The Fortune

In 1920s America, the Mann Act made it illegal for a man to take a woman across state lines for immoral purposes. Nicky, a married man waiting on a divorce, wants to travel from New York to California with his wealthy lover Freddie, so he persuades his friend Oscar to marry her and come along. Oscar, a small-time schemer, agrees, seeing a chance at her money, and the arrangement soon turns into a contest between the two men over Freddie and her inheritance. Their plans grow increasingly reckless, even extending to the idea of murdering her, though both prove inept at carrying anything through.

Mike Nichols directed the film, the fifth of eighteen features in his career, following Carnal Knowledge and preceding Silkwood. Carole Eastman wrote the screenplay, and Don Devlin and Nichols produced. Stockard Channing plays Freddie Bigard, with Jack Nicholson as Oscar and Warren Beatty as Nicky; Florence Stanley and Ian Wolfe appear among the twenty-one credited cast members. It was made for about four million dollars.

Released in May 1975, the comedy runs 88 minutes. On IMDb it holds a rating of 5.7 from roughly 3,400 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 5.4 from a much smaller group of 57 voters. The two audiences broadly agree in their moderate assessment.