Lits séparés

Original title: The Wheeler Dealers

1963
Approved
1h 47m

IMDb RATING

6.5/10

1.6K

YOUR RATING

Jim Backus, James Garner, Lee Remick, Phil Harris, and Chill Wills in Lits séparés (1963)

A big-time Texas wheeler-dealer (who's actually Ivy league-educated, but plays dumb) runs out of money, and goes to New York City to raise $1.5 million.

Play trailer2:54

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Comedy

A big-time Texas wheeler-dealer (who's actually Ivy league-educated, but plays dumb) runs out of money, and goes to New York City to raise $1.2 million.A big-time Texas wheeler-dealer (who's actually Ivy league-educated, but plays dumb) runs out of money, and goes to New York City to raise $1.2 million.A big-time Texas wheeler-dealer (who's actually Ivy league-educated, but plays dumb) runs out of money, and goes to New York City to raise $1.2 million.

Director
- Arthur Hiller
Writers
- George J.W. Goodman
- Ira Wallach
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.5/10

1.6K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Arthur Hiller
Writers
- George J.W. Goodman
- Ira Wallach
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 2 nominations total

Videos1

Trailer 2:54

Trailer

Photos15

+ 10

User reviews22

6.51.5K

Featured reviews

8hbs

one of my favorite 60's movies

I think that "Send Me No Flowers" is the best of these "Technicolor marvel" comedies from the 60's, but this is one of my favorites. (By "Technicolor marvel" I mean those films that were shot in primary colors even more intense than something like "The Adventures of Robin Hood", with unnaturally uniform lighting and sets and locations, but mostly sets, that are DisneyLand-clean-and-orderly. Doris Day seemed to be in about half of those movies, at least in my recollection.)

The movie is about James Garner as an oil-man having a run of bad luck, so he goes to New York to make some quick money. He finds big bucks and romance, and it makes me laugh. The fact that Louis Nye plays a parody of Jackson Pollock, and that Phil Harris, Chill Wills, and Charles Watts act as a sort of Greek chorus to Garner will give you some idea of how inconsequentially silly this movie is. There's even a securities trial at the end (the judge makes a comment at the beginning that is just thrown away -- I missed it the first time I saw the movie -- which I laugh about every time I think of it).

7boblipton

Let The Caricatures Fight!

James Garner's latest wildcat well has come up dry, and he needs money to continue operations. So he flies up to New York City and starts raising cash. His peregrinations around Wall Street bring him to Lee Remick, who's been handed a dead stock to unload; her certain failure will give her boss, Jim Backus, an excuse to fire her. He's reckoned without Garner and his cohort of high-rolling Texans as played by Phil Harris, Chill Wills, and Charles Watts.

Another of my old friends, this movie is like that pal you had as a kid, who modeled himself on Eddie Haskell. Everyone knew he would come to no good, but he was so darned much fun, and here he still is, doing fine. This movie has it all: a good, satiric view of how Wall Street and the tax code operated, everyone a smug caricature ten years out of date when the movie was released, everyone out for a buck, and some fine comic performers, including Louis Nye, John Astin, Pat Harrington Jr., Robert Strauss, and Pat Crowley. What's that, you say? Of course Charles Lane is in it. How can you not like a movie that makes fun of everyone who shows up on the screen?

10bkoganbing

Chez Henri Tyroon

This may be the best comedy movie to come out of the 1960s. Wheeler Dealers features James Garner at the top of his game, Lee Remick doing her best Doris Day imitation, and a wonderful cast of some of the best character actors ever assembled.

Of all the characters James Garner has created for the screen, I think I like Henry J. Tyroon the best. Cowboy oilman and conman par excellence, he moves skillfully from one situation to the other in business, but really comes up against it with Lee Remick in the romance department.

The supporting cast is soooo good I don't know where to begin to single anyone out. If put to torture I suppose I'd have to mention Louis Nye, "the boss wrangler of the Henry Tyroon collection", and John Astin the manic SEC investigator.

As Mr. Garner puts it: "Only the taxman loses in a Henry Tyroon deal". Even a the most dedicated and humorless IRS agent will find laughs in this classic comedy.

