Fortune Cookie (B&W) | Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau

Fortune Cookie (B&W) | Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau | Under appreciated

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Fortune Cookie (B&W)

	Fortune Cookie (B&W) Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau MGM (Video & DVD), 1997 average customer review:based on 15 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Billy Wilder's insurance-scam comedy, written with partner I.A.L. Diamond, is one of the legendary filmmaker's surlier efforts. Were it not for the star-making performance of Walter Matthau (which won him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor), it might not have registered so strongly with audiences. Shot in a grimy black and white, the story begins as CBS cameraman Harry Hinkle (Jack Lemmon) is injured on the sidelines of a football game when Cleveland Browns star Boom Boom Jackson (Ron Rich) accidentally barrels into him. Hinkle's all right, but his ambulance-chasing brother-in-law William Gingrich (Matthau), also known as "Whiplash Willie," has a lawsuit filed before Hinkle even wakes up at the hospital. Hinkle is reluctant to join in on the scheme, which involves staying in a wheelchair, until he realizes it may bring his ex-wife (Judi West) back, even though her eyes practically flash dollar signs at the thought of his case's settlement potential. Working on Hinkle's conscience, however, is a burgeoning friendship with Jackson, who feels horrible about the incident. Not as sure-footed or as brazenly funny as many other Wilder efforts, the film nevertheless boasts a comic turn by Matthau that is deliciously conniving and endlessly inventive. Wilder, Hollywood's most caustically funny blend of pessimist and optimist, doesn't even aim for balance here. He clearly loves Matthau's character above all others and lets him run the show. The Lemmon and Matthau franchise began here and would go on to include their reteaming for Wilder's films The Front Page and Buddy Buddy. --Robert Abele

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A Movie to Remember Walter by.

If I had to buy a single movie showing Walter Matthau's genius as an actor, this may be the one, for as good as Jack Lemmon always is in a movie, Walter shines here as the shyster brother-in-law lawyer, and the Best Supporting Oscar was awarded to him rightly for this role. Matthau, always the man who acted through sicknesses went through a heart attack during this one. The scene that he runs up the stairs after receiving the settlement check, a keen eye could notice that he is thinner at the top of the stairs. That was because he shot that scene after his attack. This movie begins the long association with Lemmon/Matthau. The next movie was to be "The Odd Couple". What a great bunch of entertaining movies they were. And this was the first one.

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Under appreciated

This is one of the best small comedies ever made and one that never has never gotten the standing it should have. Billy Wilder, one of the best filmmakers in the world, Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, one of the best movie comic teams ever, produce a fun and thoughtful movie. Matthau wins an Oscar for this role, making it worth seeing for that reason alone. Lemmon plays the good guy being tempted to perfection. Alternating between greed and fear, he and Matthau play off one another to perfection. The story is tight and true, playing on a get rich quick wish that is common to humanity. Like the best of Wilder's work, while we are laughing we are asking, "what would I do?'

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Lemmon and Mattheu - who needs more?

Walter Matthew and Jack Lemmon can't have made many bad movies - at least, not until the end of their careers when the 'Grumpy Men' duo rather spolied their (previously superb) record.

'The Fortune Cookie' is, likely, one of their best - although they made so many 'bests'! This movie has a great script, possible storyline and brilliant acting. Nothing else is needed, surely?

It is simply a great and classic movie.

Beginning of a Beautiful Relationship

This is average endeavor for director Billy Wilder and his co-scenarist I.A.L. Diamond. That is to say that this is above average for most filmmakers. The obvious distinction of the film is the initial teaming of Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. In this case, though, Lemmon wisely defers to Matthau's shyster lawyer and plays straight man. Matthau shines here and steals every scene he's in. Matthau won the Oscar in a supporting role which I find curious because it seemed to me to be a co-lead role. Cliff Osmond was pretty funny, too, as an insurance fraud investigator. The film drags in part particularly when Matthau isn't on screen but it does suffer from overlength. Two hours plus is a little long. Recommended with slight reservation.

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Excellent Acting Jack Lemmon & Walter Matthau, Below Average Comedy

Excellent Acting Jack Lemmon & Walter Matthau, also a superb directing by Billy Wylder.
It has some great scenes and a few good laughs although is considered a classic I grade this a B+ Average Comedy.
Their acting was excellent and the beggining of a long, lustrous and profitable relationship, this movie is not too funny, compared to their best classics The Odd Couple, Some Like it Hot, Grumpy Old Men, ans sequels like The Odd Couple II, and Grumpier Old Men, nor Walter Matthau's Hopscotch, A Guide for the Married Man, Cactus Flower, or Jack Lemmon's The Out-of-Towners, The Apartment, How to Murder Your Wife, It Happened to Jane, Avanti, My Fellow Americans, and many more.
The Fortune Cookie is at the level of Out at Sea and Front Page. If you are a Lemmon and/or Matthau fan is a must see otherwise buy one or all mention above you'd not regret it a bit, and would have hours of great laughs.

Out to Sea
The Odd Couple II
The Odd Couple
Grumpy Old Men/Grumpier Old Men
The Front Page
Some Like It Hot
Irma La Douce
Hopscotch - Criterion Collection
The Out-of-Towners
Cactus Flower
How to Murder Your Wife
A Guide for the Married Man
Mister Roberts
I.Q.
Avanti!
The Bad News Bears

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

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