User Reviews

Mike Nichols' last good film that I'm sure bombed at the time. Stockard Channing almost steals the show as the young heiress, Warren Beatty is perfectly cast, and Nicholson is hilarious without doing much (great hair). There were a lot of good films in the 70's and this should have been included on most lists.

A 7 out of 10. Best performance = Jack Nicholson. There are scenes that fall flat, but the ones that work make it worthwhile. Great costumes and art-set direction as well. It's hard to imagine these two actors (Beatty & Nicholson) playing the characters they did in REDS six years later after playing these buffoons. Give it a shot.

Ramshackle farce with a few funny moments, mainly thanks to Nicholson's largely inspired comedic work, but little else. Mike Nichols is adept at coasting along on clever scripts,but he's clearly unable to salvage wayward material like this. In particular, the running gag which comprises the last half hour or so of the film wears incredibly thin. Beatty and Channing seem to be trying,to little avail, while Nicholson walks away with the film. He's particularly adroit in the first 20 minutes,before the film gets lost in it's own series of ambling vignettes. Still can't hold a candle to the old W.C. Fields or Laurel & Hardy films. Watch one of those instead.

When I read about "Silkwood" in a movie encyclopedia, the caption said that Mike Nichols's career had come to a halt eight years earlier with "The Fortune". Watching the latter, I laughed but also felt like the movie was a little bit low for the director of "The Graduate" and "Catch-22". Portraying uptight Warren Beatty and over-conspicuous Jack Nicholson transporting Stockard Channing to California for what were deemed immoral purposes by the Mann Act in the 1920s, it seems like much of the flick consists of Beatty getting angry at Nicholson for not taking their predicament too seriously. But the last twenty minutes were a hoot, I will say that.

So, this may be Mike Nichols's only movie that you sit around in your underwear and watch. I gotta pity the characters for having a landlady like the one portrayed in the movie. Also starring Scatman Crothers (that's right, the cook from "The Shining") and a very young Christopher Guest.

I don't know why I sat through this movie. Perhaps I thought there would be some redeeming moment but it just got on my nerves and never left until the end credits rolled. With actors like Channing and Nicholson, I expected a decent film but alas! The direction loses (or has no) focus. The screenplay's a big mess though. The actors are loud. Although Nicholson himself isn't as bad because he's quite different from his other films and does provide a few funny moments. Channing too has one funny moment where she runs away with a chicken. Seeing the positive comments, maybe I missed something but anyway, for me it was a waste of time.

During the 1920's, the Mann-Act criminalizes transporting women across State lines for immoral purposes. Nicky Wilson (Warren Beatty) and Oscar Sullivan (Jack Nicholson) are inept con-artists trying to take rich heiress Fredericka Quintessa Bigard (Stockard Channing). She falls for Nicky but he's already married. Oscar marries Freddie in order to run away to L.A. across state lines. Her father threatens to disown her. The boys fight over her for her money.

This movie threw me. I expected good characters, and good acting from a Mike Nichols movie but he adds a screwball element to his comedy this time. I didn't see it coming. It takes me a little time to get used to it. I'm shaken by Oscar suddenly walking the wing on the plane. I don't think it's Nichols' strong suit. It's a lot of wacky screwball comedy that don't really generate laughs. The energy isn't there. He needs quicker edits and sharper gags. His brand of comedy isn't quite that. At its core, there are the three great actors and they shine.

It is easy to see why i had never heard of this movie before because it is so bad and it's hard to see a cast this great in a movie so bad. Hard to believe this was directed by Mike Nichols and stars Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson. The movie is set in the 1920's in which there is a law that saw you cannot take a woman across state lines for immoral purposes. Beatty is in love with Stockard Channing and has Nicholson get married to her and the movie doesn't make it clear why Beatty didn't marry her in the first place. Beatty is going to pose as her brother and they are going to California. It then turns out that both of them are only interested in her money and she isn't too happy about that. The movie is pretty bad and this movie deserves to be unknown.

Considering that cast, a real disappointment. It does have two or three funny scenes, but no more, due to bad timing on the part of director Nichols. As it is, there are boring, pointless scenes abound.

