Caught up with the film “The Fortune Cookie” made in 1966, starring pairing Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau for the first time.
Lemmon plays cameraman Henry Hinkle, who suffers a concussion when a Cleveland Browns football player accidentally bangs into him during a game. Henry recovers, but his brother-in-law--an ambulance-chasing lawyer nicknamed Whiplash Willie--wants to sue for $1 million. At first Henry rejects the idea, but he falters when Willie (Matthau) convinces him it may be a way to win back his ex-wife Sandy.
The Fortune Cookie works best as a comedy, with Matthau's shyster pulling out all stops to keep the fraud going. In one scene, Willie has an Oriental lunch delivered to the hospital so the "delivery man" can administer drugs to numb Henry's leg so he can pass tests given by the insurance company's doctors. When Henry asks if the deliveryman can administer drugs, Willie confirms that the man is a doctor...a veterinarian who lost his license to practice.
The film's other subplots deal with Boom Boom Jackson, the guilt-stricken football player who believes he's paralyzed Henry, and Henry's ambitious ex-wife Sandy Judi West.
Walter Matthau steals the film as Whiplash Willie. After years as a supporting player in dramas and comedies, he had perfected his rascally on-screen persona. He won a best-supporting Oscar for his portrayal of Whiplash Willie. It helps, of course, to have Wilder and frequent collaborator I.A.L. Diamond write your dialogue. Moreover, of course, Willie is a great character, because he is not only devious, he really is a smart attorney.
The Fortune Cookie earned three other Oscar nominations, including one for original screenplay for Wilder and Diamond. It has not aged as well as other Wilder films and it is too leisurely at 125 minutes. Still, Matthau, Lemmon, and West (this was sadly her only major role) are three fine reasons to watch it.
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