History Film / TheInLaws

* {{Corpsing}}: Creator/AlanArkin admitted during the scenes with Sheldon, Vince, and General Garcia, you can see him coming very close to doing this, and he had to put his hand over his mouth to avoid laughing on camera.

''The In-Laws'' is a 1979 comedy film directed by Arthur Hiller, written by Andrew Bergman, and starring Creator/AlanArkin and Creator/PeterFalk.

->'''Vince Ricardo:''' ''"This man's wonderful daughter is marrying my son the day after tomorrow!"''

-->'''Sheldon:''' ''I'm'' being irrational? I sit there listening to stories about the Guacamole Act of 1917 and tsetse flies carrying off children and ''I'm'' being irrational?!?

-->'''Vince:''' Are you interested in joining? I tell you, the benefits are fantastic. The trick is to not get killed; that's really the key to the benefit program.

When Vince does make it to dinner one night, he immediately turns Sheldon off with his tales of [[BlatantLies seeing tsetse flies carrying children off in Africa]], and by the way he treats Tommy when Tommy makes a joke about the long-distance phone calls he makes. Sheldon wants to call off the wedding, but Barbara and Sheldon's wife Carol (Nancy Dussault) talk him out of it, and convince Sheldon to be nicer to Vince. So the next morning, when Vince comes to Sheldon's office asking for a favor, Sheldon says yes. Turns out Vince is really working for the UsefulNotes/{{CIA}}, and he's stolen some currency engraving plates, which he plans to sell to a corrupt [[UsefulNotes Latin American]] dictator named General Garcia (Richard Libertini) in order to nail him in a sting operation. Pretty soon, Sheldon is wishing he never decided to help Vince in the first place, and HilarityEnsues.

-->'''Sheldon:''' ''I'm'' being irrational? I'm listening to stories of giant tsetse flies and the Guacamole Act of 1917 and ''I'm'' being irrational?!?

-->'''Vince:''' Are you interested in joining? I tell you, the benefits are terrific. The trick is to not get killed; that's really the key to the benefit program.

->''"This man's wonderful daughter is marrying my son the day after tomorrow!"''

-->'''Sheldon''' [''first words to Vince on the phone'']: I have flames on my car!

When Vince does make it to dinner one night, he immediately turns Sheldon off with his tales of [[BlatantLies seeing tsetse flies carrying children off in Africa]], and by the way he treats Tommy when Tommy makes a joke about the long-distance phone calls he makes. Sheldon wants to call off the wedding, but Barbara and Sheldon's wife Carol (Nancy Dussault) talk him out of it, and convince Sheldon to be nicer to Vince. So the next morning, when Vince comes to Sheldon's office asking for a favor, Sheldon says yes. Turns out Vince is really working for the {{CIA}}, and he's stolen some currency engraving plates, which he plans to sell to a corrupt [[UsefulNotes Latin American]] dictator named General Garcia (Richard Libertini) in order to nail him in a sting operation. Pretty soon, Sheldon is wishing he never decided to help Vince in the first place, and HilarityEnsues.

* {{CIA}}: As stated above, where Vince says that he really works:
-->'''Cab Driver:''' I can't believe you work for the CIA.\\
'''Vince:''' Why not?\\
'''Cab Driver:''' I don't know. I mean, you know, I thought, like, Film/JamesBond.\\
'''Vince:''' No, no. They all look like me. I'm the classic agency type; muscular, low to the ground, compact. Are you interested in joining? [[SignedUpForTheDental I'll tell you, the benefits are fantastic]]. [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments The trick is not to get killed; that's really the key to the benefit program.]]

'''Vince:''' No, no. They all look like me. I'm the classic agency type; muscular, low to the ground, compact. Are you interested in joining? [[SignedUpForTheDental I'll tell you, the benefits are fantastic]]. [[CrowningMomentOfFunny The trick is not to get killed; that's really the key to the benefit program.]]

* OpenSaysMe: One of the guys chasing Sheldon can't open an emergency exit. After yelling in frustration, he catches his breath, says calmly, "[[CrowningMomentOfFunny This is an emergency]]," and busts through the door.

''The In-Laws'' is a 1979 comedy film directed by Arthur Hiller, written by Andrew Bergman, and starring Creator/AlanArkin and Peter Falk.

* ShoutOut: While waiting for Sheldon to get the engravings from Vince's office, Vince and the cab driver are in a bar watching ''Series/ThePriceIsRight''.

When Vince does make it to dinner one night, he immediately turns Vince off with his tales of [[BlatantLies seeing tsetse flies carrying children off in Africa]], and by the way he treats Tommy when Tommy makes a joke about the long-distance phone calls he makes. Sheldon wants to call off the wedding, but Barbara and Sheldon's wife Carol (Nancy Dussault) talk him out of it, and convince Sheldon to be nicer to Vince. So the next morning, when Vince comes to Sheldon's office asking for a favor, Sheldon says yes. Turns out Vince is really working for the {{CIA}}, and he's stolen some currency engraving plates, which he plans to sell to a corrupt [[UsefulNotes Latin American]] dictator named General Garcia (Richard Libertini) in order to nail him in a sting operation. Pretty soon, Sheldon is wishing he never decided to help Vince in the first place, and HilarityEnsues.