Mike Nichols who directed The Fortune would not direct a feature film again until Silkwood in 1983. He was obviously hurt by the critical and commercial failure of this film.

Warren Beatty should realise that he is just not cut out for a certain style of comedy. This film was inspired by the success of the scatterbrained homage to the 1930s comedies, What's up Doc and the crime caper The Sting.

It is a zany screwball comedy set in the 1920s. Warren Beatty is a sleazy, handsome, married con man who in an attempt to sidestep a piece of legislation where you cannot take an unmarried woman across a state line, gets Jack Nicholson his dim witted accomplice to marry an heiress (Stockard Channing) and fly out to California so Beatty can have his wicked ways with her.

However Nicholson takes a shine to Channing and keeps getting in the way and wants Channing for himself rather let Beatty just have her.

When Channing learns that the boys are just after her fortune she tells them that she will give it away to charity. They now plan to murder her for her money but every attempt to knock her off ends up in disaster.

Nicholson and Beatty are just too incompetent to succeed with their plan. Nicholson's character probably inspired by all of The Three Stooges keeps drawing attention to himself when the trio are supposed to be in California incognito as Channing has run away from her wealthy family. For example, there is a bizarre scene on the plane where he ends up in the outside of the plane knocking on the window and looking demented.

The film is too messy and the humour feels forced, it looks like a series of sketches that just fly by you without even raising a smile in most instances.

It is a rarely shown and barely known film. I stumbled across it on television and did not know that Beatty and Nicholson appeared together prior to the film Reds.

BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967), produced by and co-starring Warren Beatty, made not only gangsterism fashionable on the screen once again but, during the 1970s, all sorts of films were set in that golden era between the two World Wars; many even centered around Hollywood, such as THE WILD PARTY (1974), THE DAY OF THE LOCUST (1975) and THE LAST TYCOON (1976).

This Jazz Age (1920s) farce unites Beatty with the actor who emerged as perhaps the decade’s top star, Jack Nicholson; the two became good friends – Nicholson appeared as famed playwright Eugene O’Neill in Beatty’s pet project REDS (1981) and personally presented the latter with the Honorary Oscar he was awarded in 1999. Despite its dynamite star combo, name director (following his Oscar win for the groundbreaking THE GRADUATE [1967], Nichols made the ‘classic’ war satire CATCH-22 [1970] and, also with Nicholson, the controversial CARNAL KNOWLEDGE [1971]) and slapstick aspects of the admittedly slight plot, the film was a box-office failure which perhaps explains its rarity over the years – in fact, when a friend of mine informed me that he had just acquired this, it came as a surprise to me because I wasn’t even aware that the film had been given a DVD release (albeit an R2 exclusive). Undaunted, however, Beatty would make a similar farce – ISHTAR (1987) – with another tremendous partner i.e. Dustin Hoffman…but that one was an even more notorious bomb (even if I liked it quite a bit myself when I watched the film not too long ago).

There’s no denying that THE FORTUNE is a disappointment considering the talents involved: the comedy is uneven and rather heavy-handed – though, in retrospect, all three leads (the third being put-upon heroine Stockard Channing in her first big role) deliver charming performances. Married Beatty is about to be divorced from his wife (who never appears); in the meantime, he has fallen for wealthy Channing and would like to elope with her – however, the so-called “Mann Act” decrees that an unwedded woman can’t cross the state line in a man’s company…so Beatty decides to have her marry his best pal, loony Nicholson, for appearances’ sake! Soon, however, the latter – feeling neglected – demands to exercise his rights as a husband, which doesn’t sit well with either of his companions; still, while Beatty’s away earning a living in California, Nicholson seduces Channing and is almost caught in the act when the former returns home unexpectedly – needless to say, the bed-hopping/partner-swapping antics drive their landlady off the wall!

