How to Beat the High Cost of Living

Jul 11, 1980

1h 45m

★ 5.0

A hilarious new comedy for everyone who ever wanted to give the oil companies gas pains, turn off the power companies lights and make the banks stand in line for a change.

Overview

In order to beat inflation and subsidize their alimony checks, three suburban housewives plot to steal $1 million from a large plastic ball which is displayed in a local shopping center.

Genres

Comedy

Production Companies

Stage III Productions

American International Pictures

Cinema 77

Filmways Pictures

How to Beat the High Cost of Living Trailers

Cast

Jane

Susan Saint James

Elaine

Jane Curtin

Louise

Jessica Lange

Albert

Richard Benjamin

Max

Eddie Albert

Natalie

Cathryn Damon

Jack Heintzel

Dabney Coleman

Robert

Fred Willard

Gas Station Attendant

Art Metrano

Bill Pike

Ronnie Schell

Tom

Michael Bell

Charlotte

Sybil Danning

Two out-of-work actors -- the anxious, luckless Marwood and his acerbic, alcoholic friend, Withnail -- spend their days drifting between their squalid flat, the unemployment office and the pub. When they take a holiday "by mistake" at the country house of Withnail's flamboyantly gay uncle, Monty, they encounter the unpleasant side of the English countryside: tedium, terrifying locals and torrential rain.

5.2

Funny Money

Mar 9, 2006

Henry Perkins, a mild-mannered accountant, accidentally trades briefcases with another man, to find out that there's a million dollars inside. Henry tells his unsuspecting wife of their new-found fortune, but she doesn't embrace it as well as he does. Soon they're joined by their best friends, a cop on the take, a cop on the hunt, and the dreaded Mr. Big, who has come to claim his money.

5.3

Haunted Honeymoon

Jul 25, 1986

Radio personalities Larry Abbot and Vickie Pearle are stars of a mystery show. Since they announced their engagement, Larry has been plagued by speech problems and, seeking out an unconventional cure, he returns to his boyhood home, a mansion in the countryside, bringing Vickie along. Larry reunites with numerous family members, but discovers that there are sinister things afoot within the walls of the creepy estate.

5.9

The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest

Jun 28, 2002

Andy, a successful marketing guy quits his job, gets a new job at a research facility, makes a powerful enemy who makes him volunteer for a nearly impossible project: The $99 PC. The only available guys at the lab, three sociopaths, together they compile a revolutionary PC for $99, then they become the victims of a venture capitalist and Andy's old foe, can he find a way to overcome the problems?

No Image Available

0.0

Hot Money

Nov 16, 1935

A thief on the run dumps some hot money in Thelma and Patsy's lap.

7.5

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

Apr 9, 1936

Longfellow Deeds lives in a small town, leading a small town kind of life. When a relative dies and leaves Deeds a fortune, Longfellow moves to the big city where he becomes an instant target for everyone. Deeds outwits them all until Babe Bennett comes along. When small-town boy meets big-city girl anything can, and does, happen.

5.4

The American Mall

Aug 11, 2008

The executive producers of High School Musical keep the good times rolling with this upbeat musical comedy set in the one place every American teenager's home away from home - the local shopping mall. Ally (Nina Dobrev) is an optimistic adolescent singer/songwriter whose hard working mother owns the mall music shop frequented by every teen in town. When Ally shares her music with Joey (Rob Mayes), a janitor in the mall who harbors rock star ambitions, she is thrilled to find someone who can truly relate to her songs as well as her heart. Trouble looms on the horizon, however, in the form of the mall owner's spoiled rotten daughter Madison (Autumn Reeser). Madison is the kind of girl who's used to getting whatever she wants, and what she wants now could prove disastrous for both Ally's ambitions, and her mother's popular music store.

5.0

Horn of Plenty

Oct 24, 2008

An unclaimed fortune, grown for centuries in a British bank account, becomes a potential windfall for Bernadito Castiñeiras and the residents of the tiny village of Yaragüey, Cuba. To receive his massive inheritance check, Bernadito must prove his lineage to the Castiñeiras nuns who first populated the region. In an isolated and impoverished town where many residents share the same surname, a feud breaks out between the "Castiñeiras" and "Castiñeyras" families.

6.0

Caracas Vice Vol. 2

Nov 18, 2017

Ryan of the DEA will face again the most dangerous drug lord of Venezuela, this time with new friends, in 1983.

6.4

At the Circus

Oct 20, 1939

Jeff Wilson, the owner of a small circus, owes his partner Carter $10,000. Before Jeff can pay, Carter's accomplices steal the money so he can take over the circus. Antonio Pirelli and Punchy, who work at the circus, together with lawyer Loophole try to find the thief and get the money back.

5.4

Chasers

Apr 22, 1994

Military men Rock Reilly and Eddie Devane are tasked with taking a prisoner, blonde bombshell Toni Johnson, on what becomes an unforgettable road trip. Toni, an enlistee who's in trouble for deserting her unit, soon proves that she's craftier than most inmates.

5.6

Sour Grapes

Apr 17, 1998

The bond between cousins is tested when one wins a fortune with the other's money at Atlantic City.

0.0

Two in a Crowd

Oct 3, 1936

When two halves of a thousand-dollar bill are discovered in the snow, the penniless pair that individually grabs each half must come to terms. Actress Julia Wayne needs the whole $1,000, and so does sportsman Larry Stevens. Since compromise will serve neither of their needs, they are stalemated - until complications arise.

4.8

Living It Up

Oct 11, 2000

Lola, a Mexican waitress working in Madrid, befriends a 30-year-old suicidal man who has borrowed $1,000,000 to spend on his last day on Earth, knowing he will be killed anyway if he fails to return the money. After meeting Lola, however, he decides that life might be worth living after all.

7.0

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

Nov 7, 1963

A group of strangers come across a man dying after a car crash who proceeds to tell them about the $350,000 he buried in California. What follows is the madcap adventures of those strangers as each attempts to claim the prize for himself.

6.2

In Her Shoes

Oct 7, 2005

Irresponsible party girl Maggie is kicked out of her father's and stepmother's home—where she lives for free—and is taken in by her hard-working sister, Philadelphia lawyer Rose. After Maggie's disruptive ways ruin her sister's love life, Rose turns her out as well. But when their grandmother, who they never knew existed, comes into their lives, the sisters face some complicated truths about themselves and their family.

7.1

The Hudsucker Proxy

Mar 11, 1994

A naive business graduate is installed as president of a manufacturing company as part of a stock scam.

6.5

Mad Money

Jan 17, 2008

Three female employees of the Federal Reserve plot to steal money that is about to be destroyed.

6.6

Intacto

Nov 6, 2001

An enigmatic tale of four people whose lives are intertwined by destiny are subject to the laws of fate. They discover that luck is something they cannot afford to be without as they gamble with the highest stakes possible in a deadly game from which only one of them will emerge intact.