History Film / RuthlessPeople

* RhetoricalQuestionBackfire:

* RhetorialQuestionBackfire:

* AnimatedCreditsOpening: The opening credits, directed by renowned indie animator Sally Cruikshank, are a clever series of ruthless acts, like stabbing, poisoning, arson, etc.

* AnimatedCreditsOpening: The opening credits are a clever series of ruthless acts, like stabbing, poisoning, arson, etc.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Sam gives this to Ken over his failure to actually kill Barbara. See RefugeInAudacity.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Sam gives Ken this over his failure to actually kill Barbara. See RefugeInAudacity.

** Sam [[EtTueBrute feels betrayed]] when his attack dog, Adolf, becomes friends with Muffy instead of killing her, and has torn up his tuxedo, despite the fact that he was planning to betray Barbara in a [[TheBluebeard much worse way]].

* HypocriticalHumour: Ken gently carrying a spider out of the house while expounding to Sandy the necessity of thinking ruthless. (And then opening the door again to stomp on it.)

-->'''Sam:''' [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech I believe this]] ''[[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech is]]'' [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech a joke, pal, and you're it! The last time we spoke you said my wife would be in the morgue if I didn't pay. Well, I didn't pay and just today I was at the morgue and she wasn't there. You lied to me! You know what I think of you?]]

-->'''Sam::''' [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech You got no nuts! What do I have to do? Put a gun in your hand, aim and]] ''[[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech pull your finger down]]'', [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech you spineless wimp?!]] '''''I dare you to kill her!''' (slams phone down)'' Now that oughta do it!

-->'''Ken:''' [[BlatantLies Mr. Stone, this is no joke! We're desperate people! We...]]
-->'''Sam:''' Time out! I believe this ''is'' a joke, pal, and you're it! The last time we spoke you said my wife would be in the morgue if I didn't pay. Well, I didn't pay and just today I was at the morgue and she wasn't there. You lied to me! You know what I think?

-->'''Sam::''' You got no nuts! What do I have to do? Put a ''gun'' in your ''hand'', aim and ''pull your finger'' down, you spineless wimp?! '''''I dare you to kill her!''' (slams phone down)'' Now that oughta do it!

A modern update of O Henry's ''The Ransom Of Red Chief''[[note]]Though Dale Launer, the film's writer, claimed he had based the film on the [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patty_Hearst abduction of Patty Hearst]], and that any similarities between the film and the short story were coincidental[[/note]], and the only traditional, non-RapidFireComedy by the Creator/ZuckerAbrahamsAndZucker team. It also proved to be the last time all three men would direct as a trio.

* UsefulNotes/LosAngeles
* MassiveMultiplayerScam: A simple kidnapping turns into this by the end of the movie.

-->'''Barbara:''' ''(whistles)'' Nice butt. That's what they'll say.
-->'''Ken:''' I beg your pardon?
-->'''Barbara:''' Nice butt. That's what they'll say on your first day, in the men's club.
-->'''Ken:''' The men's club?
-->'''Barbara:''' Mmm. The San Quentin Country Club. With a cute little rear end like that, you'll be the belle of the ball. [[PrisonRape Your dance card'll be filled every day.]] You'll be so popular, making all kinds of new, close friends. Big, ugly, hairy friends! Not that you'll ever see what they look like, 'cause you'll be facing the other way.
-->'''Ken:''' [[ShutUpHannibal You're very good at this.]] [[DeadpanSnarker You should write children's books.]]

-->'''Lt. Walters''': This could very well be the stupidest person on the face of the earth. Perhaps we should shoot him.

* download[[spoiler:Ken, Sandy, and Barbara after making off with most of the ransom money.]]

* OneDialogueTwoConversations: ''Constantly.'' Sam talks about the kidnapping but Carol thinks he's talking about the murder he had planned. Carol thinks she's talking about evidence that proves Sam killed his wife but Chief Benton thinks he's being blackmailed into arresting an innocent man. Sam talks about having rough sex but Carol thinks he's threatening to torture and kill her. Then you have this exchange when Sam is looking for a dog to kill Muffy and in the office with Carol:
-->'''Carol:''' Is there anything else you desire?\\
'''Sam:''' How 'bout a big dog? Can you get one?\\
'''Carol:''' A big.... dog?\\
'''Sam:''' Yeah, like a Great Dane or a mastiff. How big does a shepherd get?\\
'''Carol:''' Sam, as sexually provocative as I like to think I am...\\
'''Sam:''' ''(rolling eyes)'' I'm not askin' you to screw the dog, Carol. ''({{beat}})'' It's for ''me''.

* FramingTheGuiltyParty: Subverted. When Carol (unknowingly) blackmails Chief Benton into arresting Sam for murdering Barbara, he is caught off-guard when his attempt to frame Sam is sidelined by his men finding ''real'' evidence implicating him. However, while the evidence is ''very'' strong, Sam ''is'' innocent.

