Trivia / Ruthless People

• Completely Different Title: "Por fin me la quité de encima" (I finally got rid of her) in Latin America and "¡Por favor, maten a mi mujer!" ("Please, Kill My Wife!") in Spain.
• Life Imitates Art: In the film, which premiered on June 12, 1986, when police surround Ken, Sam gloats, "they're from the government, they're here to help you!" Two months to the day later, on August 12, 1986, Ronald Reagan gave a press conference and delivered his now-famous quip, "I've always felt the nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.'"
• Parody: "Weird Al" Yankovic did a parody of the title song called "Toothless People", expecting the film to be a smash hit. It was, but the title song itself wasn't.
• Playing Against Type: The only film directed by the entire Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker trio to be a more traditional, story-driven comedy rather than their hundred-joke-a-minute screwball comedies they were known for. It was also the last hurrah for the three-man directing team itself, as all their future cooperations would only have one of them directing.
• Typecasting: You couldn't get two more vanilla actors in Judge Reinhold and Helen Slater to play the milquetoast kidnappers.

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