"I'M INTERESTED IN THE ECONOMICS OF ANY SITUATION"

8jjasper-2

Cute, typical early 60's Hollywood Fluff

A good Sunday afternoon or late night distraction. You can pretty much figure out the entire storyline before it gets underway. If made by MGM we'd have seen this as a Doris Day/Rock Hudson vehicle. Almost as interesting for its take on the earliest beginnings on the (ahem) "career-girl" whose most shocking decision was to put career before marriage even when the marriage prospect was Texan James Garner at his most charming and chivalrous. Given Lee Remmick's modern day interest in feminism, this must be one film she's deeply embarrassed to have made. She did a good job - she did what she was told to do by either studio or director - she's disarming, charming, and feminine in Hollywood's best "we-don't-know-the-50's-have-ended-what-new-era?" style. The set dressing and costumes will make many a middle-aged person nostalgic for mom and the home they grew up in.

Charming, dated fun. If you ever wondered what made Garner a star - here's your answer. Sean Connery's "it" factor without the dark undertones.

7cherold

freewheeling fun, but could have been better

Wheeler Dealers is a very entertaining movie with Garner as a charming Texan who makes his money in shady deals and clever schemes, staying just this side of the law. Remick plays a stockbroker who is struggling to prove herself in a male dominated industry - it's one of these interesting examples of early feminism in movies; she is treated badly and is smart, but at the same time she basically ties her star to Garner (as do some men) rather than making her own way. Also note that in this period apparently even feminists referred to themselves as "girls." At times Wheeler Dealers approaches brilliance, with some great lines and a clever satire of finance on the highest levels, but unfortunately the movie is far too fond of sitcom-like plot twists and the ending feels rushed and unconvincing, as though the writers just ran out of ideas and decided to quickly dash something off. But the good outweighs the bad, and at its best this is a very funny movie, while at its worst it's still pretty cute.

Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The car Henry and Molly drive back in from Massachusetts is a 1963 Imperial Crown convertible built by Chrysler Corporation. Only 531 were made that model year. Base price was about $6,000 in 1963 (about $60,650 in 2024). An example in excellent condition in 2024 could be worth $150,000 or more.

Goofs
(at around 5 mins) When the old lady, who steals the cab from Henry, closes the door, a cameraman, camera, tripod, and microphone are all reflected clearly.

Quotes
[Henry is complaing about how hard it is to get a cab in New York]
Feinberg: You're just like my wife, mister. You don't understand the economics of the situation.
Henry Tyroon: Then teach me. I'm interested in the economics of about every situation.
Feinberg: Well, there are 11,000 cabs in the city - and no new permits for the next twenty-five years. Now suppose you wanna buy a cab and start hackin'... you gotta get a new permit, too. Now the tab on a new permit is eighteen thousand five hundred on the open market.
Henry Tyroon: And how much did your cab cost, Mister
[looks at driver's ID]
Henry Tyroon: Feinberg?
Feinberg: Thirty-three hundred... new.
Henry Tyroon: Mm-hmm. Then that makes your investment, uh, with the permit, come to about $22,000.
Feinberg: Yeah. But don't tell my wife... she'll think I'm rich.
Henry Tyroon: Mm-hmm. Mr. Feinberg, I'll give you $24,000 for your cab and permit.
Feinberg: You wanna buy the cab?
Henry Tyroon: Right. But you come along with it. I'll need your services for a week, maybe two.
Feinberg: No, look, mister, I can't sell the cab. I need it.
Henry Tyroon: Well, I figured that. So, when I leave I'll sell it back to you for... $22,000.
Feinberg: You wanna lose two grand just to keep your feet dry when it starts to rain?
Henry Tyroon: I don't lose, Mr. Feinberg. See, I borrow the money and then I get a deduction on the loan interest and another on the depreciation and another on the loss when I sell it back to you. And you make a nice profit.
Feinberg: You win and I win. Uh-uh, there's gotta be a loser somewhere.
Henry Tyroon: Taxman loses. He usually does on a Henry Tyroon deal.
Feinberg: Mister, you've just got yourself a taxi.

Connections
Referenced in I've Got a Secret: James Garner (1963)

Soundtracks
The Wheeler Dealers
By Randy Sparks
Sung by The New Christy Minstrels
[Played over the opening title card and credits; reprise played at the very end of the movie]