On One Condition: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

[[Unexpected Inheritance|A character learns that a distant relative has passed and bequeathed to them a substantial fortune/estate]]. There is of course, a catch in the [[Will]] that must be obeyed. Should it be violated, everything will pass to another person.

Another possible ending is for the supposedly dead relative to show up alive, and reveal that the whole affair was a [[Secret Test of Character]].

 

{{examples}}

 

== Anime and Manga ==

 

** Which is just about impossible, given that this would require traveling at roughly 300 mph, which most land or sea vehicles can't do, and even those that can have to do it in controlled conditions where they won't be crashing into people who aren't driving vehicles that go that fast.

* A Japanese variant found in a number of [[Anime]] series involves the heir to some sort of unwanted family business needing to fulfill the condition to ''avoid'' having to devote their life to a career that they hate, or an unwanted arranged marriage. Examples of this include:

** ''[[W Juliet]]''

** He was actually fine with it but Jesse and Meowth typically pushed him back into it.

* ''[[Captive Hearts]]'': Suzuka's father made a will stating that, if he died and left no heirs, his estate should be split between his wife and Yoshimi (the butler). While Suzuka and her parents were all officially declared dead, Yoshimi got the whole money until Suzuka was found.

 

== Film ==

 

** The Richard Pryor vehicle was the 8th film made from the story (originally a 1902 novel); the amount of the inheritance varies from version to version, as does the amount the hero must spend and the time limit. The reason for the odd condition also varies; in the original novel, it was because the hero had earlier inherited money from his grandfather, and the eccentric uncle who left the larger amount to him hated the grandfather; the condition was that the hero finish the year with none of what he had inherited from his grandfather, nor anything he had acquired using his grandfather's money.

*** The reason for the condition in this particular film was to teach Brewster the value of money by forcing him to waste it until he no longer liked to do so. This seems like a risky idea as if it had worked ''too well'' he might have lost interest in the full inheritance itself.

** Like ''Brewster's Millions'', this is merely the most recent version of an often-filmed story; [[Buster Keaton]] used the same premise for ''[[Seven Chances]]'' in 1925, while [[The Three Stooges]] did so in their 1947 short ''Brideless Groom''.

* This is the plot of the [[Rodney Dangerfield]] movie, ''Easy Money''. Working-class hedonist Rodney's ultra-wealthy mother-in-law leaves all of her money to him--so long as he cleans up his act, giving up drugs, drinking, smoking, gambling, overeating and sleeping around. Since it's a movie, again, no need for the [[Reset Button]], permitting him to succeed at meeting the challenge. Then his MIL turns up alive, saying that he gets to keep the money, anyway, so long as he remains on the straight and narrow; he ends up living a double-life, smoking and drinking while playing poker with his buddies in the basement.

* Dave Coulier in the [[Christmas Movie]] ''[[The Family Holiday]]''. His uncle leaves him ten million dollars on the condition that Dave must prove that he is married, has a family, and is working a legitimate job. He scams his best friend into getting him a job at a novelty toy factory, hires a brother/sister pair of runaways, and tricks a recently laid-off tutor into working for him but doesn't tell her that she's supposed to be his "wife" or the kids' "mom". [[Hilarity Ensues]]. {{spoiler|Of course, Dave earns his inheritance. However, his uncle knew that Dave would lie to get the money, and so the excecutor of the estate--his uncle's 2nd wife, set up this elaborate ruse complete with social workers and cops, to make sure that Dave really cared about others. He is given the check but he rips it up. Only after he marries the tutor, gets the kids formally adopted, and keeps his job at the factory, his step-aunt gives him the money.}}

* The [[Buster Keaton]] movie ''[[Seven Chances]]'' (1925) has Buster inheriting seven million dollars if he marries before 7 p.m. on his 27th birthday -- which just happens to be that very day...

* Played dead serious in ''[[Star Wars|Iron Fist]]'', where one of the provisions of {{spoiler|Phanan's}} will is that {{spoiler|Face has to get [[Scars Are Forever|his scar]] removed}}.

** Also, interestingly enough, it is explain in complete detail why this is necessary.

** There's another advantage - the Assassin's Guild will ''not'' take a second contract out on someone, technically granting Moist some slight degree of safety. Also, no self-respecting Assassin would [[Even Evil Has Standards|even consider accepting a contract on a dog]], so Mr. Fusspot is safe on that end, too.

* It's revealed in one of the [[Edgar and Ellen]] books that Augustus Nod, the founder of Nod's Limbs, left his entire fortune to whoever finds the original limbs of the statue erected to him. ( {{spoiler|Nod stole them himself.}}) They're eventually found by {{spoiler|Edgar and Ellen}}, who will inherit it {{spoiler|[[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|once he dies]].}}

* [[Sidney Sheldon]] book ''Bloodline'' features a pharmaceutical company named Roffe & Sons, which founder saw to it that his heirs wouldn't be able to sell their shares of the company unless all of them agreed to do it.

