La bonne fortune

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.

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.

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.

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.