Mitgiftjäger

Boasting two of the biggest male superstars (Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty) in their prime along with a major director (Mike Nichols) The Fortune isn't worth a plug nickel. Smug, abrasive, shrill it attempts to bowl you over with its heavyweight roster but instead trips over itself and falls flat on its face with one forced routine after the next.

Nicky (Beatty) runs off with sanitary napkin heiress Freddie (Stockard Channing)but in order to do so must employ the dim witted Oscar to tag along in order to get around The Mann Act and the fact Nicky is still married. Acting as a stand in until Nicky gets his divorce Oscar marries Freddie and the trio head for sunny California. When the living situation causes a schism between Nicky and Oscar the boys agree to off Freddie to get at the fortune.

There is hardly a laugh to go around in Fortune as Beatty looking like a slick gigolo and Nicholson a cross between Larry Fine and Professor Irwin Cory show a complete lack of comic timing or any chemistry between each other even though Nichols intention seems to be an attempt at a homicidal Laurel and Hardy. Channing starts out promising enough but even she catches what the boys have (crass comic timing) by pictures end.

Nichols who up until this point had directed some seminal 70s performances allows his stars to lurch in every direction as he places more emphasis on camera movement and toying with ellipsis including not one but two long runway takes that remind us how well he did it in Catch 22 but not here.

John Alonso lenses capably while Richard Sylbert's production design applies a thick coat of lipstick to this pig but the end result is an arrogant display of contemporary might who felt reputation alone would carry this turkey. Instead it chops its head off.

When I read about "Silkwood" in a movie encyclopedia, the caption said that Mike Nichols's career had come to a halt eight years earlier with "The Fortune". Watching the latter, I laughed but also felt like the movie was a little bit low for the director of "The Graduate" and "Catch-22". Portraying uptight Warren Beatty and over-conspicuous Jack Nicholson transporting Stockard Channing to California for what were deemed immoral purposes by the Mann Act in the 1920s, it seems like much of the flick consists of Beatty getting angry at Nicholson for not taking their predicament too seriously. But the last twenty minutes were a hoot, I will say that.

So, this may be Mike Nichols's only movie that you sit around in your underwear and watch. I gotta pity the characters for having a landlady like the one portrayed in the movie. Also starring Scatman Crothers (that's right, the cook from "The Shining") and a very young Christopher Guest.

It is easy to see why i had never heard of this movie before because it is so bad and it's hard to see a cast this great in a movie so bad. Hard to believe this was directed by Mike Nichols and stars Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson. The movie is set in the 1920's in which there is a law that saw you cannot take a woman across state lines for immoral purposes. Beatty is in love with Stockard Channing and has Nicholson get married to her and the movie doesn't make it clear why Beatty didn't marry her in the first place. Beatty is going to pose as her brother and they are going to California. It then turns out that both of them are only interested in her money and she isn't too happy about that. The movie is pretty bad and this movie deserves to be unknown.

During the 1920's, the Mann-Act criminalizes transporting women across State lines for immoral purposes. Nicky Wilson (Warren Beatty) and Oscar Sullivan (Jack Nicholson) are inept con-artists trying to take rich heiress Fredericka Quintessa Bigard (Stockard Channing). She falls for Nicky but he's already married. Oscar marries Freddie in order to run away to L.A. across state lines. Her father threatens to disown her. The boys fight over her for her money.

This movie threw me. I expected good characters, and good acting from a Mike Nichols movie but he adds a screwball element to his comedy this time. I didn't see it coming. It takes me a little time to get used to it. I'm shaken by Oscar suddenly walking the wing on the plane. I don't think it's Nichols' strong suit. It's a lot of wacky screwball comedy that don't really generate laughs. The energy isn't there. He needs quicker edits and sharper gags. His brand of comedy isn't quite that. At its core, there are the three great actors and they shine.

I don't know why I sat through this movie. Perhaps I thought there would be some redeeming moment but it just got on my nerves and never left until the end credits rolled. With actors like Channing and Nicholson, I expected a decent film but alas! The direction loses (or has no) focus. The screenplay's a big mess though. The actors are loud. Although Nicholson himself isn't as bad because he's quite different from his other films and does provide a few funny moments. Channing too has one funny moment where she runs away with a chicken. Seeing the positive comments, maybe I missed something but anyway, for me it was a waste of time.