William Sydney Porter, better known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American writer known primarily for his short stories, though he also wrote poetry and non-fiction. His works include "The Gift of the Magi", "The Duplicity of Hargraves", and "The Ransom of Red Chief", as well as the novel Cabbages and Kings. Porter's stories are known for their naturalist observations, witty narration, and surprise endings.
The caper story is a subgenre of crime fiction. The typical caper story involves one or more crimes perpetrated by the main characters in full view of the reader. The actions of police or detectives attempting to prevent or solve the crimes may also be chronicled, but are not the main focus of the story.
Man on Fire is a 2004 American action thriller film directed and produced by Tony Scott, from a screenplay by Brian Helgeland, and based on the 1980 novel of the same name by A. J. Quinnell. Denzel Washington portrays John Creasy, a despondent, alcoholic former CIA SAD/SOG officer-turned-bodyguard, who goes on a revenge rampage after his charge, nine-year-old Lupita "Pita" Ramos, is abducted in Mexico City. The supporting cast includes Christopher Walken, Radha Mitchell, Giancarlo Giannini, Marc Anthony, Rachel Ticotin and Mickey Rourke.
Ruthless People is a 1986 American black comedy film directed by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker and written by Dale Launer. It stars Danny DeVito, Bette Midler, Judge Reinhold, Anita Morris, and Helen Slater, with Bill Pullman in a supporting role in his film debut. The film is the story of a couple who kidnap their ex-boss's wife to get revenge and extort money from him. They soon realize he does not want her back and was planning to kill her himself. Meanwhile, the boss's mistress plans a blackmail attempt on him, which also fails to go as planned.
Dwayne Bernard Hickman was an American actor and television executive, producer and director, who worked as an executive at CBS and had also briefly recorded as a vocalist. Hickman portrayed Chuck MacDonald, Bob Collins' girl-crazy teenaged nephew, in the 1950s The Bob Cummings Show and the title character in the 1960s sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. He was the younger brother of actor Darryl Hickman, with whom he appeared on screen. After retirement, he devoted his time to creating personalized paintings.
Suicide Kings is a 1997 American crime thriller black comedy film directed by Peter O'Fallon, and starring Christopher Walken, Denis Leary, Sean Patrick Flanery, Johnny Galecki, Jay Mohr, Jeremy Sisto and Henry Thomas. Based on Don Stanford's short story The Hostage, the film follows the group of students who kidnap a respected former Mafia figure.
John Paul Getty III was the grandson of American oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, who was once the richest man in the world. While living in Rome in 1973, he was kidnapped by the 'Ndrangheta and held for a $17 million ransom. His grandfather was reluctant to pay, but, after John Paul Getty III's severed ear was received by a newspaper, the grandfather negotiated a payment of $2.2 million, and Getty was released five months after being kidnapped. Getty subsequently developed an addiction to alcohol and other drugs, leading to an overdose and stroke which left him severely disabled for the rest of his life.
Love Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega is a 2001 Indian Hindi-language crime comedy film directed by Eeshwar Nivas and produced by Ram Gopal Varma and Nitin Manmohan. The film stars Saif Ali Khan, Fardeen Khan, Sonali Bendre, Twinkle Khanna, Aftab Shivdasani and Johnny Lever in lead roles. The film is an official remake of the 1993 Telugu film Money. This film marked Twinkle Khanna's final acting performance, prior to her marriage and subsequent retirement from the industry. It was released on 29 June 2001 and unlike the original version, the Hindi remake received mixed reviews and eventually became a box-office bomb. The rights to this film are owned by Shah Rukh Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment and the film is said to be loosely based on the American black comedy Fargo.
Screwed is a 2000 American dark comedy film written and directed by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. The comedy of errors stars Norm Macdonald, Dave Chappelle, Danny DeVito, Elaine Stritch, Daniel Benzali, Sarah Silverman, and Sherman Hemsley. The film was released by Universal Pictures and received generally negative reviews.
