Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Director: Frank Oz

1988 / 110min / 35mm

The French Riviera is the happy hunting ground of suave, cultured hustler Michael Caine, so when he finds a tacky, penny ante American competitor (Steve Martin, at the height of his prowess as a physical comedian) working his territory, he conspires to run the interloper off with a challenge: whoever is the first to separate heiress Glenne Headly from $50,000 gets to stay on. Director Oz (What About Bob?) keeps the outlandish gags coming nonstop while William Scharf's and Stephen Rotter’s cutting keeps the whole affair moving like a dream, and Caine and Martin are irresistible as the not-so-friendly rivals, the general hysteria reaching a fever pitch in the introduction of Martin’s alter ego, Ruprecht.