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Released by: Twilight Time Releasing
Released on: December 9th, 2014.
Director: Mike Nichols
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Stockard Channing, Scatman Crothers
Year: 1975
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The Movie:
The director of The Graduate and Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf (to name only a few) helms 1975's The Fortune, a comedy revolving around the exploits of the rather sharp Nicky (Warren Beatty) and his dimwitted rival Oscar (Jack Nicholson), two small time hustlers living it up in the roaring twenties. They're basically competing with one another to win Freddie (Stockard Channing), the heiress to a fairly massive fortune accumulated by her father who hit it big in the sanitary napkin business.
Due to the Mann Act (which prevented unmarried women from crossing state lines) the already married Nicky figures he can play them both by marrying single Oscar off to Freddie and carrying on behind his back. Things get problematic for all involved when they try to travel from New York to California and Oscar won't cooperate. When Freddie finds out what's really going on, she threatens to donate the fortune to charity, something neither of them want to see happen, and the two con men decide that Freddie's murder can be the only solution.
This one starts off fairly strong but does start to lose steam in its second half, leaving Nicholson's manic and inspired performance to carry things. Thankfully he's capable enough to do just that, and even when the more comedic aspects of the story, which does meander a fair bit, start to slow down he proves endless watchable here. He and Beatty play off of one another quite well, bickering in a style obviously inspired by the Laurel And Hardy comedies that were shot in the era in which this movie is set. Given that the script was by Carol Eastman, who had written both The Shooting and Five Easy Pieces (both featuring Nicholson at his best) prior, you'd expect things to be a little tighter than they are here, but they're not, leaving Nicholson to do what he can by emphasizing his character's strange habits with the physical side of his performance rather than with the lines he's been given. Beatty fares as well as he can here too, but his character is obviously the straight man and not the one intended to win the laughs. The real surprise comes from how funny Stockard Channing is as the female lead - she frequently steals scenes from both of her A-list male co-stars.
Production values are strong across the board, however. This is a handsome film, there are frequently impressive compositions on display throughout its ninety minute run and strong attention to period detail keeps us 'in the era.' Add to that a fairly rousing score and, yes, a few good laughs scattered throughout the film and this turns out to be worth a watch, even if it's not the high point in the respective careers of those who made it.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The Fortune arrives on Blu-ray from Twilight Time in an AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer framed in the film's original aspect ratio of 2.35.1 and it looks great. Detail is impressive and the impressively clean image shows strong clarity and texture throughout. Colors are reproduced very nicely and the black levels are nice and deep as well. Good skin tones are also a plus while the picture feels 'true to source' in that we wind up with a nice amount of natural looking film grain and an image free of any obvious digital manipulation.
The English language DTS-HD 2.0 Mono track (the only option for the feature) comes with removable English subtitles. The track is clean, clear and generally a well balanced mix. Dialogue is easy enough to understand, the score sounds quite good and there's as much depth as you'd realistically expect from a movie of this vintage.
Outside of a static menu and chapter selection the only extra on the disc is an Isolated Music & Effects Track (Adaptation Score) in DTS-HD 2.0. A color insert booklet contains some archival images as well as an essay from Julie Kirgo that do an interesting job of making the case for the film's status as an 'underappreciated' movie by talking up the importance of its cast and making some astute observations about what works in the film. Some interesting information about its production history is also included.
The Final Word:
The Fortune is no lost masterpiece of comedy but it is a fun film, warts and all. The main reason most will want to see it is for Nicholson and Beatty and both actors deliver fine work here. As to Twilight Time's Blu-ray, it's light on extras but it does look and sound quite good. Fans should be quite pleased with the film's high definition debut, which is limited to 3000 pieces.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
