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The Fortune Cookie Overview:

The Fortune Cookie (1966) was a Comedy - Romance Film directed by Billy Wilder and produced by Billy Wilder, I.A.L. Diamond and Doane Harrison.

SYNOPSIS

A TV cameraman (Lemmon) hatches an insurance fraud scheme with his brother-in-law (Matthau), a larcenous lawyer, when he's injured while working a football game. While wrestling with his conscience, the cameraman must also wrestle with the difficulties of masquerading as a wheelchair-bound invalid and with his greedy ex-wife, who returns to the fold in anticipation of a large settlement. Typically cynical Wilder comedy with the unbeatable team of Lemmon and Matthau in good form.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

Academy Awards 1966 --- Ceremony Number 39 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best Supporting ActorWalter MatthauWon
Best Art DirectionArt Direction: Robert Luthardt; Set Decoration: Edward G. BoyleNominated
Best CinematographyJoseph LaShelleNominated
Best WritingBilly Wilder, I. A. L. DiamondNominated
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The Fortune Cookie BlogHub Articles:

The Fortune Cookie (196 6)

By 4 Star Film Fan on Mar 17, 2018 From 4 Star Films

“You can fool all of the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all the time, but you can’t fool all the people all the time.” ~ Inscription in the Fortune Cookie For some inexplicable reason, I expected The Fortune Cookie to be in color. Maybe in some sublim... Read full article

Billy Wilder's The Fortune Cookie

By Rick29 on Apr 20, 2017 From Classic Film & TV Cafe

Like Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder found his career at the crossroads in the 1960s. Successes such as The Apartment and Irma la Douce were offset by flops like Kiss Me, Stupid and the under-appreciated One, Two, Three. It's almost as if he couldn't quite grasp what appealed to the public. I'm not s... Read full article

Billy Wilder's The Fortune Cookie

By Rick29 on Apr 20, 2017 From Classic Film & TV Cafe

Like Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder found his career at the crossroads in the 1960s. Successes such as The Apartment and Irma la Douce were offset by flops like Kiss Me, Stupid and the under-appreciated One, Two, Three. It's almost as if he couldn't quite grasp what appealed to the public. I'm not s... Read full article

The Fortune Cookie

By Michael on Feb 5, 2014 From Le Mot du Cinephiliaque

The Fortune Cookie (Billy Wilder, 1966) CBS cameraman Harry Hinkle (Jack Lemmon) gets injured when football player Luther "Boom Boom" Jackson (Ron Rich) runs into him while he is covering a Browns game at Cleveland Stadium. Harry's injuries are minor, but his conniving lawyer brother-in-law Willi... Read full article

Quel Interprétation: The Fortune Cookie (1966)

By Google profile on Jan 4, 2009 From Out of the Past - A Classic Film Blog

About MeBlogger, Out of the Past - A Classic Film Blog and more. Please add my Google profile to your circles. I've decided to expand the concept of "Quel Interprétation" into general interpretations inspired by classic films and not just limit it to dress-up. My latest (and tasty) installment is ... Read full article

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The Fortune Cookie Quotes:

Harry Hinkle: [Harry looks disgustingly at Sandy while she's on the floor looking for her contact lens] I don't want to find you here when I get back. And take your damn meatloaf with you.
Doc Schindler: I'm looking for a freckle!
Harry Hinkle: Florida and Mustangs and foxes, how are you gonna pay for all of this?
Willie Gingrich: Our credit is good.
Harry Hinkle: Well don't you think we better wait 'til we see some of that insurance money?
Willie Gingrich: Wait? Who waits nowadays? Take the government. When they shoot a billion dollars worth of hardware into space, do you think they pay cash? It's all on the Diner's Club!
Willie Gingrich: He's gonna give you a shot to help you pass those tests.
Harry Hinkle: Oh, I'm not gonna take any shots from a waiter!
Willie Gingrich: What do you mean "waiter?" This is Doc Schindler, from Chicago.
Doc Schindler: Howdy.
Willie Gingrich: Those insurance guys think they're such geniuses. What they forget is every time they build a better mousetrap, the mice gets smarter, too.
Harry Hinkle: You'll be careful, won't you, Doc?
Doc Schindler: I better be, because I'm on parole.
Harry Hinkle: Parole?
Doc Schindler: They caught me tampering with a horse at Arlington Park.
Harry Hinkle: A veterinary?
Willie Gingrich: Well actually, he's a dentist.
Doc Schindler: What do you want?
Willie Gingrich: Right arm and left leg. Make them good and numb.
Doc Schindler: Oh, *numb*.
Willie Gingrich: Sure, we want those nerves blocked!
Doc Schindler: Oh, then I better use the Novocain, because with this stuff, he'll run the mile in 1:34 flat.
Professor Winterhalter: All these newfangled machines. Fake! It proves nothing. In the old days, we used to do these things better. The man says he's paralyzed, we simply throw him in the snake pit. If he climbs out, then we know he's lying.
Specialist #1: [shocked] And if he doesn't climb out?
Professor Winterhalter: Then we have lost the patient, but we have found an honest man.
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The Fortune Cookie Facts
This was director Billy Wilder's second film in a row in which one of his lead actors suffered a heart attack. In preceding film, 1964's Kiss Me, Stupid, Peter Sellers' health problem forced Wilder to replace him with Ray Walston. In Fortune Cookie, Walter Matthau suffered attack midway through production but shooting was postponed until he recovered; his drastic weight loss from scene to scene is noticeable.
The game at the opening of the film when Harry gets hurt was played Oct. 31,1965 at Cleveland . The final score was Vikings 27, Browns 17.
For the scene in which he motors through the city searching for Ron Rich (aka "Boom Boom"), Jack Lemmon also served as a driver, cinematographer and gaffer.
Production was halted for weeks after Walter Matthau had a heart attack. He had slimmed from 190 to 160 pounds by the time filming was completed, and had to wear a heavy black coat to conceal the weight loss.
This is the first film on which Billy Wilder and Walter Matthau worked together, though Matthau was Wilder's first choice for the part in The Seven Year Itch that was eventually played by Tom Ewell.
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