The Fortune Cookie
| The Fortune Cookie | |
|---|---|
_poster.jpg)
theatrical film poster
|
|
| Directed by | Billy Wilder |
| Produced by | Billy Wilder |
| Screenplay by | Billy Wilder I.A.L. Diamond |
| Starring |
Jack Lemmon Walter Matthau |
| Music by | André Previn |
| Cinematography | Joseph LaShelle |
| Edited by | Daniel Mandell |
|
Production
company |
Phalanx Productions
Jalem Prductions |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
125 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3,705,000 |
| Box office | $6,800,000 |
The Fortune Cookie (alternative UK title: Meet Whiplash Willie) is a 1966 black comedy film starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in their first on-screen collaboration. It was produced and directed by Billy Wilder from a script by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond.
CBS cameraman Harry Hinkle (Jack Lemmon) gets injured when football player Luther "Boom Boom" Jackson (Ron Rich) of the Cleveland Browns runs into him while he is running a hand-held sideline camera during a home game at Municipal Stadium. Harry's injuries are minor, but his conniving lawyer brother-in-law William H. "Whiplash Willie" Gingrich (Walter Matthau) convinces him to pretend that his leg and hand have been partially paralyzed, so they can receive a huge indemnity from the insurance company. Harry reluctantly goes along with the scheme because he is still in love with his ex-wife, Sandy (Judi West), and being injured might bring her back.
The insurance company lawyers at O'Brien, Thompson and Kincaid (Harry Holcombe, Les Tremayne, and Lauren Gilbert) suspect that the paralysis is a fake. All but one of their medical experts say that it is real, convinced by the remnants of a compressed vertebra Hinkle suffered as a child, and Hinkle's responses, helped by the numbing shots of novocaine Gingrich has had a paroled dentist (Ned Glass) give him. The one holdout, German Professor Winterhalter (Sig Ruman), is convinced that Hinkle is a fake.
With no medical evidence to base their case on, O'Brien, Thompson and Kincaid hire Cleveland's best private detective, Chester Purkey (Cliff Osmond), to keep Hinkle under constant surveillance. However, Gingrich sees Purkey entering the apartment building across the street and lets Hinkle know they are being watched and recorded – and after Sandy returns, warns him not to indulge in any hanky-panky with her. Knowing now that he has a way to feed the insurance company lawyers misinformation, through the watching P.I.s, he incorporates the "Harry Hinkle Foundation", a non-profit charity to which all the proceeds of any settlement are to go, above and beyond actual medical expenses. When Sandy questions Gingrich about this in private, he tells her that it's just a scam to put pressure on the insurance company to settle, and that there will be enough money in the settlement for everyone to get some.
...
Wikipedia