The Right Price story
A burglar named "the Cat" breaks into the home of couple Mort and Jocelyn, who are also business partners and constantly fight about money. Mort offers the Cat $3,500 to kill Jocelyn, but Jocelyn makes a counteroffer of $5,000, so the Cat kills Mort instead. Directed by: Arthur Hiller. Story by: Henry Slesar, Bernard C. Schoenfeld.
13 total · 1 choice · 2 major · 10 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| spouse murder | choice | Mort contracted the Cat to kill Jocelyn, but she outbid him and paid the cat to kill Mort instead. |
| burglary | major | A burglar know as "the Cat" broke into Mort and Jocelyn's home, and was confronted by Mort. |
| husband and wife | major | Mort and Jocelyn Barnhardt despised one another to the extent that each took measures to have the other murdered when the opportunity came knocking. |
| facing a home invader | minor | The story follows Mort and "the Cat" as they attempt to come to some arrangement after Mort caught "the Cat" burgling his home. |
| humans at work | minor | Mort and Jocelyn bickered over finances in their two person home office before retiring to bed. |
| insurance fraud | minor | Mort and a burglar know as "the Cat" kicked around the idea of Mort letting the Cat burgle Mort's house and then Mort claim more in the subsequent insurance claim than the Cat had heisted. |
| law enforcement | minor | A chatty police officer, named Joe, came knocking on Mort's door in the middle of the night. |
| male bonding | minor | Mort and a burglar know as "the Cat" bonded by exchanging complaints about their respective wives. |
| negotiation | minor | Mort haggled with a burglar know only as the Cat over the price for the Cat to knock off his wife. |
| price inflation in society | minor | A burglar known as "the Cat" cited rising food prices in connection with inflation when negotiating with Mort over how much it would cost for him to knock off Mort's wife. |