Daily News from New York, New York • 152

June 27. "1986" DAILY NEWS Friday 5 1 111 "I A -4 i ---3. My wife, I tliMc HI kill her Danny DeVito's one of those 'Ruthless People' By KATHLEEN CARROLL Daily News Movie Critic RUTHLESS PEOPLE. Denny PeVlto, Bent Midler, Judge Reinhold. Directed by Jim Abraham, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker.

At area theater. Running time; 1 hour, 12 minute. Rated R. 's A 1 11 4-t six8? sg- jt- ft -i" El FOR K3URDER: Danny DeVito (above) tries to off his Betts Midler (right), In "Ruthless People." 1 A Mt I "'-iTinBilF ii ft eirtwn JI.n.uJiiJi THE OPENING shot of "Ruthless People" exposes Sam Stone lor what he Is a cheating, potentially murderous husband. The chubby, loudmouth millionaire, who made his original killing in ladies' sportswear, is telling his mistress, a naughty redhead who is hatching a blackmail plot of her own, of his plan to permanently dispose of his wife.

"My only regret," confesses Stone, "is that the plan isn't more violent." He returns to his mansion, clutching a chloroform-drenched hankie, but the Mrs. isnt around. The phone rings and the caller curtly announces that Barbara Stone has been kidnaped. "Your wife will be killed if you notify the police," the kidnaper warns Stone, who can hardly contain his glee. The house is soon Swarm ing with Beverly Hills cops (one of whom later casually trys out the tennis court) as Stone happily ignores the kidnaper's instructions.

In the meantime, Ken and Sandy Kessler, two hopeless goodie-goodies who have resorted to kidnaping only to get even with Stone for stealing their design for the span-dex miniskirt, are having trouble taming his squawking shrew of a wife. "It's been horrible," reports Sandy of her exhaust- ing day with the kidnap victim. "No matter what I do, as nice as I can be, she hates me." Such sweetness is rare in "Ruthless People," a cheerfully raucous comedy of bad manners which revels in the human weaknesses of characters. Directed at full blast by Jim Abrahams, Lavid Zucker and Jerry Zucker, the same wild and crazy trio who dished out this one-joke tone and its excessively raunchy jokes. Bette Midler is a comical sight as the overweight spouse decked out in punk fashions and outrageous hairdo but she is not nearly as funny here as she was as the spoiled housewife in the far superior "Down and Out In Beverly Hills." This surprisingly vulgar movie also takes potshots at the nouveau riche but, like the determinedly ruthless Stone, it is sadly lacking in class.

movie is like Stone's hot seller of a miniskirt stretched too thin. Oh sure, you can't help but guffaw when Danny De Vito, as the two-faced Stone, applies eye drops in order to look like a tearfully concerned husband for the police. Judge Reinhold is amusingly frantic as the nice-guy kidnaper who can't even bring himself to lie while selling stereos at Crazy Eddie. But one tires of the movie's relentlessly shrill It simply isn't mah-velous RUNNING SCARED. Sreeory Mine, Bitty Crvttat.

Directed bv Peter Mvam. At arse theater. Runninf time: I how, minute. Rated R. HEN MOVIE makers TTTT7 run scared, they simply raid other hit 1 A 'Little Pony' tale By SHERRYL CONNELLY Daily News Staff Writer Vfe MY LITTLE PONY.

THE OVIE. Oanny OeVlte. Madeline Kahn, Clerte I aarhmaiu The Crtterton. Running time: I hour, minute. Rated C.

IHE LITTLE Ponies are having a frolic all but rir i Lickety Split, that is. She's made a serious fool of herself and so runs away with Baby Dragon ilitiri 1 'RUNHIH SCARED': Hires Crystal make a good team but movies for their plot ideas. So it's not suprising that "Running Scared" a glib comedy about two renegade cops working the mean, crime-ridden streets of Chicagocontains traces of every recent megahit movie about the boys in blue. Director Peter Hyams is, in fact, an expert at what you might call movie making by the box office numbers. When the action begins to drag a bit, he simply has your typically gruff precinct captain order two gabby undercover detectives to take a vacation after they bungle an important drug bust Instead of Beverly Hills (which is where a Detroit cop went on vacation in that other movie), they immediately head for Key West where they happily explore the tourist attractions.

While the cops babble about early retirement, Hyams films what amounts to a super-slick MTV number complete with the usual heavy sound of rock music. But Hyams can't quite match the hip one-liners to the violent action. The ing is so disjointed it looks as a if the jokester heroes had no concern for a murdered cop and are instead recklessly Spike. Meanwhile, Hydia and her daughters, Reeka and Draggle, are cooking up an evil brew of purple smooze, which they intend to unleash on Ponyland. Look over your shoulders, Little Ponies! Here comes the smooze.

Whoops, Ponyland is awash and the stuff doesn't come off. Bring on Megan, Molly and Danny, unleash the Rainbow of Light, and for heaven's sake, find Lickety Split. Ann, but it isn't as easy as all that It develops that only the Flutter Ponies can stop the smooze. That means a long and dangerous trip for Megan, et to Flutter Valley. At points, it gets pretty scary, particularly when the giant spider appears.

But the Flutter Ponies do agree to beat their wings in unison and blow the smooze away. Except for the shameless hustling of Little Pony products and it is shameless this movie stands up as Saturday afternoon fare. It's not enthralling, but it is entertaining, and the little ones will like it fine. We could wish, though, that the Little Ponies weren't quite so coy. A horse is supposed to neigh, not simper.

pursuing a drug-dealing Hispanic because they want his high-priced Mercedes. The director would clearly prefer concentrating on gangbuster action sequences to developing characters. He pumps up the movie with a high-speed chase (shades of "The French in which a limo and a cab send sparks flying as they rattle down the tracks of the Chicago el. The windup is another showstopper a shootout in one 'of the city's more spectacular glass towers." At least Hyams showed some originality by pairing dancer Gregory Hines with comedian Billy Crystal as the rule-defying cops. They play off each other like longtime bosom buddies and fire off their often sharp lines with such delightful ease you can't help but warm up to this new screen duo.

But despite a few gleeful ly entertaining moments, the movie, so carefully engineered to please the widest possible audience, succeeds finally in stifling the talents 'of its free-spirited leading players. Kathleen Carroll.