La Bonne fortune

A box office failure upon release, it just seems impossible to believe this genuinely hilarious film did not hit with audiences then and now is not the iconic cast and title it deserves to be. Columbia must have been aghast when it didn't set the box office on fire especially given what major stars Nicholson and Beatty were in '75. It is hard to find this film and if you have the time and luck to find a copy, try and also get THE FRONT and THE CHEAP DETECTIVE two other Columbia films around the same time that were reasonable successes and deserve to be major titles in anyone's home library.In Australia each of these films + HIGH ANXIETY suffered from the intro of colour TV and the cinemas all took a nosedive for 4 years 74-78. Very few films in thie period were big hits and cinemas closed in dozens. Pity as so many great films were made then and this comedy genuinely is one.

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.

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.

Mike Nichols' last good film that I'm sure bombed at the time. Stockard Channing almost steals the show as the young heiress, Warren Beatty is perfectly cast, and Nicholson is hilarious without doing much (great hair). There were a lot of good films in the 70's and this should have been included on most lists.

A 7 out of 10. Best performance = Jack Nicholson. There are scenes that fall flat, but the ones that work make it worthwhile. Great costumes and art-set direction as well. It's hard to imagine these two actors (Beatty & Nicholson) playing the characters they did in REDS six years later after playing these buffoons. Give it a shot.