Aaron Russo

The rich Duke Brothers wager on whether a born loser like Billy Ray Valentine, a hustler from the ghetto, can become as successful as Winthorpe, a wealthy investment executive, if put in the proper environment--and would a prig like Winthorpe turn to a life of crime if he were to lose it all.

Best friends Harry and Moe are go-getters inside a Newark mob outfit. They go get the boss's drycleaning. They go get his car. Now they have a new task: go get each other. The boss has secretly hired each pal to whack the other. Their friendship might survive the mob - if they don't kill each other first. Brian De Palma, whose Scarface and Carlito's Way are mobster-movie classics, finds the genre's funny bone in a comedy.