The Fortune Cookie

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Overview

The British title of Billy Wilder's classic comedy was Meet Whiplash Willie -- for, despite Jack Lemmon's star billing, the movie's driving force is Oscar-winning Walter Matthau as gloriously underhanded lawyer "Whiplash" Willie Gingrich. CBS cameraman Harry Hinkle Lemmon is injured when he is accidentally bulldozed by football player Luther "Boom Boom" Jackson Ron Rich during a Cleveland Browns game. Willie, Harry's brother-in-law, foresees an insurance-settlement bonanza, and he convinces Harry to pretend to be...
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Overview

The British title of Billy Wilder's classic comedy was Meet Whiplash Willie -- for, despite Jack Lemmon's star billing, the movie's driving force is Oscar-winning Walter Matthau as gloriously underhanded lawyer "Whiplash" Willie Gingrich. CBS cameraman Harry Hinkle Lemmon is injured when he is accidentally bulldozed by football player Luther "Boom Boom" Jackson Ron Rich during a Cleveland Browns game. Willie, Harry's brother-in-law, foresees an insurance-settlement bonanza, and he convinces Harry to pretend to be incapacitated by the accident. To insure his client's cooperation, Willie arranges for Harry's covetous ex-wife Sandy Judi West to feign a rekindling of their romance. Harry's conscience is plagued by the solicitous behavior of Boom Boom, who is so devastated at causing Harry's injury that he insists on waiting on the "cripple" hand and foot. Meanwhile, dishevelled private eye Purkey Cliff Osmond keeps Harry under constant surveillance, hoping to catch him moving around so the insurance company can avoid shelling out a fortune. Wilder and usual co-writer I.A.L. Diamond were at their most jaundiced and cynical here, even if, after a sardonic semiclimax, the last ten minutes succumb to the sentimentality that often marred Wilder's later movies.
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Editorial Reviews

All Movie Guide - Michael Hastings
Notable for contriving the first -- and one of the best -- pairings of Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, this acerbic, late-career Billy Wilder gem marries his penchant for hand-wringing morality plays with a dark, melancholy tone reminiscent of his glum masterpiece The Apartment, made six years earlier. The Fortune Cookie actually benefits from having a villain not quite as insidious as Fred MacMurray's J.D. Sheldrake: Matthau's affable shyster Willie Gingrich. Despite his unrepentant opportunism, Gingrich serves as a benevolent life force: If not for his less-than-airtight scam, Lemmon's Harry Hinckle would never be forced to own up to the havoc that only a meek wallflower like himself could create -- almost by default. The supporting cast is no less splendid, with the under-worked Judi West making a sly turn as the alternately world-weary and kittenish ex-wife who sees Hinckle as a renewed meal ticket, and the subdued Ron Rich as the impossibly selfless football star whose generosity almost does him in -- financially as well as professionally. Wilder's career was made up of films that heartbreakingly detailed the intersection of guilt and guile, and, in its own unassuming way, The Fortune Cookie is no exception.
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Product Details

  • Release Date: 8/12/1997
  • UPC: 027616618634
  • Original Release: 1966

    • Rating:

  • Source: MGM (VIDEO & DVD)
  • Presentation: Black & White
  • Format: VHS

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits
Jack Lemmon Harry Hinkle
Walter Matthau Willie Gingrich
Ron Rich Luther "Boom-Boom" Jackson
Cliff Osmond Mr. Purkey
Judi West Sandy Hinkle
Harry Holcombe O'Brien
Lurene Tuttle Mother Hinkle
Les Tremayne Thompson
Marge Redmond Charlotte Gingrich
Noam Pitlik Max
Harry Davis Dr. Krugman
Ann Shoemaker Sister Veronica
Maryesther Denver Nurse
Lauren Gilbert Kincaid
Ned Glass Doc Schindler
Sig Rumann Prof. Winterhalter
Archie Moore Mr. Jackson
Howard McNear Mr. Cimoli
Bartlett Robinson One of The Four
Robert Lieb One of The Four Specialists
Martin Blaine One of The Four Specialists
Dody Heath Nun
Herbie Faye Maury
Billy Beck Maury's Assistant
Judy Pace Elvira
Helen Kleeb Receptionist
John Todd Roberts Jeffrey, Gingrich
Herb Ellis TV Director
Don Reed Newscaster
Robert DoQui Man in Bar
Keith Jackson Football Announcer
Jon Silo Tailor
Ben Wright Specialist
Technical Credits
Billy Wilder Director, Producer, Screenwriter
Charles Arrico Costumes/Costume Designer
Sass Bedig Special Effects
Edward Boyle Set Decoration/Design
I.A.L. Diamond Associate Producer, Screenwriter
Paula Giokaris Costumes/Costume Designer
Doane Harrison Associate Producer
Joseph La Shelle Cinematographer
Robert Luthardt Art Director
Dan Mandell Editor
Robert Martin Sound/Sound Designer
Cole Porter Songwriter
André Previn Score Composer
Jack N. Reddish Asst. Director
Lynn Stalmaster Casting
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