Other Titles • Dirty Rotten Scoundrels • Zwei hinreissend verdorbene Schurken (1989)
Synopses for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)
1.
Freddy 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
2.
Master comedy director Frank Oz (BOWFINGER, IN & OUT) sets two con men against each other in a struggle for a French seaside town, the perfect territory for duping gullible and wealthy vacationers. Smooth and complacent swindler Lawrence Jamieson (Michael Caine) is infuriated when clumsy but effective con man Freddy Benson (Steve Martin) encroaches on his hunting grounds. When Benson proves persistent, Jamieson makes him a bet over who will be the first to get $50,000 out of a visiting American heiress, with the loser leaving town.
Trademark physical comedy from Martin and Caine’s smarmy and perfectly timed lines fuel the hilarious competition and decisive showdown--which ends as neither man expects.
3.
Nice guys finish last. Meet the winners.
A connoisseur of conning, Lawrence Jamison (Michael Caine) is running the ultimate royal scam on the Riviera: He's posing as a deposed prince raising funds for the freedom fighters of his stricken homeland. Should a wealthy commoner care to "give her all" to his noble cause, so be it--provided she also kicks in cash, jewelry & gambling chips. But his "hustling highness" gets royally flushed when one day a pretender to his throne turns up. He's Freddy Benson (Steve Martin), a small time scam artist who has enough on Jamison to make a mess of the monarchy. So the rivals make a wager: the first to extract $50,000 from the next woman they see, wins. And the loser goes into exile. Enter Janet Colgate (Glenne Headly), a naïve, American "detergent heiress." And the race is on . . .
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