The Fortune Cookie (1966)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Billy Wilder

Writers:

I.A.L. Diamond (writer)
Billy Wilder (writer)

Release Date:

19 October 1966 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

SOME PEOPLE WILL DO ANYTHING FOR MONEY!

Plot:

A crooked lawyer persuades his brother-in-law to feign a serious injury.

Plot Keywords:

Cameraman | Lawyer | Football | Law | Insurance

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 2 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Jack Lemmon	...	Harry Hinkle
Walter Matthau	...	Willie Gingrich
Ron Rich	...	Luther 'Boom Boom' Jackson
Judi West	...	Sandy Hinkle
Cliff Osmond	...	Purkey
Lurene Tuttle	...	Mother Hinkle
Harry Holcombe	...	O'Brien
Les Tremayne	...	Thompson
Lauren Gilbert	...	Kincaid
Marge Redmond	...	Charlotte Gingrich
Noam Pitlik	...	Max
Harry Davis	...	Dr. Krugman
Ann Shoemaker	...	Sister Veronica
Maryesther Denver	...	Nurse
Ned Glass	...	Doc Schindler

Also Known As:

Meet Whiplash Willie (UK)

Runtime:

125 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Singapore:PG | USA:Approved | New Zealand:G | Portugal:M/12 | Australia:G | Finland:S | Sweden:11 | UK:U (video rating) | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Municipal Stadium - 1085 W. Third Street, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Company:

Mirisch Corporation, The

Trivia:

Marked the first pairing of Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, who subsequently worked together on 11 additional films (including Kotch (1971), in which Lemmon directed Matthau).

Goofs:

Continuity: Early in the movie, a poster showing the Browns schedule appears. The Washington Redskins are listed as the opponents for a game on December 5. However, later in the movie, mention is made (in connection with the planned Harry Hinkle Charitable Fund announcement) of the game against Washington being scheduled for November 27.

Quotes:

[to kids making a lot of noise]
Willie Gingrich: Why don't you kids go play on the freeway?

Movie Connections:

Featured in Sports on the Silver Screen (1997) (TV)

One Bottom Feeding Lawyer

In The Fortune Cookie, Billy Wilder took on the great American legal system and twisted a lot of laughs out of it. It's the underside of the great American dream, sue someone with deep pockets and you can be a millionaire. It's why we have too many lawyers in our society, it's what creates Willie Gingrich.

In three previous Wilder pictures folks like Fred MacMurray in Double Indemnity, William Holden in Sunset Boulevard, and Kirk Douglas in Ace in the Hole all had some similar notions about a get rich and/or famous quick scheme and they all ended in tragedy. Interesting that protagonist Jack Lemmon as TV cameraman Harry Hinkle has more strength of character than those three before him.

Not at first though. Jack Lemmon is a TV cameraman who is covering a Cleveland Browns football game in Municipal Stadium when running back Ron Rich takes him out when Rich goes out of bounds. That's where attorney and brother-in-law of Lemmon, Walter Matthau hears about a previous spinal injury Lemmon sustained and he hatches a scheme involving Lemmon who is supposed to now act paralyzed so he can sue CBS, Municipal Stadium, and the Cleveland Browns for as much as he can wring out of them.

Matthau won his Oscar for Best Supporting Actor playing bottom feeding lawyer, Whiplash Willie Gingrich. With that kind of nickname in the profession it's no wonder that the white shoe firm representing the defending parties goes all out to trip him up. They get private detective Cliff Osmond to shadow Lemmon night and day. The results he gets from his surveillance are not unexpected, but a lot of laughs come along with them.

Matthau is so good as Gingrich that you can literally see his mind at work as he hears about Lemmon's childhood fractured vertebrae from his wife who is Lemmon's sister. Watching his kids skateboarding in the hospital waiting room you kind of wonder what kind of ethics he's been teaching them at home. Note that when you last see Willie Gingrich in the film, he's down, but not yet out.

There's a couple of other good performances here. Ron Rich as the Brown halfback who really is concerned that he permanently paralyzed Jack Lemmon. Also Judi West as Lemmon's ex-wife who when she hears about Lemmon's possible windfall, she's ready to reconcile with him. Matthau is ready to use her of course, but even he gets kind of put off with her ethics. This is also the farewell performance of Sig Ruman, who Billy Wilder liked to use when he could, both of them being refugees from Hitler. Ruman is one of the specialists brought in and the only one who's not fooled by Lemmon's performance.

The Fortune Cookie even after 40 years still has plenty of laughs for this generation. That is sadly because this is part of the American legal system that if anything has increased exponentially since 1966.