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The Fortune Cookie

  • 19661966
  • PassedPassed
  • 2h 5m
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
14K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
14,035
3,870
Jack Lemmon in The Fortune Cookie (1966)
Watch Trailer
Play trailer2:34
1 Video
73 Photos
ComedyRomance
A crooked lawyer persuades his brother-in-law to feign a serious injury.A crooked lawyer persuades his brother-in-law to feign a serious injury.A crooked lawyer persuades his brother-in-law to feign a serious injury.
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
14K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
14,035
3,870
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Director
      • Billy Wilder
    • Writers
      • Billy Wilder
      • I.A.L. Diamond
    • Stars
      • Jack Lemmon
      • Walter Matthau
      • Ron Rich
    Top credits
    • Director
      • Billy Wilder
    • Writers
      • Billy Wilder
      • I.A.L. Diamond
    • Stars
      • Jack Lemmon
      • Walter Matthau
      • Ron Rich
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 83User reviews
    • 48Critic reviews
    • 63Metascore
    • Won 1 Oscar
      • 3 wins & 5 nominations total

    Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 2:34
    Trailer

    Photos73

    Walter Matthau in The Fortune Cookie (1966)
    Jack Lemmon in The Fortune Cookie (1966)
    Jack Lemmon and Judi West in The Fortune Cookie (1966)
    "Fortune Cookie, The" Walter Matthau 1966 UA
    "Fortune Cookie, The" Walter Matthau 1966 UA
    "Fortune Cookie, The" Walter Matthau, Harry Holcombe 1966 UA
    "Fortune Cookie, The" Mary Esther Denver, Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau 1966 UA
    "Fortune Cookie, The" Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon 1966 UA
    "Fortune Cookie" Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon 1966 UA / MPTV
    "Fortune Cookie" Ron Richm, Jack Lemmon, and Walter Matthau 1966 UA / MPTV
    "Fortune Cookie" Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon 1966 UA / MPTV
    "Fortune Cookie" Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau 1966 UA / MPTV

    Top cast

    Edit
    Jack Lemmon
    Jack Lemmon
    • Harry Hinkle
    Walter Matthau
    Walter Matthau
    • Willie Gingrich
    Ron Rich
    Ron Rich
    • Luther 'Boom Boom' Jackson
    Judi West
    Judi West
    • Sandy Hinkle
    Cliff Osmond
    Cliff Osmond
    • Chester Purkey
    Lurene Tuttle
    Lurene Tuttle
    • Mother Hinkle
    Harry Holcombe
    Harry Holcombe
    • O'Brien
    Les Tremayne
    Les Tremayne
    • Thompson
    Lauren Gilbert
    • Kincaid
    Marge Redmond
    Marge Redmond
    • Charlotte Gingrich
    Noam Pitlik
    Noam Pitlik
    • Max
    Harry Davis
    • Dr. Krugman
    Ann Shoemaker
    Ann Shoemaker
    • Sister Veronica
    Maryesther Denver
    • Ugly Nurse
    Ned Glass
    Ned Glass
    • Doc Schindler
    Sig Ruman
    Sig Ruman
    • Professor Winterhalter
    Archie Moore
    Archie Moore
    • Mr. Jackson
    Howard McNear
    Howard McNear
    • Mr. Cimoli
    • Director
      • Billy Wilder
    • Writers
      • Billy Wilder
      • I.A.L. Diamond
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Production was halted for weeks after Walter Matthau had a heart attack. He had slimmed from 190 to 160 pounds by the time filming was completed and wore a heavy black coat to conceal the weight loss.
    • Goofs
      During the football game in which Harry is injured, the Browns are playing the Minnesota Vikings. On Boom-Boom's punt return, however, the opponents are the Philadelphia Eagles.
    • Quotes

      Thompson: [about Willie Gingrich] This guy is so full of angles and gimmicks and twists; he starts to describe a doughnut and it comes out a pretzel.

      O'Brien: Nevertheless, l suggest we try the friendly approach.

      Thompson: Okay. But after you shake hands with him, l suggest you count your fingers.

    • Crazy credits
      The end credits concluded with a thank you message to the players and management of the Cleveland Browns, and the National Football League for their cooperation.
    • Alternate versions
      The 1997 VHS release showed black and white versions of the 1994 United Artists variant and MGM fanfares at the start and end of the movie respectively.
    • Connections
      Featured in AFI Life Achievement Award: AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Billy Wilder (1986)
    • Soundtracks
      You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To
      Music and lyrics by Cole Porter

      Sung by Judi West

      Also strains played throughout the movie

    User reviews83

    Review
    Review
    Top review
    8/10
    The Better Mousetrap
    Whereas these days a successful movie series means endless spin-offs and sequels, there was a time when there were brilliant creative teams who got together time and again, producing a kind of motion picture brand that you could trust. The series of comedies written by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond, directed by Wilder and (many of them) starring Jack Lemmon are such neat works of professionalism and congruent talent that during their heyday in the 1960s they provided a guarantee of smoothly intelligent yet undemanding entertainment.

    Billy Wilder had one of the most apparently laid back directorial styles of his era. He barely moves the camera, and his shots tend last as long as is practical. But within this fixed frame he juggles everything with expertise. He uses the cinemascope ratio to keep various elements on the screen – for example the camera and microphones which keep stealing into shot as a reminder of the private eyes that are bugging the flat. This idea of keeping things in view without making them centre of attention also applies to Wilder's presentation of comedy. There's a great example where Walter Matthau is on the phone at one edge of the frame, while the rest of the screen reveals the interior of his home. His children skate around while his wife prepares dinner, which culminates in an incidental gag, punctuating the scene, while Matthau's phone conversation remains what the scene is about. This is very much Wilder's way – not to make the jokes leap out at you but to weave them into the background, noticeable but never forced.

    Lead man Jack Lemmon was by now a familiar piece of Wilder furniture, and you can see why. He has a slightly exaggerated look, with a duck-like face and a manic way of moving, and yet he can also "do normal" and convince us that he is an everyman. Still, this time around he is upstaged by an exuberant Walter Matthau. There are many great facets to Matthau's performance – his sudden overt gestures, his ability to move his hat as if it were part of his body, the way he paces around, managing to get closest to the camera as his voice reaches a bizarre crescendo or his facial expression is at its most absurdly comical. However I think what really makes him fit in here is the way, although he gets all the funniest lines, he doesn't show them off, simply delivering them as if they were the natural thing for his character to say, which of course makes them all the funnier. It's also a lot like Wilder's style of weaving the comedy into the narrative material rather than hammering the jokes home.

    But what about this narrative material, sharply scripted by Wilder and Diamond? The Fortune Cookie is ostensibly about an insurance scam, but gradually the friendship between Jack Lemmon and the football player who accidentally injured him emerges as the main story arc. It's almost like a love story between two men. I'm not implying anything homoerotic here, simply that the story is structured like a romance with a friendship taking the place of the love angle. The fact that Boom Boom (played by the little-known Ron Rich) is black is not drawn attention to or made an issue of, and this is rather interesting. This picture was made at the height of the civil rights movement, but it is not making an overt point about race, nor is it even a political picture. But it works as a nicely harmonious accompaniment to what was going on in the streets at the time. Wilder comedies could calmly cover areas other pictures couldn't even touch without making a mess.
    helpful•13
    2
    • Steffi_P
    • Jul 5, 2010

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 19, 1966 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Der Glückspilz
    • Filming locations
      • Cleveland, Ohio, USA
    • Production companies
      • Phalanx-Jalem
      • The Mirisch Corporation
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $3,705,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours 5 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

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