{ "id": "epjchb3ach", "slug": "the-fortune-1975-film", "title": "The Fortune (1975 film)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s", "label": "Comedies of the 1970s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s.yr-1970-1976", "label": "Released 1970 to 1976", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s.yr-1970-1976" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000: Comedies of the 1970s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s", "label": "Comedies of the 1970s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s" } ] } ], "excerpt": "The Fortune (1975) is a Mike Nichols comedy starring Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson, and Stockard Channing about 1920s con men scheming for an heiress's fortune via the Mann Act; a box-office failure.", "snippet": "The Fortune (1975) is a Mike Nichols comedy starring Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson, and Stockard Channing about 1920s con men scheming for an heiress's fortune via the Mann Act; a box-office failure.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s.yr-1970-1976", "markdown": "# The Fortune (1975 film)\n\n**The Fortune** is a 1975 American comedy directed by [Mike Nichols](https://www.edgepedia.org/mike-nichols), starring [Warren Beatty](https://www.edgepedia.org/warren-beatty), Jack Nicholson, and [Stockard Channing](https://www.edgepedia.org/stockard-channing), about two 1920s con men who scheme to obtain the fortune of an heiress, a plan that extends to murder. It was produced by Columbia Pictures and released in New York on 20 May 1975.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53901-THE-FORTUNE)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director / writer | Mike Nichols; screenplay by Carole Eastman, credited under the pseudonym \"Adrien Joyce\"[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53901-THE-FORTUNE) |\n| Cast | Warren Beatty as Nicky Wilson, Jack Nicholson as Oscar Sullivan, Stockard Channing as Freddie Bigard[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53901-THE-FORTUNE) |\n| Release | New York opening 20 May 1975; Los Angeles opening 25 Jun 1975; 88 minutes, MPAA rating PG[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53901-THE-FORTUNE) |\n| Budget and pay | Production budget $3.5 million; Channing was paid a $20,000 salary[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53901-THE-FORTUNE) |\n| Gross deal | Nichols, Beatty, and Nicholson were to receive ten percent of the movie's gross earnings \"from the very first dollar\"[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53901-THE-FORTUNE) |\n| Reception | 40% Tomatometer from 15 critics and 34% Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes; the film was a box-office failure[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fortune) • [3](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-fortune/) |\n| Aftermath | Nichols did not direct another film for seven years; Channing received a Golden Globe nomination for New Star of the Year – Actress[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/218750/the-fortune) • [1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53901-THE-FORTUNE) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nA title card opens the film, explaining that the [Mann Act](https://www.edgepedia.org/mann-act), the 1920s American law forbidding the transport of a woman across state lines for immoral purposes, was greatly feared at the time, and that men who wished to flee with a woman they could not or would not marry would occasionally resort to extraordinary measures.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53901-THE-FORTUNE)\n\nIn 1920s New York, Nicky Wilson (Beatty), a fortune hunter, picks up his rich girlfriend Freddie Bigard (Channing) outside her family's mansion and collects his friend Oscar Sullivan (Nicholson); a justice of the peace marries Freddie and Oscar so the trio can travel to California without violating the Mann Act, since Nicky is still awaiting a divorce.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53901-THE-FORTUNE) • [3](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-fortune/) Freddie is the heiress to a sanitary-napkin fortune, and the men hope to inherit her money; complications follow when Oscar falls in love with Freddie and Freddie becomes convinced the pair's interest in her is financial rather than romantic.[5](https://time.com/archive/6851266/cinema-small-change/) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fortune) [The Times](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-times) (UK) critic Kevin Maher later singled out \"a slapstick traffic jam on a midnight bridge\" among Nichols's set pieces.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fortune)\n\n## Production\n\nScreenwriter Carole Eastman, an Academy Award nominee for *Five Easy Pieces* (1970), envisioned Beatty and Nicholson in the lead roles as she wrote, and both actors accepted the parts written for them.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53901-THE-FORTUNE) • [4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/218750/the-fortune) Her screenplay ran 240 pages and was unfinished; she bristled at Nichols's attempts to cut it and disapproved of the production's veering from satire to slapstick, and she was ultimately fired from the production, which continued without her.[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/218750/the-fortune) She was credited as \"Adrien Joyce\" after the falling out over Nichols's cuts.[3](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-fortune/)\n\n**Casting the heiress.** Stockard Channing, who had previously appeared in one uncredited role in *The Hospital* (1971), was cast as Freddie after performing a table reading with Beatty and Nicholson \"as a favor\" to Nichols; although directed to read the lines without acting, she was highly animated, and the male actors responded well to her energy.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53901-THE-FORTUNE) Nichols had interviewed singer [Bette Midler](https://www.edgepedia.org/bette-midler) for the role before choosing the relative newcomer Channing.[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/218750/the-fortune)\n\n**Financing.