''Steal Big Steal Little'' is a 1995 American comedy film directed by
Andrew Davis and starring
Andy García
Andrés Arturo García Menéndez (born April 12, 1956), known professionally as Andy García, is a Cuban-born American actor, director and musician. He first rose to prominence acting in Brian De Palma's ''The Untouchables'' (1987) alongside ...
in dual roles. It also features
Alan Arkin
Alan Wolf Arkin (born March 26, 1934) is an American actor, director and screenwriter known for his performances on stage and screen. Throughout his career spanning over six decades, he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award ...
and
Joe Pantoliano
Joseph Peter Pantoliano (born September 12, 1951) is an American character actor who has appeared in over 150 films, television and stage productions.
After his early roles in the television series '' M*A*S*H'' and the 1983 comedy '' Risky Bu ...
.
Plot
Mild-mannered, unassuming Ruben Martinez has a slick, unscrupulous twin brother who now goes by the name Robby Martin. They were orphans raised by a rich landowner named Clifford Downey and his dancer wife, Mona Rowland-Downey.
Upon her death, Mona leaves her entire ranch in
Santa Barbara, California in the care of only one son, Ruben. The other brother begins plotting how to win control of the property away from his estranged twin.
Ruben's main concern at the moment is that his wife Laura has left him. She cannot comprehend how her loving husband could have cheated on her with another woman.
Ruben tracks her to
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, where he meets used-car salesman Lou Perilli. He is assured that Laura will come back to him eventually. In the meantime, being pursued by a tough customer named Nick Zangaro about a debt he owes, Lou decides to make a quick getaway out west to Santa Barbara.
Eddie Agopian, a family lawyer, is in charge of watching over Ruben's interests. But suddenly he disappears. Local authorities, including Sheriff Otis and a corrupt judge, have begun harassing Ruben and the dozens of workers and friends who live at the ranch. They are the stooges of powerful businessman Reed Tyler, who has business interests with Ruben's brother, Robby.
Lou becomes a partner to the timid Ruben by promising to help him with his legal troubles. Lou has no lawyer experiences, but begins doing some investigating on Ruben's behalf and does the best he can in court. He also helps Ruben track down Eddie, who has absconded to Mexico with a stash of money.
A scam is exposed, revealing to Laura that it was not her husband who had relations with another woman but Robby, his evil twin. Ruben, Laura and Lou quickly hatch a scheme of their own, catching the sheriff and judge in compromising positions and luring Robby into one with the help of a couple of young women hired for the occasion.
The relationship between the brothers is healed a bit, if not completely, by the end as Ruben finds happiness at the ranch with his wide assortment of friends and family.
Cast
*
Andy García
Andrés Arturo García Menéndez (born April 12, 1956), known professionally as Andy García, is a Cuban-born American actor, director and musician. He first rose to prominence acting in Brian De Palma's ''The Untouchables'' (1987) alongside ...
as Ruben Martinez/Robby Martin
*
Alan Arkin
Alan Wolf Arkin (born March 26, 1934) is an American actor, director and screenwriter known for his performances on stage and screen. Throughout his career spanning over six decades, he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award ...
as Lou Perilli
*
Rachel Ticotin
Rachel Ticotin Strauss is an American film and television actress. She has appeared in films such as '' Fort Apache, The Bronx''; '' Total Recall'', '' Falling Down'', and ''Con Air''. She has appeared in the NBC legal drama '' Law & Order: LA'' ...
as Laura
*
Joe Pantoliano
Joseph Peter Pantoliano (born September 12, 1951) is an American character actor who has appeared in over 150 films, television and stage productions.
After his early roles in the television series '' M*A*S*H'' and the 1983 comedy '' Risky Bu ...
as Eddie Agopian
*
Holland Taylor
Holland Virginia Taylor (born January 14, 1943) is an American actress. She won the 1999 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Judge Roberta Kittleson on ABC's ''The Practice'' (1998–2003). F ...
as Mona
*
Ally Walker
Allene Damian "Ally" Walker (born August 25, 1961) is an American actress. She made her television debut in the NBC daytime soap opera '' Santa Barbara'' (1988) before landing the leading roles on the short-lived dramas '' True Blue'' (1989–199 ...
as Bonnie Martin
*
Richard Bradford as Nick Zangaro
*
David Ogden Stiers
David Allen Ogden Stiers ( ; October 31, 1942 – March 3, 2018) was an American actor and conductor. He appeared in numerous productions on Broadway, and originated the role of Feldman in '' The Magic Show'', in which he appeared for fou ...
as Judge Myers
*
Charles Rocket
Charles Adams Claverie (August 28, 1949 – October 7, 2005), known by stage names Charlie Hamburger, Charlie Kennedy and Charles Rocket, was an American actor, comedian, musician, and television news reporter. He was a cast member on ''Saturda ...
as Sheriff Otis
*
Kevin McCarthy
Kevin Owen McCarthy (born January 26, 1965) is an American politician, serving as House Minority Leader in the United States House of Representatives since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he served as House Majority Leader under spea ...
as Reed Tyler
*
Candice Daly
Candice Mia Daly (January 4, 1966 – December 14, 2004) was an American film and television actress. In the late 1980s and early 1990s she starred in a number of B-movies and cult films such as ''After Death'' (1988) and '' Liquid Dreams'' ...
as Melissa
Reception
The film received poor reviews from critics and was a box office failure. It holds a rating of 15% on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
.
Production
''Steal Big Steal Little'' was filmed on location at
Rancho San Julian Rancho San Julian was a Mexican land grant and present-day ranch in present-day Santa Barbara County, California given in 1837 by Governor Juan B. Alvarado to José de la Guerra y Noriega. The grant name probably refers to José Antonio Julian de ...
,
Santa Barbara County
Santa Barbara County, California, officially the County of Santa Barbara, is located in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 448,229. The county seat is Santa Barbara, and the largest city is Santa Maria.
Santa Barba ...
, California.
Home formats
After the film's theatrical release,
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
released the film onto VHS. In 2004, HBO released the film onto DVD. The DVD is now discontinued and as of March 29, 2010, neither HBO or Focus Features, the latter of which has begun to acquire some of Savoy's movies, has announced any plans to release a new DVD of the film. For these reasons, used copies of the original DVD have gone for as much as $35 online.
External links
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{{Andrew Davis
1995 films
1995 comedy films
American comedy films
Films about twin brothers
Films directed by Andrew Davis
Films scored by William Olvis
Films set in Chicago
Films set in Santa Barbara, California
Savoy Pictures films
1990s English-language films
1990s American films