The Fortune (1975)

Interesting facts

The Fortune is a 1975 American black comedy film starring Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty, and directed by Mike Nichols. The screenplay by Carole Eastman focuses on two bumbling con men who plot to steal the fortune of a wealthy young heiress, played by Stockard Channing in her first film starring role.

Production

When Warren Beatty was unable to stir interest in his and Robert Towne's screenplay for Shampoo about a befuddled but seductive hairdresser, which he had been developing since 1967, he bundled it with the more appealing The Fortune and convinced Columbia Pictures head David Begelman to finance both films.

The working relation between the screenwriter and director was amiable until Eastman objected to the many cuts Nichols was making to the script and his determination to make it less satirical and more slapstick, and she was fired from the production.

Nichols wanted Bette Midler to portray Freddie, but he changed his mind when, seemingly unaware of his career, Midler insulted him by asking what films he previously made. He ultimately cast relative newcomer Stockard Channing, whose credits were limited to a few television appearances and a minor role in the Barbra Streisand film Up the Sandbox.

Because the start of principal photography on One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was delayed, Jack Nicholson, who had worked with Nichols on Carnal Knowledge, was available for the role of Oscar Sullivan. During filming, the actor was forced to deal with two events that impacted his personal life.

The film was shot on location in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and on a segment of street constructed in the corner of the former RKO Forty Acres back lot where the "Stalag 13" sets for TV's Hogan's Heroes were located. The apartment building was a The Day of the Locust set. Nichols did not direct another film for seven years.

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