Essentials: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Year: 1988
Genre: Comedy
Directed: Frank Oz
Stars: Steve Martin, Michael Caine, Glenne Headly, Anton Rodgers, Barbara Harris, Ian McDiarmid, Dana Ivey, Meagen Fay, Frances Conroy
Production: Orion Pictures

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is the sordid tale of two confidence men who bump into each other on the French Riviera and place an exorbitant wager on a mark. The first, Lawrence Jamieson (Caine) fancies himself a bit of a dandy. He's carved an opulent lifestyle for himself on the shores of Beaumont-Sur-Mer and would like his sleepy little town to stay that way. The second con-artist, Freddy Benson (Martin) is an unctuous but ambitious trickster who came to town hoping to learn from Lawrence but has since had second thoughts. He's the type of guy you'd see at a dog track, hustling for a good $20 here and there. Their mark; a naive nymph named Janet (Headly) introduced to the two as America's Soap Queen.

Written by Dale Launer and based on the TV movie Bedtime Story (1964), the film was originally meant to be a starring vehicle for the affable David Bowie and Mick Jagger of Rolling Stones fame. If you close your eyes and listen carefully you can hear Bowie's droll intonations underneath Caine's yachtsman inflections. This is not to say Caine is unsuited for the role. Quite the contrary; Caine's star power, silent dignity and "up-for-anything" attitude brings to mind an old-guard acting sensibility channeling Alec Guinness in his prime. Being the straight man to one "Wild and crazy guy" is hard enough but to do so with effortless class is a downright miracle which the great Michael Caine pulls off.

The previous year's Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) saw Steve Martin transitioning from his goofy, ironically infused brand of comedy, to the sullen but lovable rube role he used to coast through the 90's. Improvising much of his lines and energetically bouncing off the walls, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is seen by many as his final hurrah. A ham at his most acclaimed, Martin falls into a caboodle of eccentric characterizations, Prince Ruprecht being the most entertaining. He's an absolute comic gem, a permanent fixture in the comedic firmament and this film is Exhibit A to all the naysayers who saw The Pink Panther (2006) and thought he's not all that.

If Howard Hawks thought every great film is three great scenes and no bad ones, then Dirty Rotten Scoundrels certainly fits the bill. There are in fact three scenes so astoundingly funny that it'd be easy to miss some of the subtler gags hidden in the quieter moments. What's more, each scene (both good and great) are natural extensions of the characters and play with our assumptions of where the film will ultimately lead us. Leave it to director Frank Oz to find moments of glee in the sophisticated halls of a ritzy Casino or the marble mezzanine of a Mediterranean villa.

Of course this film is not without it's faults including most egregiously an outdated attitude towards women. Glenne Headly certainly holds her own against our two leading cads, and sure she does sneak in her own counter-plays, but when Lawrence refers to women as "the weaker sex," you can't help but feel the screenplay means that. In one scene Martin poses with a gaggle of bikini-wearing models at the beach. It's rumored in the European release those same models were topless and when the women were ordered to undress Oz referred to himself feeling like "the most powerful man in the world."

Can you believe we gave them the right to vote?

I wouldn't challenge anyone who dislikes this film for that reason, though, for me, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels has enough gut-busting laughs to overcome most of it's transgressions. Very few comedies deliver the goods as often and with such voracity as this film does. The film has since been turned into a live stage musical. While I cannot speak for it's quality I can say the casting of John Lithgow and Broadway legend Norbert Leo Butz should be enough to make you curious about the original winner.

Final Grade: A