Eventually, the trio have a full-blown row, and the men opt to stick together and decide it would be better to bump off the girl – since Nicholson would then become sole heir to her fortune. The crime, however, doesn’t go as planned; Channing is rescued and, on going back, they all decide to make another go at it! The best gags involve: Nicholson’s clowning outside the plane; the snake the men purchase (from BONNIE AND CLYDE’s Dub Taylor) to bite Channing getting killed by the girl’s pet chicken (a gift of theirs) and later fed to them by her!; the traffic jam Beatty and Nicholson cause on a bridge on their way to dispose of Channing in a chest; their attempt to retrieve the latter when it’s carried away by the tide; and Nicholson’s rushed confession to the Police when these turn up at the house asking about a bus in their possession.

Boasting two of the biggest male superstars (Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty) in their prime along with a major director (Mike Nichols) The Fortune isn't worth a plug nickel. Smug, abrasive, shrill it attempts to bowl you over with its heavyweight roster but instead trips over itself and falls flat on its face with one forced routine after the next.

Nicky (Beatty) runs off with sanitary napkin heiress Freddie (Stockard Channing)but in order to do so must employ the dim witted Oscar to tag along in order to get around The Mann Act and the fact Nicky is still married. Acting as a stand in until Nicky gets his divorce Oscar marries Freddie and the trio head for sunny California. When the living situation causes a schism between Nicky and Oscar the boys agree to off Freddie to get at the fortune.

There is hardly a laugh to go around in Fortune as Beatty looking like a slick gigolo and Nicholson a cross between Larry Fine and Professor Irwin Cory show a complete lack of comic timing or any chemistry between each other even though Nichols intention seems to be an attempt at a homicidal Laurel and Hardy. Channing starts out promising enough but even she catches what the boys have (crass comic timing) by pictures end.

Nichols who up until this point had directed some seminal 70s performances allows his stars to lurch in every direction as he places more emphasis on camera movement and toying with ellipsis including not one but two long runway takes that remind us how well he did it in Catch 22 but not here.

John Alonso lenses capably while Richard Sylbert's production design applies a thick coat of lipstick to this pig but the end result is an arrogant display of contemporary might who felt reputation alone would carry this turkey. Instead it chops its head off.

*******CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!!!**********

I am more than pleased that I finally got to see "The Fortune". After learning about it through various media, I was a little nervous about what I would find. But it didn't take long before the modest chuckles turned into belly laughs, for this is one HILARIOUS movie with real life good friends Beatty and Nicholson playing so well off each other, and obviously having a hoot doing so! Beatty is the bossy "brain" of the outfit. Married, unable to divorce and - due to the M.A.N.N. act - unable to take his mistress (Stockard Channing) legally across state lines to consummate their affair, he has come up with a brilliant scheme. His - in his eyes inferior to him - friend Nicholson can substitute as the groom, thereby making their traveling with a female completely legal. They move to California and during their travels it is already hinted at that the mistress is actually an heir to a great fortune, which Beatty tries to deny as long as possible. Upon their arrival in California it doesn't take long for Nicholson to develop (lusty) feelings for the heiress and soon consummates his "marriage" to her for real, in the absence of Beatty who is working as a car salesman. A fall-out follows during which the heiress comes to realize the two men are really only after her impending FORTUNE, and she threatens to give it all away to charity. The fear of that happening causes the two, unbelievably incompetent, men to bond and plan out another scheme> the heiress must die, so that they can get to her fortune. A slew of incredibly funny slapstick murder attempts follow and the acting Beatty and Nicholson show in these scenes is beyond hilarious. A must see for anyone who's in for intense laughter and joy.

The gleam on viewers eyes when they see the names of Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson together gets brighter than the moon. A proven fact if you had seen them in the award winning epic "Reds" but what about this forgotten comedy directed by Mike Nichols and co-starring Stockard Channing? That gleam might fade away depending on your demands judging by those talents alone. The final result shown in "The Fortune" proves exactly why the movie is so under the radar of most film viewers and why Mr. Nichols disappeared from view until rise again in "Silkwood", eight years later. It's not a bad picture but it's not so great as it could if considering the talents involved. But if only they had THE script to act along with...and that's the key issue here.

