tavm While Walter Matthau was quite in demand on TV and movies before 1965, this was truly his breakthrough year in terms of his profession. First, he was cast on Broadway in Neil Simon's The Odd Couple as Oscar Madison. And then, Billy Wilder cast him here to play shyster lawyer William "Whiplash Willie" Gingrich opposite leading man Jack Lemmon leading to a fruitful collaboration in movies for the next several years that paired Lemmon and Matthau together with Wilder making at least one more good film with them (The Front Page as the next one after that he made with them-Buddy Buddy-marked a less-than-glorious-end to his directing career). Lemmon is a CBS cameraman who gets knocked down by football player Ron Rich though he doesn't suffer much. Matthau is Lemmon's brother-in-law who wants to exploit his "malady" to get large amounts from an insurance company. Judi West is Lemmon's ex-wife who comes back to him when she hears about it. And Cliff Osmond plays a sneaky investigator for the insurance company. Plenty of cynical laughs are provided by Wilder & I.A.L Diamond's script with most of those punchlines said by Matthau though when Lemmon is alone with the Rich character, there are also some touching scenes of them talking. In summary, The Fortune Cookie was one of the better comedies from a period-the late '60s-not always known for great funny films with Matthau winning his well-deserved Oscar for this role.

dougdoepke No need to recap the plot. Mildly amusing comedy with serious overtones. Considering the talent involved, the film's something of a disappointment. The one-note plot simply can't carry 2-hours of run-time, especially when the middle sags with too much exposition. Then too, the visuals are a dour brand of b&w that clash with the comedic part. Still, I don't know that Technicolor would have been appropriate, but at least brighter shades would have helped. Of course, there's the incomparable Lemmon and Matthau in their first pairing. As a result, I suspect the writers didn't realize the comedic potential they had on hand, and thus couldn't decide whether to play up the sociological element (race relations, bogus litigation) or the funnier parts. Consequently, the movie becomes a stretched out patchwork of the two, despite the intermittent chuckles. I realize my take is a minority, but I'm trying to judge the results strictly apart from the reputations involved.

Petri Pelkonen Jack Lemmon is Harry Hinkle, a CBS cameraman, who gets injured when football player Luther "Boom Boom" Jackson (Ron Rich) runs into him.Walter Matthau is Harry's lawyer brother-in-law "Whiplash Willie" Gingrich, who realizes they could make some dough with the minor injury by making it look like a bigger injury.In The Fortune Cookie (1966) we have the power trio Billy Wilder, Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.You just can't go wrong with these three.This movie started the partnership of Lemmon and Matthau, who appeared in 10 films together.And the writer, alongside the director, is I.A.L. Diamond, who wrote 12 films together with Wilder.Other performances in this movie include Judi West, who's fantastic as Sandy.Ron Rich is superb as "Boom Boom".Cliff Osmond, who appeared in four Billy Wilder films, is great as Purkey.Marge Redmond is very good as Charlotte Gingrich.Sig Ruman, who passed away the next year, is terrific as Professor Winterhalter.One of the funniest scenes is with him, where he makes the diagnosis: fake.There are many other funny scenes in this movie.It is also a very intelligent movie of a topic that has some reality basis.There are those sleazebag lawyers out there working on their schemes.Of course those sleazebag lawyers aren't quite like Walter Matthau, who makes the character somewhat likable.Lemmon's character is also very interesting, who is forced to deal with moral issues.It's a real delight to watch Jack and Walter together for the first time.

vincentlynch-moonoi The problem with this film is that it is very predictable. What's the mystery? Anything surprising (at least at this point in his career) with Walter Matthau playing a shyster lawyer? Don't we know that in the end Jack Lemmon will rebel and ultimately refuse to go along with the scam? So the question is, why watch? Well, how can you resist watching the acting abilities of both Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, even more so when they are appearing together.And, there are some fine performances by supporting cast members, including Judi West (with whom I was not at all familiar) as the sort-of ex-wife who is out for $$$. And, Cliff Osmond, as the sleazy detective. I was particularly interested in Ron Rich, whom I was also not familiar with...does a nice job as the football player here.In fact, although mostly overlooked, it is the relationship between the Rich character and the Lemmon character that is most interesting here. Interracial in a time that you didn't see that quite so much, and the scene where race suddenly rears its ugly head is, arguably, the best in the film.This is not Billy Wilder's best. And, there are a number of other films where one can better enjoy the interplay between Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau (this was their first match-up, I believe). But, this is a very good film...just not a great film.