Henry Silva was an American actor, with a film and television career which spanned fifty years. A prolific character actor in over 140 productions, he was known for his “dark, sepulchral” looks and brooding screen presence that saw him often play criminals, gangsters, or other “tough guys” in crime and action films. He was also closely associated with the “Rat Pack”.
O. Henry's Full House is a 1952 American anthology film made by 20th Century Fox, consisting of five films, each based on a story by O. Henry.
Cohen and Tate is a 1989 American thriller film written and directed by Eric Red and starring Roy Scheider, Adam Baldwin and Harley Cross. It was Red's feature film debut. The film is considered as a cinematic version of O. Henry's short story "The Ransom of Red Chief".
The Impossible Kid is a 1982 exploitation film directed by Eddie Nicart, and starring Filipino actor Weng Weng. The film is a sequel to For Your Height Only (1981), which was also directed by Nicart. The original Tagalog language audio track is lost.
On Our Merry Way is a 1948 American comedy film produced by Benedict Bogeaus and Burgess Meredith and released by United Artists. At the time of its release, King Vidor and Leslie Fenton were credited with its direction, although the DVD lists John Huston and George Stevens, who assisted with one of the segments, as well. The screenplay by Laurence Stallings and Lou Breslow, based on an original story by Arch Oboler, is similar in style to that of Tales of Manhattan (1942), another anthology film made up of several vignettes linked by a single theme. The picture stars Paulette Goddard, Burgess Meredith, James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Harry James, Dorothy Lamour, Victor Moore and Fred MacMurray. It marks the first joint movie appearance of Stewart and Fonda, who play a pair of musicians in their section of the film.
Silver Saddle is a 1978 spaghetti Western. It is the third and final western directed by Lucio Fulci and one of the last spaghetti Westerns to be produced by a European studio. The film was based on an original story written by screenwriter Adriano Bolzoni and directed by Fulci for the Italian studio Rizzoli Film Productions.
Soodhu Kavvum is a 2013 Indian Tamil-language black comedy crime film written and directed by Nalan Kumarasamy in his directoral debut. It features Vijay Sethupathi, Bobby Simha, Ashok Selvan, Ramesh Thilak, Karunakaran and Sanchita Shetty in the lead roles.
Strictly Business is a 1962 Soviet black-and-white comedy-drama film directed by Leonid Gaidai. Its plot consists of two unrelated novellas based on three short stories by O. Henry: "The Roads We Take", "Makes the Whole World Kin", and "The Ransom of Red Chief".
Tales of Halloween is a 2015 American comedy horror anthology film consisting of ten interlocking segments, each revolving around the holiday indicated by the title. Segments were directed by Neil Marshall, Darren Lynn Bousman, Axelle Carolyn, Lucky McKee, Andrew Kasch, Paul Solet, John Skipp, Adam Gierasch, Jace Anderson, Mike Mendez, Ryan Schifrin, and Dave Parker.
All the Money in the World is a 2017 biographical crime thriller film directed by Ridley Scott and written by David Scarpa. Based on John Pearson's 1995 book Painfully Rich: The Outrageous Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Heirs of J. Paul Getty, it depicts the events surrounding the 1973 kidnapping of John Paul Getty III and the refusal of his grandfather, the multi-billionaire oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, to cooperate with the kidnappers' extortion demands. The film stars Michelle Williams as Gail Harris Getty, John Paul Getty III's mother, Christopher Plummer as Getty, and Mark Wahlberg as Fletcher Chace, an adviser of the Getty family.
The Big Chief is a 1959 French-Italian comedy film directed by Henri Verneuil and starring Fernandel, Gino Cervi and Florence Blot. It is based on the short story The Ransom of Red Chief by O. Henry. It was shot at the Boulogne Studios in Parisl The film's sets were designed by the art director Robert Clavel. It is also known by the alternative title Gangster Boss. The two stars were known for their appearances together in the Don Camillo series of films. The story had previously been adapted for the 1952 American film O. Henry's Full House.
