studio : Touchstone
Region Code : 1
Format : Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780788826887
ISBN : 0788826883
UPC : 786936144758
Release Date : December 12, 2001
Publisher : Touchstone
Manufacturer : Touchstone
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Touchstone
Running Time : 103
DescriptionDisenchanted with the daily drudge of crushing rocks on a prison farm in Mississippi, the dapper, silver-tongued Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney, THE PERFECT STORM) busts loose. Except he's still shackled to his own chain-mates from the chain gang -- bad-tempered Pete (John Turturro, SUMMER OF SAM), and sweet, dimwitted Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson, HAMLET). With nothing to lose and buried loot to regain -- before it's lost forever in a flood -- the three embark on the adventure of a lifetime in this hilarious offbeat road picture. Populated with strange characters, including a blind prophet, sexy sirens, and a one-eyed Bible salesman (John Goodman, COYOTE UGLY), it's an odyssey filled with chases, close calls, near misses, and betrayal that will leave you laughing at every outrageous and surprising twist and turn. Amazon.comOnly Joel and Ethan Coen, the fraternal director and producer team behind art-house hits such as The Big Lebowski and Fargo and masters of quirky and ultra-stylish genre subversion, would dare nick the plot line of Homer's Odyssey for a comic picaresque saga about three cons on the run in 1930s Mississippi. Our wandering hero in this case is one Ulysses Everett McGill, a slick-tongued wise guy with a thing about hair pomade (George Clooney, blithely sending up his own dapper image) who talks his chain-gang buddies (Coen-movie regular John Turturro and newcomer Tim Blake Nelson) into lighting out after some buried loot he claims to know of. En route they come up against a prophetic blind man on a railroad truck, a burly, one-eyed baddie (the ever-magnificent John Goodman), a trio of sexy singing ladies, a blues guitarist who's sold his soul to the devil, a brace of crooked politicos on the stump, a manic-depressive bank robber, and--well, you get the idea. Into this, their most relaxed film yet, the Coens have tossed a beguiling ragbag of inconsequential situations, a wealth of looping, left-field dialogue, and a whole stash of gags both verbal and visual. O Brother (the title's lifted from Preston Sturges's classic 1941 comedy Sullivan's Travels) is furthermore graced with glowing, burnished photography from Roger Deakins and a masterly soundtrack from T-Bone Burnett that pays loving homage to American '30s folk styles--blues, gospel, bluegrass, jazz, and more. And just to prove that the brothers haven't lost their knack for bad-taste humor, we get a Ku Klux Klan rally choreographed like a cross between a Nuremberg rally and a Busby Berkeley musical. --Philip Kemp
Reviews for the O Brother, Where Art Thou?
List Price: $19.97Price: $13.99You Save: $5.98 (30%)Arsenic and Old Lace
Actors: Cary Grant, Josephine Hull, Jean Adair, Raymond Massey, Peter Lorre
ASIN : 0790743949
Sales Rank : 612
Director : Frank Capra
Brand : Warner Brothers
Studio : Turner Home Ent
Region Code : 1
Format : Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD-Video, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780790743943
ISBN : 0790743949
UPC : 012569502529
Release Date : December 29, 2000
Publisher : Turner Home Ent
Manufacturer : Turner Home Ent
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Turner Home Ent
Running Time : 118
DescriptionYou'll die laughing! Frank Capra directs Cary Grant, Raymond Massey, Peter Lorre and stellar cast in the hit Broadway farce about a nutcase family with well-intentioned homicidal tendencies. Amazon.com essential videoFrank Capra made this film in 1941 before he went off to make films for America's war effort, but it wasn't released until 1944. Adapted from the hit play by Joseph Kesselring, this frantic black comedy shows Capra at his best as a master of mood and timing. Actresses Josephine Hull and Jean Adair reprise their Broadway performances as two gentle old ladies who poison men with elderberry wine to put them out of their misery. Cary Grant plays one nephew, a normal guy who just gets wind of their little hobby and tries to get them to stop, while Raymond Massey plays another, a villain just escaped from jail. Capra encourages the cast, especially Grant, to give a somewhat more outsized performance than one might expect. But made during the war years as it was, this overstated comic approach to killing was probably cathartic. --Tom Keogh
