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| Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson |
(1975). Director: Mike Nichols.
Old-time screwball comedies, of which The Fortune is an imitation, often featured "heroes," such as Groucho Marx, who were reprobates and scallawags, decided con artists, but Nicky and Oscar are essentially sociopaths who have no hesitation in deciding to off the woman who loves them. Admittedly, Freddie can be shrill and overbearing, and might be considered an unsympathetic victim. A bigger problem is that director Mike Nichols again uses the long take approach, when comedies like these need expert cutting and pacing. A manic three-way fight sequence doesn't work at all. In spite of that, The Fortune is frequently amusing -- thanks to the performances, with Nicholson taking top honors -- and has at least one hilarious scene set on an airplane. While the film is farcical enough not to be offensive, it perhaps needed to be even more farcical.
I suppose there are those who will argue that underneath the comical tone The Fortune is about cynical human nature, women who can't accept reality when it comes to their men, how relationships are instantly disposable when things go awry, and so on. But I think The Fortune doesn't really have that much on its mind. I shouldn't like the film at all, but I confess I found it quite entertaining. But, yes, it could have been a lot better. Stockard Channing gives it the Old College Try, but for better or worse this is the boys' show.
In the 1920's Nicky Wilson (Warren Beatty) wants to marry heiress Freddie Bigard (Stockard Channing) for her money, but his divorce from his wife hasn't come through. He importunes zany buddy Oscar Sullivan (Jack Nicholson) to marry the lady so he won't get in trouble over the Mann Act, which prohibits moving a woman across a state line for "immoral purposes." The three set up housekeeping in a cottage where Nicky pretends to be Oscar's brother. The two men both vie for the charms of Freddie, but then decide they will have a better chance of getting her money if the woman is dead. The two dim-bulbs then hatch a plot ...
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| Our "heroes" with Stockard Channing |
Verdict: For once Nicholson is the character he plays instead of himself. ***.
I need to check this one out again; I remember not liking it at all when I saw it years ago. Stockard Channing was severely underused, and her character is the butt of an unpleasantly misogynistic story. I love Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty in many of their films, and in real life they were best friends and famous carousers, but here I remember being turned off by the characters they played.
ReplyDeleteBUT I will see again, it has been more than two decades since I watched it. And I was unaware that this too was a Mike Nichols film.
-Chris
Yes, it was considered one of his stinkers when it was released. Having just seen it I can tell you that much of what you say about it is entirely accurate -- the characters Beatty and Nicholson play are certainly not admirable, to put it mildly. The acting is what makes this work. At least the movie held my attention and I was curious to see what would happen, unlike a lot of films where I cut off after about fifteen minutes, LOL!
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