# The Fortune (1975 film)

**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.<sup>[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53901-THE-FORTUNE)</sup>

| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / writer | Mike Nichols; screenplay by Carole Eastman, credited under the pseudonym "Adrien Joyce"<sup>[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53901-THE-FORTUNE)</sup> |
| Cast | Warren Beatty as Nicky Wilson, Jack Nicholson as Oscar Sullivan, Stockard Channing as Freddie Bigard<sup>[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53901-THE-FORTUNE)</sup> |
| Release | New York opening 20 May 1975; Los Angeles opening 25 Jun 1975; 88 minutes, MPAA rating PG<sup>[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53901-THE-FORTUNE)</sup> |
| Budget and pay | Production budget $3.5 million; Channing was paid a $20,000 salary<sup>[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53901-THE-FORTUNE)</sup> |
| Gross deal | Nichols, Beatty, and Nicholson were to receive ten percent of the movie's gross earnings "from the very first dollar"<sup>[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53901-THE-FORTUNE)</sup> |
| Reception | 40% Tomatometer from 15 critics and 34% Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes; the film was a box-office failure<sup>[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fortune)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[3](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-fortune/)</sup> |
| Aftermath | Nichols did not direct another film for seven years; Channing received a Golden Globe nomination for New Star of the Year – Actress<sup>[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/218750/the-fortune)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53901-THE-FORTUNE)</sup> |

## Spoilers

### Plot

A 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.<sup>[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53901-THE-FORTUNE)</sup>

In 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.<sup>[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53901-THE-FORTUNE)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[3](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-fortune/)</sup> 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.<sup>[5](https://time.com/archive/6851266/cinema-small-change/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fortune)</sup> [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.<sup>[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fortune)</sup>

## Production

Screenwriter 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.<sup>[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53901-THE-FORTUNE)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/218750/the-fortune)</sup> 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.<sup>[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/218750/the-fortune)</sup> She was credited as "Adrien Joyce" after the falling out over Nichols's cuts.<sup>[3](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-fortune/)</sup>

**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.<sup>[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53901-THE-FORTUNE)</sup> Nichols had interviewed singer [Bette Midler](https://www.edgepedia.org/bette-midler) for the role before choosing the relative newcomer Channing.<sup>[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/218750/the-fortune)</sup>

**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.<sup>[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/218750/the-fortune)</sup>

[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.<sup>[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53901-THE-FORTUNE)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073008/locations/?item=lc0319851)</sup> 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.<sup>[3](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-fortune/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53901-THE-FORTUNE)</sup>

## Reception

Critical 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.<sup>[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53901-THE-FORTUNE)</sup> 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."<sup>[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/218750/the-fortune)</sup> 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."<sup>[5](https://time.com/archive/6851266/cinema-small-change/)</sup> On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 40% Tomatometer from 15 reviews and a 34% Popcornmeter from more than 250 audience ratings.<sup>[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fortune)</sup>

The film was a box-office failure and was swiftly relegated to the company of famous flops such as *Cleopatra*, *Heaven's Gate*, and *Ishtar*.<sup>[3](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-fortune/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/218750/the-fortune)</sup> 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.<sup>[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/218750/the-fortune)</sup> 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.<sup>[3](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-fortune/)</sup>

## Legacy

Channing'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.<sup>[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53901-THE-FORTUNE)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[3](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-fortune/)</sup> The Film Society reads the picture as a knockabout comedy retake on the claustrophobic ménage à trois of Nichols's *Carnal Knowledge* (1971).<sup>[3](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-fortune/)</sup> 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).<sup>[7](https://film-authority.com/2021/07/11/the-fortune/)</sup> A small cult has grown around the film, with the Coen Brothers among its few but vocal supporters.<sup>[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/218750/the-fortune)</sup> The film is available on streaming and home video, including Blu-ray.<sup>[8](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-fortune)</sup>

## References

1. [The Fortune (1975), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53901-THE-FORTUNE)
2. [The Fortune, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fortune)
3. [The Fortune, Film Society of Lincoln Center / Film Comment Selects 2015](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-fortune/)
4. [Richard Harland Smith, "The Fortune," Turner Classic Movies (2008)](https://www.tcm.com/articles/218750/the-fortune)
5. [Jay Cocks, "Cinema: Small Change," Time (26 May 1975)](https://time.com/archive/6851266/cinema-small-change/)
6. [The Fortune (1975) Filming & Production, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073008/locations/?item=lc0319851)
7. [Eddie Harrison, "The Fortune," film-authority.com (2021)](https://film-authority.com/2021/07/11/the-fortune/)
8. [The Fortune (1975) streaming, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-fortune)

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*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*

*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*

*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*

License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license