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.
- Awards
- 2 nominations total
- Eloise Cott
- (as Patricia Crowley)
- Len Flink
- (as Don Briggs)
Featured reviews
Garner's on-screen charm and his natural Oklahoma accent play into his wheeling-dealing persona as he cuts one deal after another. It's perhaps the slickest character he ever played. He's a delight from start to finish.
His opposite number is Lee Remick, a stockbroker whose firm wants to cut loose and is setting up for failure.
Garner and Remick make a fine team as they cook up a scheme that turns money (Garner is the actual chef; Remick was as deluded as anyone) as they refuse to admit they're falling in love.
Then an investigator (John Astin) gets on their tail . . .
This movie is full of the sorts of screwball supporting players the 1960s produced in scads. Not only Astin but Jim Backus, Robert Strauss, Jesslyn Fax, Pat Harrington, etc. A noteable standout is Louis Nye's famous but shady artist. Whatever happened to these sorts of plug-'em-in players we used to enjoy watching from movie to movie?
It's a little too strident in its (these days obvious) support of women in business, and makes Remick come off as a stereotype, of the type she did better in "The Hallelujah Trail" and Natalie Wood perfected in " The Great Race."
It's not a largely laugh-out loud affair but light-hearted adult fare.
And it has a great theme song performed joyfully by the New Christie Minstrels.
All the fun is in the wheelin' and the dealin', Garner explains at one point. "Money's just a way of keeping score."
And, just like most Maverick episodes, in The Wheeler Dealers he's the consummate "operator". Deals flash in and out along with discussions of tax breaks and depreciation and partnerships and reminders of past successful deals.
Lee Remick is a female stockbroker and (for that era) the only one in her office. The glass ceiling is high and thick here. She's been trapped into selling stock in an obsolete "widget" factory so when she fails her firm can cut costs by firing her.
The funniest part of this movie are the three friends, headed by Chill Wills, with immense confidence in Tyroon and their bids on taking percentages of his deals. Makes us smile every time. :-)
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).
Did you know
- TriviaThe building shown as the "Cotton Mather Inn" is actually on MGM's lot, known as the "Girl's School", probably because it served that purpose for the films Forty Little Mothers (1940) and Three Daring Daughters (1948). The structure was notably used in Thé et sympathie (1956) and La toile d'araignée (1955), where it was a psychiatric clinic.
- 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.
- ConnectionsReferenced in I've Got a Secret: James Garner (1963)
- SoundtracksThe 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]
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- The Wheeler Dealers
- Filming locations
- TWA Terminal, JFK International Airport, Jamaica, Queens, New York City, New York, USA(Henry arrives in New York City)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime
- 1h 47m(107 min)
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1