Sheldon Kornpett (Arkin) is a successful dentist whose daughter Barbara (Penny Peyser), a psychology student, is marrying Tommy Ricardo (Michael Lembeck), a law student, this upcoming weekend. Everyone approves of the wedding and is excited, but Sheldon's a bit nervous because he still hasn't met Tommy's father Vince (Falk), who apparently does "international consulting work". When Vince does make it to dinner one night, he immediately turns Vince off with his tales of [[BlatantLies seeing tsetse flies carrying children off in Africa]], and by the way he treats Tommy when Tommy makes a joke about the long-distance phone calls he makes. Sheldon wants to call off the wedding, but Barbara and Sheldon's wife Carol (Nancy Dussault) talk him out of it, and convince Sheldon to be nicer to Vince. So the next morning, when Vince comes to Sheldon's office asking for a favor, Sheldon says yes. Turns out Vince is really working for the {{CIA}}, and he's stolen some currency engraving plates, which he plans to sell to a corrupt [[UsefulNotes Latin American]] dictator named General Garcia (Richard Libertini) in order to nail him in a sting operation. Pretty soon, Sheldon is wishing he never decided to help Vince in the first place, and HilarityEnsues.

This film was not well-received by critics when it first came out, but it did well at the box office and has since been rightly regarded as one of the best comedies of the last few decades; Premiere magazine put it on its list of the 50 best comedies of all time. It was remade in 2003 with Creator/AlbertBrooks in the Arkin role and Creator/MichaelDouglas in the Falk role, but it wasn't well-received by critics or the box office.

''The In Laws'' is a 1979 comedy film directed by Arthur Hiller, written by Andrew Bergman, and starring Creator/AlanArkin and Peter Falk.

''The In Laws'' is a 1979 comedy film directed by Creator/ArthurHiller, written by Andrew Bergman, and starring Creator/AlanArkin and Creator/PeterFalk.

Sheldon Kornpett (Arkin) is a successful dentist whose daughter Barbara (Penny Peyser), a psychology student, is marrying Tommy Ricardo (Michael Lembeck), a law student, this upcoming weekend. Everyone approves of the wedding and is excited, but Sheldon's a bit nervous because he still hasn't met Tommy's father Vince (Falk), who apparently does "international consulting work". When Vince does make it to dinner one night, he immediately turns Vince off with his tales of [[BlatantLies seeing tsetse flies carrying children off in Africa]], and by the way he treats Tommy when Tommy makes a joke about the long-distance phone calls he makes. Sheldon wants to call off the wedding, but Barbara and Sheldon's wife Carol (Nancy Dussault) talk him out of it, and convince Sheldon to be nicer to Vince. So the next morning, when Vince comes to Sheldon's office asking for a favor, Sheldon says yes. Turns out Vince is really working for the {{CIA}}, and he's stolen some currency engraving plates, which he plans to sell to a corrupt LatinAmerica dictator named General Garcia (Richard Libertini) in order to nail him in a sting operation. Pretty soon, Sheldon is wishing he never decided to help Vince in the first place, and HilarityEnsues.

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Vince tells Sheldon if General Garcia manages to steal the engravings and print up money for his country and others, they'll be "gold riots, mass suicides, atonal music..."

* BerserkButton: Sheldon has a lot of these, but most of all is when he finds out Vince has hidden the engravings he stole inside Sheldon's basement. To avoid making Sheldon upset again, Vince thereafter refers to the engravings as "[[BuffySpeak the thing]]".

-->'''Vince:''' (''as he's driving Sheldon during a high-speed car chase'') Next time we're in Tijada, Shel, you have to try the chicken sandwich. They make it on a hard roll, with an orange juice, or a pineapple, you know the big one, El Grande and coffee, do you take coffee, Shel?

-->'''Cab Driver:''' I can't believe you work for the CIA.
-->'''Vince:''' Why not?
-->'''Cab Driver:''' I don't know. I mean, you know, I thought, like, Film/JamesBond.
-->'''Vince:''' No, no. They all look like me. I'm the classic agency type; muscular, low to the ground, compact. Are you interested in joining? [[SignedUpForTheDental I'll tell you, the benefits are fantastic]]. [[CrowningMomentOfFunny The trick is not to get killed; that's really the key to the benefit program.]]

-->'''Vince:''' (''before driving down the wrong side of the street'') You know, I'm such a great driver, it's incomprehensible that they took my license away.

-->'''Sheldon:''' Did we hit the little boy on 6th Avenue?
-->'''Vince:''' No, we missed him by a good foot and a half.

** Subverted later, however; when Vince acts increasingly nervous at General Garcia's house because [[spoiler: the CIA hasn't shown up yet]], Sheldon doesn't pick up on it. Of course, it's because Sheldon isn't GenreSavvy like Vince is.
* OpenSaysMe: One of the guys chasing Sheldon can't open an emergency exit. After yelling in frustration, he catches his breath, says calmly, "[[CrowningMomentOfFunny This is an emergency]]," and bust through the door.

* ShoutOut: While waiting for Sheldon to get the engravings from Vince's office, Vince and the cab driver are in a bar watching ''ThePriceIsRight''.

* [[spoiler:TheCavalry]]: [[spoiler: The CIA, although they were a little late ("Traffic was brutal")]].

* HeyItsThatGuy: Veteran character actor James Hong plays the man who gives Sheldon the flight safety speech before they fly off -- [[RuleOfFunny in Chinese]].
** [[Film/StateAndMain Marty Rossen]] is a cab driver.

-->'''Vince:''' No, no. They all look like me. I'm the classic agency type; muscular, low to the ground, compact. Are you interested in joining? I'll tell you, the benefits are fantastic. [[CrowningMomentOfFunny The trick is not to get killed; that's really the key to the benefit program.]]