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.
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.
Zeroman is a Canadian animated television series produced by Amberwood Entertainment that aired on the Canadian cartoon network Teletoon and on Télétoon. It tells the adventures of incompetent sixty-three-year-old postman Les Mutton who also happens to be the superhero known as Zeroman. As Zeroman, Les fights the crime that plagues Fair City in a similar fashion to Nielsen's Lieutenant Frank Drebin character in the Naked Gun series.
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.
Chishū Ryū was a Japanese actor who, in a career lasting 65 years, appeared in over 160 films and about 70 television productions.
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 drugs and alcohol, leading to an overdose and stroke which left him severely disabled for the rest of his life.
Humanity and Paper Balloons is a 1937 Japanese jidaigeki film directed by Sadao Yamanaka. It was Yamanaka's last film before his death.
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.
Ransom! is a 1956 American crime drama film about the kidnapping of the son of a wealthy couple. Written by Richard Maibaum and Cyril Hume, the film is based on a popular 1954 episode of The United States Steel Hour titled "Fearful Decision" starring Ralph Bellamy.
The Guns of Will Sonnett is a Western television series set in the 1870s that was broadcast in color on the ABC television network from 1967 to 1969. The series, which began with the working title, "Two Rode West", was the first production collaboration between Aaron Spelling and Danny Thomas, who would later go on to produce The Mod Squad. The series is distributed by CBS Television Distribution and, when telecast, is usually seen in tandem with another 1960s short-lived Western series, the Mark Goodson-Bill Todman production Branded; King World was originally responsible for distributing both shows.
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".
Edward Aloysius Cudahy Jr., also known as Eddie Cudahy, was kidnapped on December 18, 1900 in Omaha, Nebraska. Edward Cudahy Sr. was the wealthy owner of the Cudahy Packing Company, which helped build the Omaha Stockyards through the 1950s. Cudahy Sr. paid the ransom for the return of his son and made the kidnapper, Pat Crowe, a popular author, lecturer and actor for a brief period. The Cudahy case is said to have influenced many succeeding kidnappings, including those of the Lindbergh baby, Bobby Greenlease, and Marion Parker.
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.
Mohammad Sahil Saeed is a British boy of Pakistani heritage, born in Oldham, who was kidnapped in the evening of 4 March 2010 in Jhelum, Pakistan. According to Saeed's father Raja Saeed, four armed men took Saeed along with cash and jewellery from their house shortly before they were planning to fly back to Greater Manchester, where the family have lived for seven years. Later the kidnappers demanded a ransom equivalent to £100,000. Saeed and his father were visiting family in Pakistan, although Saeed's mother and two younger sisters were at home in Shaw and Crompton.
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.
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, Dave Parker and, in his film debut, Jack Dylan Grazer.
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.
