Cash McCall

James Garner has always had a knack for making every character he's played his own. From his early T.V. days as western star Brent Maverick to the last series, The Rockford files. His ease to become the center attraction is a natural pose for such a talented individual. In this story directed by Joseph Pevney, he plays Millionaire tycoon, Cash McCall who's amiable gift for buying and quickly selling industrial real estate is surprisingly lucrative. That is until he meets with eye-candy Natalie Wood who plays Lory Austen, the beautiful daughter of Grant Austin (Dean Jagger) a retiring designer. With a top successful group of businessmen led by Winston Conway (E.G. Marshall), Gilmore Clark (Henry Jones) and Harrison Glenn (Edward Platt), he plans to reap a rich bonus with the biggest deal of his life. However, small incidents like his personal housekeeper Maude Kennard (Nina Foch) wrongly believing McCall is seeking her as a wife and his number one business competitor, General Danvers (Roland Winters) believes McCall is trying to cheat him, are becoming more than annoying. All in all, this Garner vehicle is fun in a number of ways, but all end up creating the correct imagines originally written by author Cameron Hawley. ****

In many respects this looks like a 1980s film that has been moved through a hole in the time/space continuum into 1959. From a cynical 1990s perspective, much of it is probably a touch too sweet, especially the romance, but the way high-flying business is portrayed was way ahead of its time. It is very much as we would find it in mid-1980s films such as Wall Street or Other People's Money. In case some of the dialogue/monologue sounds familiar: Pretty Woman seems to have "borrowed" significant chunks.

This is a great, fun film with the feel of similar films of the era such as 1962's "That Touch of Mink," whose plot bears more than a passing resemblance to this film's.

James Garner is great as usual, as is the radiant Natalie Wood. Dean Jagger's performance as the plastic company patriarch strikes just the right note and Henry Jones does his usual excellent job as the somewhat smarmy assistant.

But one of the real stars of the film is its 1960 decor. It really sets the period but also has a very distinctive look that is now considered retro-"atomic chic" with more than a little "Googie" thrown in.

I've no idea why this film hasn't been released on DVD (it's perfect for anamorphic DVD at a 1.85:1 aspect ratio). If you don't want to rent or purchase the VHS tape, your only recourse is to await its very infrequent showings on cable (most recently on Encore's "Love" channel some six or so years ago.)

James Garner makes a dashing young entrepreneur of the business world in Cash McCall, the second of two films made from Cameron Hawley's business world novels, the other being the acclaimed Executive Suite. Hawley certainly knew how to capture the business world well and put a proper face on it.

Usually it's not a real good idea to mix business with pleasure, but in Cash McCall, Garner succeeds quite well. I now know where some of the plot of Grease came from. If you'll remember John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John have a summer fling which ends, but then find themselves in the same school in different social circles.

Cash McCall begins with Garner already having had that fling with Natalie Wood on vacation in Maine and he discovers she's the daughter of Dean Jagger, president of a plastics firm he's looking to acquire. When he discovers who she is it does complicate matters, but Garner is a most resourceful man. In the end it all works out to everyone's satisfaction, but there are a few bumps in the road. Those bumps are what the film is all about.

James Garner has played so many con men on the big and small screen it would have been an easy matter for him to slip into that familiar characterization for him. But he plays this one absolutely straight and does quite well with the part. Of course if he had been anything less than up front he wouldn't have gotten Wood. Natalie was just radiant in her role as the Philadelphia Main Line princess, a bit more human than Tracy Samantha Lord of The Philadelphia Story.

Besides Dean Jagger, the leads are backed by an established group of players portraying various business types as Edward Platt, E.G. Marshall, Otto Kruger, Parley Baer, and Roland Winters. Two performances that are really outstanding are Nina Foch as the hotel chief housekeeper at the place where Garner resides occupying an entire floor and part of another and Henry Jones as an efficiency expert who Garner recruits.

I'm surprised that Cash McCall was not taken up as material for a prime time soap opera in the Eighties, the decade of such. It certainly has all the ingredients.

Still it remains as one of James Garner's best early film performances and usually on the top 10 list for his fans.

When you first hear of this flick, you think it is like most of Garner's "Light Comedy" from the 60's - Not so. This film shows the a steamy underside of the Big Business "Scene" and the kind of trickery that goes on... And how even an honest down to earth deal could be made to look like a swindle, with a little jealousy and backstabbing added when least expected- And for that you have to give proper credit to Nina Koch for playing a kind of reverse "Erica Martin" from Executive Suite.

Garner is surrounded with some of the great character actors of the time: Dean Jagger, E. G. Marshall (From "12 Angry Men"), Otto Kruger (From Hitchcock's "Saboteur" and "Magnificent Obsession"), Edward Platt ("Chief" from "Get Smart").

And of course Natalie Wood, and in this film she gives one of her best... She is an absolute firecracker. I like the fact that the interaction between Garner and Wood is a little subdued.

One thing that is amazing, is that this was directed by Joe Pevney, who directed some of the best episodes of Star Trek Original Series.