The 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.

Mike Nichols who directed The Fortune would not direct a feature film again until Silkwood in 1983. He was obviously hurt by the critical and commercial failure of this film.

Warren Beatty should realise that he is just not cut out for a certain style of comedy. This film was inspired by the success of the scatterbrained homage to the 1930s comedies, What's up Doc and the crime caper The Sting.

It is a zany screwball comedy set in the 1920s. Warren Beatty is a sleazy, handsome, married con man who in an attempt to sidestep a piece of legislation where you cannot take an unmarried woman across a state line, gets Jack Nicholson his dim witted accomplice to marry an heiress (Stockard Channing) and fly out to California so Beatty can have his wicked ways with her.

However Nicholson takes a shine to Channing and keeps getting in the way and wants Channing for himself rather let Beatty just have her.

When Channing learns that the boys are just after her fortune she tells them that she will give it away to charity. They now plan to murder her for her money but every attempt to knock her off ends up in disaster.

Nicholson and Beatty are just too incompetent to succeed with their plan. Nicholson's character probably inspired by all of The Three Stooges keeps drawing attention to himself when the trio are supposed to be in California incognito as Channing has run away from her wealthy family. For example, there is a bizarre scene on the plane where he ends up in the outside of the plane knocking on the window and looking demented.

The film is too messy and the humour feels forced, it looks like a series of sketches that just fly by you without even raising a smile in most instances.

It is a rarely shown and barely known film. I stumbled across it on television and did not know that Beatty and Nicholson appeared together prior to the film Reds.

Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, and Stockard Channing are at their comedic best in this movie. It's kind of one of those goofy 'buddy' movies where Nicholson and Beatty play off each other marvelously with Channing thrown into a great ditzy role. If you want to see comedy acting at its finest...

'The Fortune' is a crime comedy, centred around the dubious exploits of two 1920s conmen, promisingly played by Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty. Their job is to cheat a wealthy woman out of her fortune, and the film starts off positively. The film's song, 'I Must Be Dreaming', is quite enjoyable, and I was glad to see Nichols reuse it in the credits at the end. Unfortunately, it all goes downhill from the hopeful first scene. The premise was interesting, but it may have been performed better if the film was more serious. It felt a little like a rom-com, road movie version of 'The Great Gatsby', and the effect wasn't very good. The script was a little off at times, and I think that, in places, Beatty failed to remain on Nicholson's level during their usually fun exchanges. There were a few genuinely funny scenes, but I don't think there were enough of them to justify watching this. Other scenes degenerated into mind- numbing silliness, almost to the point where the viewer forgets the plot or the premise of 'The Fortune'. Overall, I was quite disappointed with this film. Nicholson, as ever, delivered a great performance, but I don't think that 'The Fortune' operated along the right lines. It could have channelled the atmosphere of 'McCabe & Mrs. Miller', or been a serious Prohibition crime film, but its direction steered it into becoming a very mediocre comedy.