Reviews for the Arsenic and Old Lace
List Price: $14.98Price: $7.99You Save: $6.99 (47%)Some Like It Hot
Actors: Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, George Raft, Pat O'Brien
ASIN : B00005A06N
Sales Rank : 1195
Director : Billy Wilder
Brand : MONROE,MARILYN
Studio : MGM (Video & DVD)
Region Code : 1
Format : Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780792849605
ISBN : 0792849604
UPC : 027616860385
Release Date : December 22, 2001
Publisher : MGM (Video & DVD)
Manufacturer : MGM (Video & DVD)
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : MGM (Video & DVD)
Running Time : 120
DescriptionWhen Chicago musicians Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon) accidentally witness a gangland shooting, they quickly board a southbound train to Florida, disguised as Josephine and Daphne, the twonewestand homeliestmembers of an all-girl jazz band. Their cover is perfect...until a lovelorn singer (Marilyn Monroe) falls for Josephine, an ancient playboy (Joe E. Brown) falls for Daphne, and a mob boss (George Raft) refuses to fall for their hoax! Nominated* for 6 Academy Awards(r), Some Like It Hot is the quintessential madcap farce and one of the greatest of all film comedies (The Motion Picture Guide). *1959: Director, Actor (Lemmon), Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography (B&W), Art Direction (B&W), Costume Design (B&W, winner) Amazon.com essential videoMaybe "nobody's perfect," as one character in this masterpiece suggests. But some movies are perfect, and Some Like It Hot is one of them. In Chicago, during the Prohibition era, two skirt-chasing musicians, Joe and Jerry (Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon), inadvertently witness the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. In order to escape the wrath of gangland chief Spats Colombo (George Raft), the boys, in drag, join an all-woman band headed for Florida. They vie for the attention of the lead singer, Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe), a much-disappointed songbird who warbles "I'm Through with Love" but remains vulnerable to yet another unreliable saxophone player. (When Curtis courts her without his dress, he adopts the voice of Cary Grant--a spot-on impersonation.) The script by director Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond is beautifully measured; everything works, like a flawless clock. Aspiring screenwriters would be well advised to throw away the how-to books and simply study this film. The bulk of the slapstick is handled by an unhinged Lemmon and the razor-sharp Joe E. Brown, who plays a horny retiree smitten by Jerry's feminine charms. For all the gags, the film is also wonderfully romantic, as Wilder indulges in just the right amounts of moonlight and the lilting melody of "Park Avenue Fantasy." Some Like It Hot is so delightfully fizzy, it's hard to believe the shooting of the film was a headache, with an unhappy Monroe on her worst behavior. The results, however, are sublime. --Robert Horton
Reviews for the Some Like It Hot
List Price: $14.98Price: $7.99You Save: $6.99 (47%)Fargo (Special Edition)
Actors: William H. Macy, Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare, Kristin Rudrüd
ASIN : B00009W5CA
Sales Rank : 1825
Director : Ethan Coen, Jeffrey Schwarz, Joel Coen
Brand : MGM DVD
Studio : MGM (Video & DVD)
Region Code : 1
Format : Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780792858058
ISBN : 0792858050
UPC : 027616884152
Release Date : December 30, 2003
Publisher : MGM (Video & DVD)
Manufacturer : MGM (Video & DVD)
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : MGM (Video & DVD)
Running Time : 98
DescriptionNominated* for seven Oscars(r) and winner of two, this darkly amusing thriller combines a first-rate cast, "a dazzling mix of mirth and malice" (Rolling Stone) and a bizarre kidnapping plot that unravels the Midwest like never before. Starring Frances McDormand, William H. Macy and Steve Buscemi, Fargo is a brilliant tour de force from the creators of Raising Arizonaand O Brother, Where Art Thou? *1996: Best Picture, Director, Actress (McDormand, won), Supporting Actor (Macy), Original Screenplay (won), Cinematography, Editing Amazon.com essential videoLeave it to the wildly inventive Coen brothers (Joel directs, Ethan produces, they both write) to concoct a fiendishly clever kidnap caper that's simultaneously