In the 1920s, due to the Mann Act,which forbid the crossing of married woman into another state, a pair of con artists (Beatty and Nicholson) travel all the way to Los Angeles along with a wealthy heir (Channing), where one of them pretends to be married with her while the other pretends to be her protective brother but the roles are reversed. Problem is when the fake husband (Nicholson) reveals an interest on the woman, and that sets the confusion on with the men fighting for her until they came up with a plan where they can get her money and get rid off her as well.

With a duo like this, a movie can capture the attention of any film buff out there, at the time of its release and even today. But it can only work if the script make them as real buddies rather than antagonistic ones for most of the time. Beatty uses of his usual exquisite humor to bring sobriety and seriousness to a stiff character who only bosses the crazy and sloppy Nicholson through most of the time. Had then put together as equals, in some way and variation of humor or danger the movie could have some brighter results. Instead, everything works through repetition and it almost dies when we get to the third act.

The real main charm of this picture comes from Stockard Channing in her film debut. Her sequences along with Jack are simply hilarious, when the guy tries to get her into bed, trying all the possible schemes possible. You know she's not that clueless and you know he's very wild so this interaction can only result in huge sparks when they're both testing other each other to see who's gonna win or who's gonna be conquered. The trio plane trip is also hilarious and quite unexpected how things turn out. Nicholson always delivers the nuttier he gets, but Beatty was just pure annoyance - he has some fine moments but overall a true comedian was needed here even if playing the serious guy.

Many wonder why it was so disastrous or so unknown to public. The script, mostly, and even direction I'm afraid hence why Mr. Nichols took some awful time to return making movies and even a comedy - he's good with that, as long as he has a perfect script that manages to put some serious notes. Truth is "The Fortune" was a studio with Warren Beatty who wanted to push "Shampoo" forward, which was a comedy that he had more personal control (yet directed by Hal Ashby). Insiders thought that movie would fail and this would profit - it got the other way around and with reasoning, "Shampoo" is the better movie.

"The Fortune" is quite alright but the less expectations you create with the talents united, the better experience you'll have. One can have fun with the movie. 6/10.

"The Fortune" is a movie starring several talented actors.... Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson and Stockard Channing. However, it proves that even with good actors, a movie cannot work if the script and direction are not up to snuff.

The story begins with Nicky and Oscar (Beatty and Nicholson) carting a drunk lady (Channing) off to a honeymoon. It seems that Nicky wanted to marry this drunk woman for her family fortune. But because he was already married, he had his friend Oscar marry her in a sham marriage. Unfortunately, over time, Oscar begins to fall for the woman...and hilarity ensues...or, at least it was supposed to...especially when she sobers up and decides to give away her money!

So why didn't I enjoy this film? Well, the movie seems to try too hard...too hard to be kooky instead of telling the story is a reasonable and rational manner. After all, Beatty and Nicholson are really good actors...but the film seems to think perhaps it should have had a laugh track! Subtle it sure isn't! It not only manages to be shrill but also, believe it or not, amazingly dull and unfunny....which is a problem since it is supposed to be a comedy.

A box office failure upon release, it just seems impossible to believe this genuinely hilarious film did not hit with audiences then and now is not the iconic cast and title it deserves to be. Columbia must have been aghast when it didn't set the box office on fire especially given what major stars Nicholson and Beatty were in '75. It is hard to find this film and if you have the time and luck to find a copy, try and also get THE FRONT and THE CHEAP DETECTIVE two other Columbia films around the same time that were reasonable successes and deserve to be major titles in anyone's home library.In Australia each of these films + HIGH ANXIETY suffered from the intro of colour TV and the cinemas all took a nosedive for 4 years 74-78. Very few films in thie period were big hits and cinemas closed in dozens. Pity as so many great films were made then and this comedy genuinely is one.

I am at a loss to understand the low rating and the many poor reviews . I find this a wonderfully zany comedy. If Nichols was aiming, as has been said, to emulate the great comedies of Laurel and Hardy and others in the 30's and 40's, I feel he succeeded. There are so many wonderful scenes that, even without dialogue, convey the insanity of the situation; the scene of the bus on the bridge is a wordless piece of comedic genius. The three leads - Nicholson, Beatty, and Channing - work together superbly. To me this is a woefully underrated and neglected movie. This is the second time I have seen it on TCM, and it won't be the last.

