why did caine insist that martin be ruprecht??

To totally put off the women they were conning. They were all "high society" types and the thought of having a basket case for a brother-in-law sent them all running for the nearest exit.

bushtony and his mother suffer from Congential Stupidtiy and they didn't see it coming.

i thought it was because he was tryin to get freddy to quit and leave. he eventually does get fed up with it, but doesn't leave. which is why they make the bet. i thought it was more to deter freddy than it was to get money.

Ruprecht is there to convince the women to leave.


"Unless Alpert's covered in bacon grease, I don't think Hugo can track anything."

I think gooch60 is closer to the mark. Obviously it served its purpose as a scam, but we were clearly supposed to understand that Lawrence’s primary goal was to get rid of Freddy.

If you remember, after Freddy has persuaded Lawrence to coach him, there is a brief discussion between Lawrence and the police chief where André tells him he’s making a mistake (he advises him that he knows someone “good with a stiletto”); Lawrence replies “I am taking him in gracefully in order to get him out gracefully.” It’s obvious that he hopes the humiliation of playing the role of Ruprecht is intended to encourage him to leave – which it of course does.

There is also another exchange between Lawrence and André after Freddy has quit, tired of playing the part of Ruprecht all the time:

Lawrence: “Well, the Jackal has finally tucked his tail between his legs and crawled away.”
André: (smiling) “Good. Then it is business as usual, eh? Haha.”

Of course it is part of a scam but the REAL reason was to let Steve do some of the jerk humor he loves (and some of the funniest scenes in the movie).

To humiliate him into giving up his quest, and to have a bit of fun while doing so....

Good writing and British humor....