How to Beat the High Cost of Living

1980
AA
1h 45m

IMDb RATING

6.0/10

2.1K

YOUR RATING

How to Beat the High Cost of Living (1980)

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

Play trailer2:58

1 Video

40 Photos

Comedy Crime

A caper comedy about three suburban housewives who, in order to beat inflation and subsidize their alimony checks, plot to steal $1 million from a large plastic ball which is displayed in a ... Read allA caper comedy about three suburban housewives who, in order to beat inflation and subsidize their alimony checks, plot to steal $1 million from a large plastic ball which is displayed in a local shopping center.A caper comedy about three suburban housewives who, in order to beat inflation and subsidize their alimony checks, plot to steal $1 million from a large plastic ball which is displayed in a local shopping center.

Director
- Robert Scheerer
Writers
- Robert Kaufman
- Leonora Thuna
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.0/10

2.1K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Robert Scheerer
Writers
- Robert Kaufman
- Leonora Thuna
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Videos1

Trailer 2:58

Official Trailer

Photos40

+ 34

More like this

6.0

5.8

6.9

6.5

6.2

The Hollywood Knights

6.1

6.8

6.5

7.0

6.3

Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling

6.6

Country

6.5

Something of Value

Storyline

Edit

Did you know

Edit

Trivia
As an outdoor scene was being filmed, a man drove by and yelled, "Jane, you ignorant slut!" in reference to Jane Curtin's and Dan Aykroyd's "Point/Counterpoint" running skit on Saturday Night Live (1975), and the crew cracked up laughing.

Goofs
Jane claims to be familiar with paddling a canoe yet she sits in the wrong end when she begins to paddle it away while stealing it.

Quotes
Albert: Louise, I swear to you there is no money. If you only knew what was going on in that hospital. It's not only the IRS, I'm in deep financial trouble, and I need you to hold me, to hug me, to kiss me, to reassure me that everything isn't as hopeless as it looks.
Louise: The only thing that is hopeless, Albert is that you're horny 24 hours a day.

Alternate versions
Video versions edit a scene where Jessica Lange's character is hiding in the shoe store bathroom while one of the stage show performers comes in and uses it. It cuts off just as she notices the footsteps. The scene is most likely eliminated because the guy was singing and the song might be copyrighted.

Connections
Featured in Vintage Video: How to Beat the High Cost of Living (1980) (2020)

Soundtracks
Shades
Arranged and Conducted by Pat Williams

User reviews34

Featured review

really funny blast from the past

For some reason, a slew of movies in 1980 mark a turning point in my developmental teen years: 9 to 5, A Coal Miner's Daughter, Private Benjamin, et.al. HTBTHCOL is yet another...one that took a long time to eventually come out on DVD.

It's even funnier than I'd remembered. While the story is good and the acting is ok, it's the cultural references circa 1980 that totally make the movie work for me (I'm 36 yrs old in '04). Jane Curtain's '80 Cutlass sucking gas, her oh-so-'70s contemporary house--complete with green bedspread and Buick-sized answering machine, the endless references to inflation, the grocery store cashier actually saying the name of each item before ringing it up by hand ("toy gun, $1.95..."), etc.

Jane Curtain actually does give the best performance, not only for her manic attempts to find cash, but for her impromptu striptease ("are you ready to see 1985, or should we skip right to 1990?"). The chemistry between Jane and Jessica Lange's character is quite good. Poor Susan Saint James...her character is annoying, whiny, and basically she serves as the Curly of this trio. (Yeah, I'd bring my kids to rob a store too...)

In all, this is a cute, silly time capsule to the dark days of inflation, 17% mortgage interest rates, slanted wood houses with lots of poorly utilized space, ferns, etc. One funny note: Jane Curtain's character makes numerous references to prostitution (to the gas station attendant, to the gals at the restaurant, and to Jack--the copy played by Dabney Coleman).