a comedy of errors, a Midwestern satire, a taut suspense thriller, and a violent tale of criminal misfortune. It all begins when a hapless car salesman (played to perfection by William H. Macy) ineptly orchestrates the kidnapping of his own wife. The plan goes horribly awry in the hands of bumbling bad guys Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare (one of them being described by a local girl as "kinda funny lookin'" and "not circumcised"), and the pregnant sheriff of Brainerd, Minnesota, (played exquisitely by Frances McDormand in an Oscar-winning role) is suddenly faced with a case of multiple murders. Her investigation is laced with offbeat observations about life in the rural hinterland of Minnesota and North Dakota, and Fargo embraces its local yokels with affectionate humor. At times shocking and hilarious, Fargo is utterly unique and distinctly American, bearing the unmistakable stamp of its inspired creators. --Jeff Shannon
Reviews for the Fargo (Special Edition)
List Price: $14.94Price: $9.99You Save: $4.95 (33%)Snatch (Widescreen Edition)
Actors: Ade, William Beck (II), Andy Beckwith, Ewen Bremner, Jason Buckham
ASIN : B000093FLA
Sales Rank : 1623
Brand : Sony
Studio : Sony Pictures
Region Code : 99
Format : Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9781404938595
ISBN : 1404938591
UPC : 043396015661
Release Date : December 03, 2003
Publisher : Sony Pictures
Manufacturer : Sony Pictures
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Sony Pictures
Running Time : 103
Product DescriptionA diamond heist gone haywire launches gangsters bookies and a dog on a rollicking ride through the rugged world of bare-knuckle boxing in search of the missing stone. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 01/17/2006 Starring: Benicio Del Toro Vinnie Jones Run time: 103 minutes Rating: R Director: Guy Ritchie Amazon.comUsually it might seem a tad unfair to begin a review by referring to the director's missis. But then the missis in question wouldn't usually be Madonna--a woman whose ability to reinvent herself several times before breakfast seems in marked contrast to that of hubby Guy Ritchie. Certainly, this follow-up to the filmmaker's breakthrough film--the high-energy, expletive-strewn cockney-gangster movie Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels--hardly breaks new ground being, well, another high-energy, expletive-strewn cockney-gangster movie. OK, so there are some differences. This time around our low-rent hoodlums are battling over dodgy fights and stolen diamonds rather than dodgy card games and stolen drugs. There has been some minor reshuffling of the cast too, with Sting and Dexter Fletcher making way for the more bankable Benicio Del Toro and Brad Pitt, the latter pretty much stealing the whole shebang as an incomprehensible Irish gypsy. And, sure, people who really, really liked Lock, Stock--or have the memory of a goldfish--will really, really like this. The suspicion lingers, however, that if the director doesn't do something very different next time around then his career may prove to be considerably shorter than that of his missis. --Clark Collis
Reviews for the Snatch (Widescreen Edition)
List Price: $14.98Price: $7.49You Save: $7.49 (50%)Raising Arizona
Actors: Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter, Trey Wilson, John Goodman, William Forsythe
ASIN : 6305499128
Sales Rank : 1747
Director : Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Brand : CAGE,NICOLAS
Studio : 20th Century Fox
Region Code : 1
Format : Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9786305499121
ISBN : 6305499128
UPC : 086162123023
Release Date : December 03, 1999
Publisher : 20th Century Fox
Manufacturer : 20th Century Fox
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : 20th Century Fox
Running Time : 94
DescriptionVowing to go straight, a convenience store banditt (Nicolas Cage) proposes marriage to the police departments photographer (Holly Hunter). All is wedded bliss until they discover she's unable to get pregnant and are turned down by every adoption agency in town. It does not take long before they realize the only solution is to kidnap one of the town's celebrated quintuplets and hit the road! Amazon.com essential videoBlood Simple made it clear that the cinematically precocious Coen brothers (writer-director Joel and writer-producer Ethan) were gifted filmmakers to watch out for. But it was the outrageously farcical Raising Arizona that announced the Coens' darkly