STOCKARD CHANNING has her first starring role in this wacky 1920s comedy in the sort of part made for Elaine May who played the same sort of character in "A New Leaf" ('71). Why Nichols didn't put his wife in the central role, I'll never know. She would have been more ideally cast than Channing, although she manages well in the part.

But the film really belongs to WARREN BEATTY and JACK NICHOLSON as the hapless fortune hunters whose every scheme goes awry as they try to get rid of the heiress, intending to bilk her for her fortune.

Overall, it's reminiscent of the kind of screwball comedy prevalent in the '30s, but it's even more frantic and noisier than those comedies. The threesome really carry the film with the exception of a good role for FLORENCE STANLEY as their nosy landlady. Unfortunately, Channing's character gets on the viewer's nerves more than once with her whining and crying fits.

Nicholson has a different take than usual on his role while Beatty is a bit more suave as the brains of the operation. Both of them make fatal mistakes.

The black humor is a bit heavy-handed at times and it's an uneven blend of laughs and slapstick. Nichols makes good use of jazz music on the soundtrack, punctuating all the wacky situations with sly humor.

Not bad, really, but could have had a tighter script. The performances are certainly not to blame but it's a shame Elaine May wasn't available.

I actually saw this movie in the theater when I was ten years old. It must have been part of a double feature. I'm sure the other half was the one we wanted to see. The only thing that I remembered about the movie was the outside of the house where they lived. I watched it again tonight. "The Fortune" isn't so good but it's not a total washout either. There a couple of laughs and some smiles. It's more interesting than it is fun. It falls into the category of over-hyped bombs of the 1970s. The '70s are the best decade of cinema. Even the big bombs are interesting movies. The biggest problem for me tonight was Stockard Channing. Channing is usually a likable actress but not tonight. I think she was a bit miscast. Jack Nicholson tries too hard to be zany. His Larry Fine style hair doesn't help. Warren Beatty comes off the best of the three. "The Fortune" is definitely worth watching. It's okay but it should have been a lot better.

This film loses its way and ends up on a dead end street. Nevertheless, the mood of the twenties is well recreated and there are some funny scenes.. Besides, I'm always a sucker for a movie shot on a train and a good chunk of this one is.

'The Fortune' is a crime comedy, centred around the dubious exploits of two 1920s conmen, promisingly played by Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty. Their job is to cheat a wealthy woman out of her fortune, and the film starts off positively. The film's song, 'I Must Be Dreaming', is quite enjoyable, and I was glad to see Nichols reuse it in the credits at the end. Unfortunately, it all goes downhill from the hopeful first scene. The premise was interesting, but it may have been performed better if the film was more serious. It felt a little like a rom-com, road movie version of 'The Great Gatsby', and the effect wasn't very good. The script was a little off at times, and I think that, in places, Beatty failed to remain on Nicholson's level during their usually fun exchanges. There were a few genuinely funny scenes, but I don't think there were enough of them to justify watching this. Other scenes degenerated into mind- numbing silliness, almost to the point where the viewer forgets the plot or the premise of 'The Fortune'. Overall, I was quite disappointed with this film. Nicholson, as ever, delivered a great performance, but I don't think that 'The Fortune' operated along the right lines. It could have channelled the atmosphere of 'McCabe & Mrs. Miller', or been a serious Prohibition crime film, but its direction steered it into becoming a very mediocre comedy.

The recipe for making a good movie is not to copy someone else's earlier success with a copycat film. While watching The Fortune's plot unfold on the screen, I could not help but be reminded of the earlier 1973 film "The Sting" which starred another famous acting duo, Robert Redford and Paul Newman. To counter, director Mike Nichols, lasooed his own top starring acting duo in Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty. The difference maker was a rarely unknown actress at that time (1975) named Stockard Channing who was supposed to be the glue that held the film's plot together, that being a rich heiress marries a loser (Jack Nicholson) which was the brainchild idea of the already married Warren Beatty in an attempt to extort a bag full of cash from Stockard Channing's filthy rich daddy's dowry.