* ''[[The Dandee Diamond Mystery]]'': The benefactor leaves the diamond to whoever deserves it the most. As this is an interactive book, it has several endings. {{spoiler|Some of them have a note with the diamond stating the one who found it was the one who deserved it the most. One states [[Pet Heir|the benefactor's parrot deserves the diamond.]] One shows that the benefactor [[Faking the Dead|faked his death]] to see how far his relatives would go for the diamond and he stated he's the only one who deserves the diamond. The other endings simply don't have it stated}}.

 

* Parodied in an episode of ''[[Muppets Tonight]]'' in which the guest star's character will inherit a "fortune" of "eighty-five dollars" provided that he is married to a beautiful woman. Miss Piggy happens to walk in the door at that point...

** Another sketch, featuring 'America's fattest family' Tubman learns that his aunt has died and left him an actual fortune- on the stipulation that he loses weight. Cue Tubman trying to burn off pounds in seconds, destroying his exercise equipment and nearly himself in the process. When the dust settles, he gets another letter saying his aunt has recovered! Apparently, she's very stubborn...

* Rose on ''[[The Golden Girls]]'' was bequeathed $100,000 to take care of her late uncle's favorite pig for the rest of his (the pig's) life. When the pig fell ill, the vet believed he was just homesick, so the girls gave up the money and passed him on to another relative back in Minnesota, only to have the pig die of old age 36 hours later.

* On ''[[The Drew Carey Show]]'', the episode "Drew's Inheritance" saw his Uncle Cecil setting the prerequisite of Drew getting married in 72 hours from the reading of the will, purely because in life he was a big fan of movie plots in general. He and Kate would have gotten away with either a fake marriage or a real one, if it weren't for their two meddling idiot-friends.

* After Aunt Fran dies on ''~Mama's Family~'', Thelma learns that she possessed a secret fortune, which she has willed to Thelma. The catch? The notoriously cantankerous Thelma must avoid losing her temper for two weeks, or else the money will go to Fran's favorite charity.

* The classic ''[[Twilight Zone]]'' episode "The Masks" has a dying millionaire inviting his greedy relatives to [[It's Always Mardi Gras in New Orleans|a Mardi Gras party]] and stipulating that in order to inherit his money, each will have to don a hideously grotesque mask revealing his or her true character. Despite some moaning and groaning, the family makes it through the night. {{spoiler|Only to discover that the masks have warped their faces to be perfect replicas of the masks, leaving them very rich but having to live in shadow for the rest of their lives.}}

* Casseta&Planeta segment "O Diário de Um Macho" (A Macho Man's Diary) had an episode where the protagonist (Carlos Maçaranduba) and his twin brother learned their father left his fortune to the first one of them to get married. {{spoiler|The protagonist's brother got the inheritance}}.

* One sketch of [[Os Trapalhões]] featured a woman who could only claim the inheritance her Grandfather left her if her husband were with her while she claimed it. Because he was missing and the lawyer knows what he looks like, she tried to deceive the lawyer with someone who looks like her husband.

 

* The musical ''Lucky Stiff'' focuses on Harry Witherspoon, an English shoe salesman who will inherit six million if he meets the terms of his dead uncle's will. Of course, the terms aren't ordinary: Harry must take his dead uncle's preserved corpse around Monte Carlo for a week. And if Harry fails to get one little condition right, the money defaults to his uncle's favorite charity.

 

== Webcomics ==

* The first version is used in [http://www.partiallyclips.com/index.php?id=1155 this] ''PartiallyClips'' strip.

* ''[[Dinosaur Comics]]'' had it debated [http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1617 here] and [http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1618 here].

 

== Western Animation ==

 

** The trope itself is briefly parodied in the episode. When Bender learns he's inherited the castle, his first reaction is, "Cool! Let's stay there tonight!" Upon being told that he has to stay there the night to receive the inheritance, this becomes, "Aw, man, we have to stay in some musty old castle?"

** ''The Wabbit Who Came To Supper'', [[Bugs Bunny/Characters|Bugs Bunny]] moves in with Elmer Fudd when Fudd's Uncle Louie wills him his entire fortune provided he does not harm any animals, especially rabbits. In the end, Elmer DOES manage to curb his anger long enough to get the money... and immediately loses it all (and then some) to taxes.

** ''Hare to Heir'' uses both the "humiliating restrictions" and "murder" plots together. A broke Yosemite Sam inherits a large lump sum of cash on the condition that he will lose a percentage of it each time he loses his temper. As the amount left inevitably dwindles due to his famous hair-trigger rage, he tries to kill off the executor of the will who's been making all the deductions before it's all gone (Namely, [[Bugs Bunny]]).