comedic audacity to the world. It wasn't widely seen when released in 1987, but its modest audience was vocally supportive, and this hyperactive comedy has since developed a large and loyal following. It's the story of "Ed" (for Edwina, played by Holly Hunter), a policewoman who falls in love with "Hi" (for H.I. McDonnough, played by Nicolas Cage) while she's taking his mug shots. She's infertile and he's a habitual robber of convenience stores, and their folksy marital bliss depends on settling down with a rug rat. Unable to conceive, they kidnap one of the newsworthy quintuplets born to an unpainted-furniture huckster named Nathan Arizona (Trey Wilson), who quickly hires a Harley-riding mercenary (Randall "Tex" Cobb) to track the baby's whereabouts. What follows is a full-throttle comedy that defies description, fueled by the Coens' lyrical redneck dialogue, the manic camerawork of future director Barry Sonnenfeld, and some of the most inventively comedic chase scenes ever filmed. Some will dismiss the comedy for being recklessly over-the-top; others will love it for its clever mix of slapstick action, surreal fantasy, and homespun family values. One thing's for sure--this is a Coen movie from start to finish, and that makes it undeniably unique. --Jeff Shannon
Reviews for the Raising Arizona
List Price: $14.98Price: $9.99You Save: $4.99 (33%)Return of the Pink Panther
Actors: Peter Sellers, Christopher Plummer, Catherine Schell, Herbert Lom, Peter Arne
ASIN : B0009IW8OE
Sales Rank : 1940
Director : Blake Edwards
Brand : Universal
Studio : Universal Studios
Region Code : 1
Format : Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780783263809
ISBN : 0783263805
UPC : 025192155628
Release Date : December 10, 2006
Publisher : Universal Studios
Manufacturer : Universal Studios
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Universal Studios
Running Time : 119
Product DescriptionInspector clouseau is put on the case when the pink panther diamond is stolen with the phantoms trademark glove the only clue. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 01/10/2006 Starring: Peter Sellers Peter Arne Run time: 113 minutes Rating: G Director: Blake Edwards Amazon.comPeter Sellers's third go-around as the prideful but bumbling Inspector Jacques Clouseau is funny enough, but this 1975 Blake Edwards revival of the Sellers-Clouseau connection is a little weak in comparison to predecessors The Pink Panther and A Shot in the Dark (both made in 1964). Costar Christopher Plummer actually gets some of the most interesting screen time as a retired cat burglar whom Clouseau accuses of getting back into the business. (If it sounds like there might be a To Catch a Thief vibe mixed in here, you're right.) Herbert Lom is hilarious as Clouseau's psychologically eroding boss, and Clouseau's ritualistic collisions with valet Cato (Burt Kwouk) are great examples of Edwards's delicious comic timing. --Tom Keogh
Reviews for the Return of the Pink Panther
List Price: $14.99Price: $9.99You Save: $5 (33%)Badder Santa (Unrated Widescreen Edition)
Actors: Billy Bob Thornton, Tony Cox, Brett Kelly, Lauren Graham, Lauren Tom
ASIN : B00020HAB0
Sales Rank : 1673
Director : Terry Zwigoff
Brand : THORNTON,BILLY BOB
Studio : Miramax Home Entertainment
Region Code : 1
Format : Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0786936245042
UPC : 786936245042
Release Date : December 22, 2004
Publisher : Miramax Home Entertainment
Manufacturer : Miramax Home Entertainment
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Miramax Home Entertainment
Running Time : 98
DescriptionHollywood favorites Billy Bob Thornton (THE ALAMO), Bernie Mac (MR. 3000), and John Ritter (TV’s 8 SIMPLE RULES FOR DATING MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER) kick it up a notch in this unrated version of the outrageous comedy hit BAD SANTA. You'd better watch out -- Santa Claus Willie T. Stokes (Thornton) is coming to town and he doesn't care if you've been naughty or nice. Willie's favorite holiday tradition is to fill his sacks with loot lifted from shopping malls across the country. But this year his plot gets derailed by a wise-cracking store detective (Mac), a sexy bartender (Lauren Graham -- TV's GILMORE GIRLS), and a kid who's convinced Willie is the real Santa Claus! You're sure to believe in BADDER SANTA: THE UNRATED VERSION -- once you experience this longer, funnier, and more explicit motion picture! Amazon.comInstantly qualifying as a perennial cult favorite, Bad