Touchstone Plus-Or-Minus: Ruthless People

When Down And Out In Beverly Hills premiered in January of 1986, Bette Midler hadn’t appeared on movie screens in four years. Now, less than six months later, she was back. For the next several years, she would continue to be inextricably intertwined with both Disney and Touchstone. Since Disney Plus Or Minus is slightly ahead of the Touchstone timeline, we’ve already covered her vocal work in Oliver & Company. I’m beginning to feel like renaming this newsletter Disney Plus Or Midler.

Down And Out In Beverly Hills had been a smart social satire unlike anything Disney had produced before. Ruthless People would push the studio even further out of their comfort zone. It was big, broad, occasionally vulgar and gleefully dark. In other words, it was the kind of movie Walt would never have touched. It was also the clearest indication to date that Touchstone was not your parents’ Disney.