** There's also a story where [[Pet Heir|a cat]] inherited a fortune with the will stipulating that his parrot friend Louie would get the money if something happened to the cat. By the end of the cartoon, one of Louie's plans actually seems to work, as the cat's nine lives start leaving him. However, Loiue then brags about the inheritance he's leaving behind, causing the lives to return and the cat to declare that if he can't take the money with him, he's not leaving.

* In [[Tex Avery]]'s MGM short ''Wags to Riches'', a millionaire dies and leaves his fortune to Droopy, with a clause that in the event of Droopy's death the entire estate will revert to his other dog, Spike...who naturally spends the cartoon trying (unsuccessfully) to bump Droopy off.

** And then it turned out Bullwinkle ''really did'' have the birthmark ''[[Crowning Moment of Funny|on his other foot]]''.

** According to the executor of the will, 'spending a night in a haunted house' is a "standard clause".

** Played straight in the episode "Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in 'The Curse of the Flying Hellfish'": At the end of WWII, Abe Simpson's squad, the "Flying Hellfish" set up a set of priceless German paintings to be inherited by the last survivor of the squad. During the episode, one of the last members dies, leaving only Abe and Burns remaining. Burns spends the rest of the episode trying to kill Abe, who eventually dishonorably discharges Burns, thus expelling him from the inheritance. Of course, because [[Status Quo Is God]], the U.S. State Department suddenly arrives to confiscate the paintings and give them to their rightful owner (a rude German yuppie) for diplomatic purposes.

** In another episode, Abe inherited one hundred and some thousands of dollars from a girlfriend. Her lawyer told him he'd have to spend a night in a haunted house but then he explained he was joking. Nothing was required of him as a condition to keep the money.

** And then Fred finds out one important fact about dear uncle Giggles. {{spoiler|He's not dead yet. The whole thing was a prank. Well, says Fred, I happen to be a bit of a kook myself...}}

* The series ''[[Mad Jack the Pirate]]'' had an episode where Mad Jack inherited a treasure from his Uncle Mortimer, after whom the episode had been titled. However, the will stipulated a condition: Uncle Mortimer's body and his dog must be taken to the Island of Hanna-Barbarian. The condition is fulfilled despite the adversities but, [[Status Quo Is God|Mad Jack must never]] [[Failure Is the Only Option|be wealthy by an episode's ending]], {{spoiler|the treasure consisted of a chest full of dog biscuits}}.

* In [[Lucky Luke]] and the Ballad of the Daltons, the Dalton Brothers (Joe, William, Jack and Averell) were informed that their Uncle Henry Dalton left them their money on the condition that they kill the judge and the jury that sentenced him to be hanged. Unfortunately, for the Daltons, Uncle Henry also demanded that the Daltons brought Lucky Luke as a witness to confirm the fulfillment of the condition. While the other Daltons were trying to contain the enraged Joe Dalton upon hearing this, the lawyer who informed them of Uncle Henry's death told them that, if they fail, the money will go to charity. {{spoiler|The Daltons agreed to offer Lucky Luke a share of the inheritance in exchange from his help (they were planning to kill him afterwards).Lucky Luke tricked the Daltons into thinking he'd agreed while he actually helped their targets to [[Faking the Dead|fake their deaths]]. In the end, when the Daltons thought they were about to get the money, they actially met the judge and the jurors ready to convict them for the murder attempts with Lucky Luke as witness. The Daltons were sent back to prison and Uncle Henry's money went to the Henry Dalton Foundation, that took care of orphans}}.

* In ''[[Ratatouille]]'', Gusteau stipulated in his will that, if no heir of his claims his restaurant within the fist two years after his death, it'll go to his Sous-Chef Skinner.

* In ''[[Top Cat]] and the Beverly Hills Cats'', Mrs. Vandergelt left her fortune to her niece Amy. Because of her disappearance, Benny was the next in line. If anything happened to him within the next 48 hours, the butler would get the fortune.

* In ''[[Wild West Cowboys of Moo Mesa]]'' episode "Wedding Bull Blues", it's been seven years ever since Colonel Cudster left Cowtown to look for more gold and left his daughter in charge of his gold mine. Because of that, Mayor Bulloney tried to invoke an old law to have Colonel Cudster pronounced dead and the gold mine confiscated. (The later being preventable by the existence of a will left by Colonel Cudster) Since the only known will stated Colonel Cudster's daugher and 'her husband' as the heirs, the will won't be valid unless she's married by the end of the day her father is pronounced dead. {{spoiler|One day-old letter arrived on time to prevent Colonel Cudster from being pronounced dead}}.