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Film · TMDB
7.2TV cameraman Harry Hinkle is injured while filming a football game. Seeing big dollar signs, his unscrupulous ambulance-chasing lawyer brother-in-law Willie Gingrich enters the picture, and convinces Harry to overstate his injuries and claim $1 million in pain and suffering. Harry's similarly-minded ex-wife suddenly reappears in an attempt to rekindle their relationship.
Cast
- Jack Lemmon as Harry Hinkle
- Walter Matthau as Willie Gingrich
- Ron Rich as Boom Boom Jackson
- Judi West as Sandy Hinkle
- Cliff Osmond as Purkey
- Lurene Tuttle as Mother Hinkle
Themes
- shadowing
- american football
- brother-in-law
- wheelchair
- honesty
- insurance fraud
- cinematographer
- fortune cookie
- private investigator
- black and white
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Ratings
IMDb
7.2/10
15,906 votes
Rotten Tomatoes
96%
Metacritic
63/100
- Year
- 1966
- Runtime
- 125 min
- Genres
- Comedy, Romance
- Rated
- Approved
- Awards
- Won 1 Oscar. 3 wins & 5 nominations total
via OMDb · IMDb
Key facts
- Directed by
- Billy Wilder
- Written by
- Billy Wilder, I. A. L. Diamond
- Produced by
- Billy Wilder
- Starring
- Jack Lemmon , Walter Matthau , Ron Rich , Cliff Osmond , Judi West
- Cinematography
- Joseph LaShelle
- Edited by
- Daniel Mandell
- Music by
- André Previn
- Production companies
- The Mirisch Corporation , Phalanx Productions, Jalem Productions
- Distributed by
- United Artists
- Release date
- October 19, 1966 ( 1966-10-19 ) (New York City)
- Running time
- 125 minutes
- Language
- English
- Budget
- $3.7 million
- Box office
- $6.8 million
via Wikipedia infobox
~9 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The Fortune Cookie (released in the United Kingdom as Meet Whiplash Willie) is a 1966 American black comedy film directed, produced and co-written by Billy Wilder. It is the first film in which Jack Lemmon collaborated with Walter Matthau. Matthau won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance. The film was co-produced by Wilder's Phalanx Productions in cooperation with Lemmon's independent film production company, Jalem Productions.
Plot
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “The Fortune Cookie” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.