History Film / ThrowMommaFromTheTrain

Writer Larry Donner (Crystal), suffering from severe writer's block, has taken to teaching writing to aspiring (if not necessarily talented) would-be writers, and thus meets simpleton Owen Lift ([=DeVito=]). Larry is wracked with jealous rage over his ex-wife Margaret (Kate Mulgrew), who became a world-famous author after stealing his book and publishing it as her own. Owen, meanwhile, fantasizes about offing [[MyBelovedSmother his abusive Momma]] (Anne Ramsey).

* PrecisionFStrike: Mr. Pinsky's book was titled, "100 Girls I'd Like To Fuck". It was changed to "Pork" in ADR to get the film a PG-13 rating and avoid an R rating (Billy Crystal is very clearly mouthing the word "Fuck" when he reads the title).

* OneBookAuthor: InUniverse, Margret seems to be satisfied with milking the hell out of ''Hot Fire'', and not even attempt to write another book.

* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Despite being MyBelovedSmother, Momma really does love Owen. For example, when Owen manages to clear her ear canal (after fantasizing about shoving a pair of scissors through her brain, of course), she coos, "Owen! My little baby! My little baby!" During the final sequence, Owen decides he doesn't want Larry to kill her. It's never outright stated in the film, but Momma may be suffering severe dementia, and Owen - who isn't the brightest bulb in the box - is struggling to cope with it.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Owen is an impossible nice ShrinkingViolet -- but is perfectly willing to commit cold-blooded premeditated murder without blinking.

** [[spoiler:Larry's ex-wife gets away with stealing his book, and all the accolades with it, and at the end is set to make more money with the story of how she survived falling off the ship. Larry's victory is simply that he learns to stop obsessing over her, which lets him write another great book.]] (Then again, [[spoiler:her success may not last; she seems intent on milking the book for all it's worth, ie. benefiting from the film rights, but it's tough to follow an act that wasn't yours in the first place, and now that Larry's found success he would have an easier time proving she stole his work.]] Adding to that, even if [[spoiler:Larry weren't successful in writing a new book, Margaret's plan still has 2 fatal flaws in it. 1: She's blowing through the money faster than you could say "bankruptcy", without a plan to make more once the hype of "her" book dies down. And 2: She keeps constantly saying in interviews that she not only has an ex-husband who was also a writer, but one in the same genre who has been published before, meaning sooner or later people are going to read Larry's work and find out they're a little too similar. It's not even wishful thinking to conclude that Margaret's only a KarmaHoudini because of where the movie ended.]])

* ArcWords: "Criss cross!"

-->'''Larry:''' ''(watching Owen in a bathing suit and ready to scuba dive)'' Hey, Beth, ever see a weevil snorkel?

* WriteWhatYouKnow: InUniverse, the hidden writing {{Aesop}} of the film. While Larry criticizes Mrs. Hazeltine for not knowing the names of the instruments on a submarine, and praises another student for using his experiences in the naugahyde industry to write a compelling exposé, he doesn't conquer his writing block [[spoiler:til he writes of his experiences with Owen]].

* WriteWhatYouKnow: InUniverse, the hidden writing {{Aesop}} of the film. While Larry criticizes Mrs. Hazeltine for not knowing the instruments of a submarine are, and praises another student for using his experiences in the naugahyde industry to write a compelling exposé, he doesn't conquer his writing block [[spoiler:til he writes of his experiences with Owen]].

* WriteWhatYouKnow: The hidden writing {{Aesop}} of the film. While Larry criticizes Mrs. Hazeltine for not knowing the instruments of a submarine are, and praises another student for using his experiences in the naugahyde industry to write a compelling exposé, he doesn't conquer his writing block [[spoiler:til he writes of his experiences with Owen]].

* AffectionateParody: Of Hitchcock mystery film, considering that ''Film/StrangersOnATrain'' is central to the plot (and has multiple PlotParallels).

%% * AffectionateParody

* CoitusUninterruptus: Owen interrupts Larry and Beth's lovemaking on a kid's train.

* BaitAndSwitch: Owen approaches slowly behind Larry in a laundromat with what looks like a garrote, looking like he's going to strange him for giving him a hard time in writing class. He startles Larry, and apologizes, holding up a tie, saying Larry dropped it and he was worried it was going to get "rooned" in the rain.

* GainaxEnding: InUniverse, [[spoiler:the way Larry ends his book ''Throw Momma From the Train'']]: "Fate makes you impotent, love makes you crazy, somewhere in the middle you can survive."

* BaitAndSwitch: Owen approaches slowly behind Larry with what looks like a garrote, looking like he's going to strange him for giving him a hard time in writing class. He startles Larry, and apologizes, holding up a tie, saying Larry dropped it and he was worried it was going to get "rooned" in the rain.

* BaitAndSwitch: Owen approaches slowly behind Larry with what looks like a garrote, looking like he's going to strange him for giving him a hard time in writing class. He startles Larry, and apologizes, holding up the tie, saying Larry dropped it and he was worried it was going to get "rooned" in the rain.

* AffectionateParody

* MyBelovedSmother: ''And HOW''.