Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

1988
PG
1h 50m

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

80K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

Play trailer1:55

Buddy Comedy Caper Farce Comedy Crime

Two con men try to settle their rivalry by betting on who can swindle a young American heiress out of fifty thousand dollars first.Two con men try to settle their rivalry by betting on who can swindle a young American heiress out of fifty thousand dollars first.Two con men try to settle their rivalry by betting on who can swindle a young American heiress out of fifty thousand dollars first.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

80K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

3,097

687

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win & 1 nomination

Trivia
The teaser trailer features a sequence which does not appear in the final movie. Freddy Benson and Lawrence Jamieson walk along a boardwalk, politely moving out of the way of other people, etc. with a voiceover saying "There are numerous distinguished gentlemen in the world; refined, cultured gentlemen; nice men; but nice men finish last." As the last few lines are spoken, Freddy pushes an old lady into the water, and Lawrence shoves a child's face into his cotton candy. Director Frank Oz has said that audiences were very surprised to learn that the scene was not part of the finished movie

Goofs
When Lawrence Jamison goes to Switzerland, the sign in the train station reads "ZURICH". It should read "ZÜRICH" with an umlaut.

Quotes
[Sitting at the dinner table]
Freddy Benson: Excuse me. May I go to the bathroom first?
Lawrence Jamieson: Of course you may.
Freddy Benson: [after a pause, and with relief] Thank you.

Crazy credits
While the names of Stanley Shapiro and Paul Henning appear in the credits as two of this film's three writers, they are actually there just to credit their script for Bedtime Story (1964), of which this is a remake.

Connections
Edited into Alias: The Enemy Walks In (2002)

Soundtracks
Puttin' On the Ritz
Written by Irving Berlin

User reviews212

Review

Featured review

One of the Great Overlooked Comedies

This film is so smart, so imaginative and so artfully played that it flew over the radar of the average movie-goer when it first came out. Michael Caine is at his brilliant best as the suave Laurence Jamison and Steve Martin's 'Ruprecht' is a comic masterpiece. As Freddy, he's the perfect boob -- smart enough to con women into giving him small sums of money, too stupid to realize there's a world going on around him where the stakes are much, much higher. It is also easy to underestimate the work of Glenn Headly, but once you've seen the whole movie you realize how her simple choices add up to a very complicated performance indeed. Every time I see this movie I laugh out loud.