Steal Big Steal Little

Twin brothers, Rueben and Robbie are at odds with each other over land left to them worth millions, in Santa Barbara. Robbie wants to sell it to developers while Rueben wants to keep it in memory of Mona, the woman that gave them the land and raised the two since childhood. The day before Mona died she changed her will and left everything to Rueben, after finding out that Robbie planned on selling it off at her death. After the funeral, Robbie along with his investors, Myers, a crooked judge, and a millionaire, Dean Tyler, are shocked to find out that Robbie has been cut out of the will. Rueben is also shocked upon hearing that he has inherited forty thousand acres of land surrounding the ranch where he lives. It was always Mona's dream to set up a ranch with good living conditions for the people who worked for her. A ranch where everyone would share in the profit. Rueben intends to make her dream a reality, but Robbie is just as determined to stop him. While out riding with his son, Julian, Rueben sees the sheriff approaching the fields and rides towards the workers to warn them to hide any illegal aliens. He is too late as the sheriff finds a worker and arrest him for not having a green card. He also arrests Rueben for hiding the man. Rueben believes that Robbie sent the police to the ranch so when he gets out of jail he decides to pay his brother a visit. Rueben finds out that Robbie is playing polo so he goes to the polo field, charges down the field with rope in hand and lassos Robbie in front of the crowd of spectators. Rueben politely informs Robbie that two can play his game. Rueben's trouble is just beginning, however, as the IRS is tipped off and come to check his books the next day. They find costly mistakes and now he has to come up with a lot of money in a short time. He calls his attorney, Eddie, a childhood friend and the attorney that helped Mona change her will. Rueben trusted him, so when Eddie comes up with a plan to get a loan with the ranch as collateral, Rueben agrees. The first mistake he made was signing the papers without reading them and the second was trusting Eddie. Rueben started renovations on the ranch, unaware that the loan he signed was from a company his brother owned. When the loan was called, Lou, a friend of Rueben's wife, Laura, helped him find out the exact terms of the contract and what could be done. Eddie had disappeared and no one knew where to find him, but Rueben wasn't giving up. They took the case to court only to find out that the judge was in on the development deal along with the sheriff. The judge ruled against their appeal and evicted them from the ranch. It has now become a race against time. They must find Eddie and form a plan to get the land back and expose the people involved. They are successful in finding Eddie and he has enough information on the group of developers to put them away for a long time. Rueben and his bunch must now find a way of getting the group to admit the things they have done or it will be considered hearsay in court. Their only chance is for Rueben to go on the big horse ride the group has planned. Rueben along with a couple of girls pay Robbie a visit on his boat. He makes Robbie think that they are all going to party together. The girls flirt with Robbie and before he knows what's happened, they have knocked him out. Rueben changes clothes with him and goes to the ride with Eddie, dressed as his female companion. Eddie is wired with a small camera and microphone so they can record everything that is said and later use it to blackmail the developers. Eddie does a great job of flirting with all the old men, which in turn makes them brag on themselves giving him all the information Rueben needs. In the meantime Robbie shows up at the ride location in Rueben's clothes and the police take him away to jail believing he is Rueben. The next day there is to be a big presentation at the ranch given by the developers and Robbie. Before the presentation, Rueben, Eddie, and Lou invite Judge Myers to a meeting showing him exactly what evidence they have. After seeing the material, he signs the ranch back to Rueben, and issues arrests for the others involved. Rueben then, acting as Robbie, goes to the ranch to make a speech, not knowing that the millionaire, Tyler, has hired a gunmen to kill Robbie after the deal is finalized. Everyone rides in hot air balloons to get an overland view of the forty thousand acres. This is when Robbie is suppose to be shot. However, after Rueben leaves for the presentation Lou and the others watch the rest Eddie's film and see Tyler hire the gunmen. Lou makes it just in time to stop the gunmen from shooting Rueben. However Tyler sees Lou stop the gunmen so he turns to his bodyguard and instructs him to shoot. Rueben is hit. He falls out of the balloon holding on to a rope to keep from falling to his death. Robbie has been released from jail. He shows up, sees his brother in trouble and races for a horse. While leading another horse for Rueben he gallops towards the balloon in an effort to save him. Rueben is met by many friends with loving embraces after he is safe. The sheriff and Tyler are taken into custody along with Judge Myers. The ranch is once again Rueben's. Robbie realizes now that family, land, and friends are what should be valued above anything else. Robbie and Rueben become partners in making Mona's dream a reality.

  • Starring: Andy Garcia
  • Director(s): Andrew Davis
  • Producer(s): Chicago Pacific Entertainment
  • Screenwriter(s): Andrew Davis
  • Distributor: Savoy Pictures, Inc.
  • Release Date: Monday, July 31, 1995

Featured Animal Action

In one scene Rueben and Julian are riding along the beach and through the fields supervising the field hands. All pathways were cleared of any debris or rocks and the horse was walked after every scene to ensure he was properly cooled down. When Rueben goes to the Polo game in search of Robbie he jumps over some chairs onto the field. A trained jumping horse was used to accomplish this scene. When everyone arrives at the location of the ride, there are men on horseback and a wagon pulled by two horses is seen carrying a man in a wheelchair. There are also other scenes where you see a field hand riding a horse across a field or a horse returning back to the ranch riderless. When Rueben and Lou find Eddie, four parrots are seen in the background sitting on perches. The rest of the animal action in the film consists of a dog lying on Lou's bed and some farm animals such as cows, goats, chickens, and a duck used as background atmosphere.