Gradually Stockard's character nicknamed Freddy falls in love with both these scrupulous men even while they fail in their attempts several times to murder her to inherit her fortune by way of marriage and next of kin. I am sorry but it was a poor imitation of the earlier succesful 1973 film The Sting, which won seven (7) Academy Awards including Best Picture. Redford and Newman also had great success in the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid which also had a competing love interest in Katharine Ross. Are you starting to see that this 1975 film The Fortune was much like a Chinese knock off of a much better earlier quality film(s)?

The on-screen chemistry between Beatty and Nicholson vying for the attention of Channing failed and so did this film. I can only rate it a 5 out of 10.

Stockhard Channing must be one of the most underrated comediennes about. This is an hilarious film. gridoon, who found it disappointing, seems to base his critique on the quality of the cast; Nicholson; Beatty & Channing. His expectations were probably pitched too high - and, sure, Five Easy Pieces is amazing, and Bonnie & Clyde is a classic. But The Fortune can stand on its own. It is very funny. The pace is hectic and the storyline has resonances of "It Happened One Night". The difference being that in the "The Fortune", the heroine is kidnapped - a botched attempt by two incompetents (Nicholson & Beatty). The so-called Swedish Syndrome seems to have rooted here, in that the captive falls for her captors & doesn't want to be saved.

This film is well worth putting into DVD format - all Regions, please.

What's wrong with 'The Fortune'? A lot of things. My God, this movie is really, really bad - but how did it end up that way, and why?

The paper thin plot follows two idiotic hustlers Oscar and Nicky (Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty) who try their best to earn an heiress's fortune.

And so, hilarity ensues - not. It's a strange concoction of bizarre writing, overacting and terrible direction from the usually reliable Mike Nichols ('The Graduate'). The movie also has a reliable cast and a great screenwriter (Carole Eastman, who wrote 'Five Easy Pieces', one of my favorite movies maybe ever). There are moments in the film where it is crushingly, shockingly, disturbingly clear that no one has any idea what they are making, what they are doing, or, really, why they care. It's one of those things - if they don't care, why should we care? Good question. Its paper thin plot, a rehash of screwball classic plotting and bad, uninspired comic timing, is incredibly investing, and is made even worse by the fact that the two main stars, Beatty and Nicholson, overact like toddlers. Beatty tries an American type accent I think, but when you know what he really sounds like in real life, you cringe and roll your eyes. Nicholson, often the most moderated performer in Hollywood, and maybe ever, goes completely crazy with a stunningly bad, terribly conceived part and horrible, plodding screaming, yelling, and general nonsense like acting like a total loony, reminds me more of a bad, uninspired rip-off of Jim Carrey.

Out of the attempted, oh, 85 jokes, I laughed twice. Let me remind you also - this is a Mike Nichols movie! Going into his films I usually expect to laugh at least a dozen times. Twice - that's all. I laughed at one clever gag which I don't even remember, and some opening dialogue that was, granted, pretty funny. 'The Fortune' is stunningly, shockingly bad - it's what 'Ishtar' was hyped up to be (I loved 'Ishtar,' so when people slam that as the worst ever and forget about this movie, I am baffled). Unlike 'Ishtar' - it's literally never funny, or even amusing.

The Fortune (1975)

1 STAR (OUT OF 4)

Directed by Mike Nichols

Screenplay by Carole Eastman

Starring Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Stockard Channing and Florence Stanley

Rated PG

88 minutes.

Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, and Stockard Channing are at their comedic best in this movie. It's kind of one of those goofy 'buddy' movies where Nicholson and Beatty play off each other marvelously with Channing thrown into a great ditzy role. If you want to see comedy acting at its finest...

One of the worst movies I've ever seen. The first 20 mins are brutal - nothing is funny (jack tries his best) but Beatty is really bad at comedy and it sounds like he's reading a script. The pacing and editing are pure junk. I'm shocked that ANYONE found anything 'funny' in this mess. An awful, awful film that is pure TORTURE to sit through.