The Fortune Cookie is a 1966 film directed by Billy Wilder. It's a dark comedy that follows the misadventures of a man trying to profit from an alleged excessive injury. 

Plot

The film revolves around Harry Hinkle (played by Jack Lemmon), a television cameraman who gets involved in an accident during an American football game. In the accident, he suffers a severe back injury, but lawyer "Whiplash Willie" Gingrich (played by Walter Matthau) sees an opportunity to profit from this situation.

Gingrich convinces Hinkle to feign a much more serious injury than it actually is and tries to obtain a huge settlement from the American football team's insurance. However, things get complicated when Hinkle starts feeling guilty about the fraud and gets involved in a series of comedic and embarrassing situations as he tries to extricate himself from the scheme.

"The Fortune Cookie" is a dark comedy that showcases the comedic talent of Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, as well as Billy Wilder's brilliant direction.

Complete Cast:

• Jack Lemmon as Harry Hinkle
• Walter Matthau as Willie Gingrich
• Ron Rich as Luther "Boom Boom" Jackson
• Judi West as Sandy Hinkle
• Cliff Osmond as Purkey
• Lurene Tuttle as Mother Hinkle
• Harry Holcombe as O'Brien

Director: Billy Wilder

Producer: Billy Wilder

Writers: Billy Wilder, I.A.L. Diamond

Music by: André Previn

Cinematographer: Joseph LaShelle

Production Cost: Not publicly disclosed.

Box Office: Approximately $6 million at the box office (USA).

Awards: Walter Matthau won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the film.

Critics' Reception: "The Fortune Cookie" was well-received by critics for its sharp satire on the American legal system and greed. The dynamic between Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau was particularly praised, marking the beginning of a long and successful film partnership between the two actors.

My opinion. Overall, it is an unpretentious little film that attempted to cash in on the presence of the Lemmon- Matthau couple. Revisiting in this day and age a plot about an insurance scam, with all the scams we see around, could perhaps even be funny, but it needed a more incisive script, more jokes, more gags, more comedy. Instead, the figure of the protagonist's brother-in-law, a lawyer with poor morals and willing to do anything to make money, comes across as very unlikeable and not very comic. Lemmon, while good, does not succeed well in the character, also somewhere between pathetic and comic. The wife figure is also too loaded, with an overload of dishonesty that does not make one laugh, but unfortunately think. The only saving grace is Matthau with masterful acting that earned him an Oscar.

The only bright side is the excellent direction, as always by Billy Wilder, who went about his business, with craft, directing the traffic of lawyers, detectives, and wheelchair, but it was not enough.