Well Deserved Praise

Don't Believe the Hype

Awesome Movie

It's one of the most original films you'll likely see all year, which, depending on your threshold for certifiably crazy storylines, could be a rewarding experience or one that frustrates you.

I had a hard time figuring out what was going on, and while there were comedy, it was very dark and delivered by actors not well-suited to my particular taste.Stockard Channing was the mistress to Warren Beatty's character (I'm not that familiar with him but certainly wouldn't have recognized him). And she was rich ("The Fortune" of the title) and knew that's all Beatty wanted her for. But in order to comply with the Mann act, she had to be married to Jack Nicholson's character (legally). Beatty claimed Nicholson was his brother. Explaining the naughty antics to the landlady (Florence Stanley, someone I've liked a lot over the years) turned out to be a challenge, but somehow they met them. It seems Nicholson wanted to do what he could legally, even though the whole thing was a scam so Beatty could do what Nicholson was doing. All of this took a while for me to figure out, since I kept thinking I knew what was going on and then kept being proved wrong.What made this movie truly worthwhile was the zany ending. Very funny, lots of action and confusion--but this time it was the good kind of confusion.

THE FORTUNE doesn't seem like much, but the movie wins you over by the end. It is a screwball-type comedy set in the 1920s and focusing on a peculiar love triangle. The film rests on the shoulders of stars Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson, and Stockard Channing.I ended up liking this movie perhaps more than I should have. Mike Nichols's direction is terrific, with long takes and well-choreographed shots. I really enjoyed the 1920s setting, with the period costumes and set design. Warren Beatty hams it up in his dapper, mustached role, but I enjoyed it. (I like the way his character cusses all the time.) The odd pairing of Beatty and Nicholson as partners in crime is great, and Stockard Channing has some fun moments.If I was on the fence about this comedy, the final act won me over. The dark humor really shines through as Beatty's and Nicholson's scheming goes awry. (It won't look like suicide if she's in a trunk.) The ending doesn't really seem to close the book, though.THE FORTUNE is a little-known and under-appreciated comedy. It's great to see big stars like Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson share the screen in an offbeat little comedy like this. The film seems to be lacking something, but the direction is excellent and there's plenty to make you laugh.

When I read about "Silkwood" in a movie encyclopedia, the caption said that Mike Nichols's career had come to a halt eight years earlier with "The Fortune". Watching the latter, I laughed but also felt like the movie was a little bit low for the director of "The Graduate" and "Catch-22". Portraying uptight Warren Beatty and over-conspicuous Jack Nicholson transporting Stockard Channing to California for what were deemed immoral purposes by the Mann Act in the 1920s, it seems like much of the flick consists of Beatty getting angry at Nicholson for not taking their predicament too seriously. But the last twenty minutes were a hoot, I will say that.So, this may be Mike Nichols's only movie that you sit around in your underwear and watch. I gotta pity the characters for having a landlady like the one portrayed in the movie. Also starring Scatman Crothers (that's right, the cook from "The Shining") and a very young Christopher Guest.

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.