* AntiVillain: Ken and Sandy aren't bad people in any shape or form. If anything, they're two of the nicest people in the entire movie. The reason they kidnap Barbara is because they were ripped off by Sam and are willing to blackmail him to get even. Even then, they're more than accommodating with Barbara, [[spoiler: even befriending her and teaming up with her to finally get the ransom money in the end]].

* AutoErotica: Chief Benton has wild sex with a prostitute at night in his car while Earl Mott is filming both of them in an attempt to prove Sam Stone murdered his wife.

* {{Blackmail}}: Carol and Earl try to do this with Sam at first. Only Earl was an idiot who wasn't paying attention to what he was taping. They sent the video to Sam do this, only he enjoyed what he saw and wanted to do the same to Carol next time they slept together. Mistaking it for a threat, they sent the tape to police chief Benton -- only to ''unintentionally'' do this to him as the tape that was supposed to be the "evidence" of Sam killing Barbara was really of Benton cheating on his wife with a hooker.

* YourCheatingHeart: Chief Benton pays a hooker to have sex with because he doesn't like his wife's reactions in the bed. [[spoiler:She fins out when Carol and Earl watch the video of Benton having sex with a hooker to find out why Benton couldn't keep him in jail and take it to a store to watch the tape only to realize it wasn't evidence of Sam killing Barbara.]]

* {{Blackmail}} Carol and Earl try to do this with Sam at first. Only Earl was an idiot who wasn't paying attention to what he was taping. They sent the video to Sam do this, only he enjoyed what he saw and wanted to do the same to Carol next time they slept together. Mistaking it for a threat, they sent the tape to police chief Benton -- only to ''unintentionally'' do this to him as the tape that was supposed to be the "evidence" of Sam killing Barbara was really of Benton cheating on his wife with a hooker.

* {{Blackmail}} Carol and Earl unintentionally do this to Chief Benton. As Earl was an idiot who wasn't paying attention to what he was taping, the "evidence" of Sam killing Barbara was really of Benton cheating on his wife with a hooker.

* YourCheatingHeart: When Carol and Earl watch the video of Benton having sex with a hooker to find out why Benton couldn't keep him in jail and take it to a store to watch the tape only to realize it wasn't evidence of Sam killing Barbara, a woman yelling out "That's my husband!"

* [[spoiler: [[WealthyEverAfter Wealthy Ever After]]: Ken, Sandy, and Barbara after making off with most of the ransom money.]]

* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Two detectives walk along the boardwalk discussing how great it is that Barbara and Sam have been reunited. Meanwhile, Barbara is kicking Sam's ass behind them.

* HypocriticalHumour: Ken gently carrying a spider out of the house while expounding to Sandy the necessity of thinking ruthless.

* MistakenForMurderer: A {{justified| trope}} form in that Sam said he was going to kill Barbara. Things just get really confused over what actually happens.

* YourCheatingHeart:
** The Chief gets caught in some very off the wall implications of this.
** Sam is cheating on Barbara with Carol and Carol is cheating on Sam with Earl.

A modern update of O Henry's ''The Ransom Of Red Chief''[[note]]Though Dale Launer, the film's writer, claimed he had based the film on the [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patty_Hearst abduction of Patty Hearst]], and that any similarities between the film and the short story were coincidental[[/note]], and the only traditional, non-RapidFireComedy by the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker team. It also proved to be the last time all three men would direct as a trio.

--> '''Barbara''': MY HUSBAND WORSHIPS THE GROUND I WALK ON! WHEN HE FINDS OUT ABOUT THIS, HE WILL EXPLODE!!

-->'''Sam:''' I had to live with that squealing, corpulent little toad all these years. God, I hate that woman. I - I - I hate the way she licks stamps! I hate her furniture! And I hate that little sound she makes when she sleeps. ''(makes wheezing sounds)'' And that filthy little shitbag dog of hers... "Muffy"!

-->'''Barbara:''' It could mean the difference between life, and the chair! ''(pretends to be electrocuted violently)'' Or the gas chamber. ''(makes hissing and gasping sounds)'' Sometimes, if it’s a firing squad? They miss all the major arteries! BANG! ''(slumps as if shot)'' And you don't die right away, you kinda just... hang on... bleeding... BLEEDING...\\

'''Barbara:''' ''Endlessly!!!''

* NiceGuy: Ken, who refuses to force people to buy the biggest speakers in the store, and even ''tells'' them how the store rips people off with them by overpricing. At one point, Ken, infuriated at being manipulated into dropping the ransom ''again'' by Sam, decided to be "ruthless" and force a kid barely out of school into buying the expensive speakers even though he can't afford it ("That's the beauty of it. If you can't afford it, fuckin' finance it! Who cares if it's as big as Subaru and costs twice as much, you'll never have to upgrade it and when you die you can be buried in 'em!"), but when he sees said kid has a pregnant wife, he backs off and suggests the bargain speakers again.