Ruthless People (1984)

Greed can make people do shocking things, like refusing to pay a single penny to get your own wife back. Jim Abrahams and David and Jerry Zucker, the team behind "Airplane!," directed "Ruthless People," a wickedly funny comedy written by Dale Launer. Danny DeVito stars as Sam Stone, a sleazy clothing tycoon who's about to murder his shrill, wealthy wife, Barbara (Bette Midler), for her fortune, when he discovers she's already been kidnapped. Her abductors, Ken and Sandy Kessler (Judge Reinhold and Helen Slater), are a sweet but hopelessly inept young couple seeking revenge because Sam stole Sandy's design for a spandex miniskirt and made millions from it. Thrilled, Sam refuses to pay the ransom, forcing the frustrated kidnappers to keep lowering their price. Meanwhile, Barbara, locked in their basement, takes up exercise, sheds her bitterness and bonds with her captors. Complicating matters, Sam's scheming mistress (Anita Morris) and her dim-witted boyfriend (Bill Pullman, in his film debut) try to blackmail him, only to stumble onto a hilarious videotape mix-up involving the police commissioner. Mick Jagger sings the title song.