** Beatty had nurtured the project as far back as the making of *Bonnie and Clyde* (1967). When no one in Hollywood wanted to make a comedy about an amorous hairdresser, his pet project that became *[Shampoo](https://www.edgepedia.org/shampoo-film)* (1975), Beatty bundled it with *The Fortune*, forcing Columbia president David Begelman to finance both films; Columbia had green-lit *Shampoo* only because *The Fortune* was expected to be a sure thing.[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/218750/the-fortune)\n\n[Principal photography](https://www.edgepedia.org/principal-photography) began on 8 Jul 1974 with a twelve-week shooting schedule. Filming took place mostly at Culver City Studios in Los Angeles, with location work including [Albuquerque, New Mexico](https://www.edgepedia.org/albuquerque-new-mexico), and Santa Monica Beach, and moved to New York for the final days of shooting; it wrapped on 10 Oct 1974.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53901-THE-FORTUNE) • [6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073008/locations/?item=lc0319851) The film was shot in [Panavision](https://www.edgepedia.org/panavision) by John A. Alonzo, the cinematographer of *Chinatown*, with production design by Richard Sylbert and editing by Stu Linder.[3](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-fortune/) • [1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53901-THE-FORTUNE)\n\n## Reception\n\nCritical reception was mixed, and the pans out-sang the praise. In a positive notice dated 21 May 1975, the New York Times described the film as \"very funny\" and \"maniacally scatterbrained,\" with particular praise for Channing and Nicholson, but a review in [The New Republic](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-new-republic), published 5 Jul 1975, argued that the strong acting of its two stars went to waste on a weakly written script.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53901-THE-FORTUNE) Vincent Canby gave the film a thumbs up, while Daily News critic Jerry Oster decried \"a painful illustration of the limits of the star system.\"[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/218750/the-fortune) Jay Cocks, reviewing in Time, called it \"a bleak, frostbitten farce, desperate for invention and rather a sham,\" adding that the barely 90-minute movie \"lingers badly.\"[5](https://time.com/archive/6851266/cinema-small-change/) On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 40% Tomatometer from 15 reviews and a 34% Popcornmeter from more than 250 audience ratings.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fortune)\n\nThe film was a box-office failure and was swiftly relegated to the company of famous flops such as *Cleopatra*, *Heaven's Gate*, and *Ishtar*.[3](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-fortune/) • [4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/218750/the-fortune) It was considered a misstep for all involved: for Nichols, who would not direct another film for seven years; for Eastman; and for its above-the-title stars.[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/218750/the-fortune) The Film Society of Lincoln Center, programming a 2015 tribute screening, described it as one of Nichols's lesser-known and most underrated comedies, made just before his hiatus from filmmaking.[3](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-fortune/)\n\n## Legacy\n\nChanning's performance earned her a Golden Globe nomination for New Star of the Year – Actress, and Film Comment credits Nichols with discovering her in this film.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53901-THE-FORTUNE) • [3](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-fortune/) The Film Society reads the picture as a knockabout comedy retake on the claustrophobic ménage à trois of Nichols's *Carnal Knowledge* (1971).[3](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-fortune/) Eddie Harrison's later review called it \"worth a look as one of the last gasps of the now-unfashionable screwball genre,\" noting [Scatman Crothers](https://www.edgepedia.org/scatman-crothers)'s fisherman cameo and an appearance by [Christopher Guest](https://www.edgepedia.org/christopher-guest).[7](https://film-authority.com/2021/07/11/the-fortune/) A small cult has grown around the film, with the Coen Brothers among its few but vocal supporters.[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/218750/the-fortune) The film is available on streaming and home video, including Blu-ray.[8](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-fortune)\n\n## References\n\n1. [The Fortune (1975), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53901-THE-FORTUNE)\n2. [The Fortune, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fortune)\n3. [The Fortune, Film Society of Lincoln Center / Film Comment Selects 2015](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-fortune/)\n4. [Richard Harland Smith, \"The Fortune,\" Turner Classic Movies (2008)](https://www.tcm.com/articles/218750/the-fortune)\n5. [Jay Cocks, \"Cinema: Small Change,\" Time (26 May 1975)](https://time.com/archive/6851266/cinema-small-change/)\n6. [The Fortune (1975) Filming & Production, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073008/locations/?item=lc0319851)\n7. [Eddie Harrison, \"The Fortune,\" film-authority.com (2021)](https://film-authority.com/2021/07/11/the-fortune/)\n8. [The Fortune (1975) streaming, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-fortune)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of the 1970s › Released 1970 to 1976*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-fortune-1975-film", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-fortune-1975-film.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"The Fortune (1975 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-fortune-1975-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[The Fortune (1975 film)](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-fortune-1975-film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/the-fortune-1975-film](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-fortune-1975-film). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"The Fortune (1975 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-fortune-1975-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "The Fortune is a Mike Nichols comedy starring Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson, and Stockard Channing about 1920s con men scheming for an heiress's fortune via the Mann Act; a box-office failure." }