Santa is as nasty as it wants to be, and there's something to be said for comedy without compromise. The Coen brothers conceived the basic idea and served as executive producers, but it's director Terry Zwigoff (Crumb, Ghost World) who brings his unique affinity for losers and outcasts to the twisted tale of Willie T. Stokes (Billy Bob Thornton), a hard-drinking, chain-smoking, foul-mouthed sexaholic safe-cracker who targets a different department store every holiday season, playing Santa while he cases the joint with his dwarf elf-partner Marcus (Tony Cox). With comedic support from Bernie Mac, Lauren Graham, Cloris Leachman, and John Ritter in his final film, Thornton milks the lowbrow laughs with a slovenly lack of sentiment, warming Bad Santa's pickled heart just enough to please a chubby misfit (Brett Kelly, hilariously deadpan) who may or may not be mentally challenged. As dry as an arid martini and blacker than morning-after coffee, Bad Santa is an instant cure for yuletide schmaltz, and if you think this appropriately R-rated comedy is suitable for kids, your parenting skills are no better than Willie's. --Jeff Shannon
Reviews for the Badder Santa (Unrated Widescreen Edition)
List Price: $14.98Price: $9.99You Save: $4.99 (33%)Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Actors: Steve Martin, Michael Caine, Glenne Headly, Anton Rodgers, Barbara Harris
ASIN : B00005PJ6O
Sales Rank : 3023
Director : Frank Oz
Brand : TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
Studio : MGM (Video & DVD)
Region Code : 1
Format : Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780792851530
ISBN : 0792851536
UPC : 027616869272
Release Date : December 04, 2001
Publisher : MGM (Video & DVD)
Manufacturer : MGM (Video & DVD)
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : MGM (Video & DVD)
Running Time : 110
DescriptionOne's got a sophisticated, suave and debonair con act. The other's got...well, an act. Together, Steve Martin and Michael Caine are Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and they're absolutely ruining the Riviera in this "hilarious battle of wits and double-crosses" (Boxoffice) that "couldn't be more delightful" (The Wall Street Journal)! Martin is Freddy Benson, a smalltime conman sleazing his way through Europe on whatever handouts he can scam. Caine is Lawrence Jamieson, an impeccably dressed and high-minded artiste who thinks Freddy is giving himand all con mena bad name. At first, Lawrence agrees to help Freddy spruce up his talents and his wardrobe. But when it becomes apparent that the Riviera isn't big enough for the both of them, they make awinner-take-all wager over the fortunes of a naive American soap heiress (Glenne Headly): the firstone to "clean her out" can make the other clear outand keep the Riviera and its unsuspecting tourists to himself! Amazon.comFreddy Benson (Steve Martin) is a crass, loud American. Laurence Jameson (Michael Caine) is a suave, urbane European. Their common ground is that they both are confidence men, and they meet in a train compartment as Benson is scamming his way across Europe, taking advantage of women's generosity. The two are forced into a rivalry, which culminates in a wager to see who can be the first to bilk $50,000 out of American heiress Janet Colgate (Glenne Headly). Their game of one-upmanship is, of course, brought to ridiculous heights as things progress. Written by Paul Henning (the mind behind such TV shows as Green Acres and The Beverly Hillbillies), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is an uneven but funny mix of Martin's physical comedy and Caine's oily charms. Martin's first role as cohort is to assume the persona of Ruprecht, the "special" younger brother intended to scare off potential brides. As Ruprecht, he comes off as a cross between The Andy Griffith Show's Ernest T. Bass and Jerry Lewis; hilarious as it is, it doesn't quite fit with the rest of the film. Once the wager is on, though, Martin slips into his overly earnest mode as an American military man suffering from hysterical paralysis, with Caine as a psychologist who takes on his case. All in all, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (a loose remake of the 1964 film Bedtime Story with David Niven and Marlon Brando) is a droll, intelligent comedy, short on knee slappers but long on comic situations and characterizations. --Jerry Renshaw
Reviews for the Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
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