The Wheeler Dealers

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The Wheeler Dealers
Directed by	Arthur Hiller
Produced by	Martin Ransohoff
Written by	George J.W. Goodman Ira Wallach
Starring	James Garner Lee Remick Chill Wills Jim Backus
Running time	107 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

The Wheeler Dealers (released as Separate Beds in the UK) is a 1963 comedy film starring James Garner and Lee Remick and featuring Chill Wills and Jim Backus. Garner portrays an oil tycoon, speaking in a Texas accent and wearing a cowboy hat with his business suit, while Remick plays an extremely cooperative stock market analyst. The film was written by George J.W. Goodman and Ira Wallach, based on Goodman's novel, and directed by Arthur Hiller.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Molly Thatcher (Lee Remick) is a stockbroker languishing in a company run by sexist Bullard Bear (Jim Backus). When the company does poorly, he has to fire somebody. Molly is the obvious choice, but to avoid charges of sex discrimination, he assigns her the seemingly impossible task of unloading shares of an obscure company called Universal Widgets, figuring that when she fails, he will have an excuse to dismiss her.

Molly meets Henry Tyroon (James Garner), an aggressive wheeler dealer who dresses, talks and acts like the stereotypical Texan. He's more interested in her than in Universal Widgets, but decides to help in order to get closer to her. As they spend time together, Molly watches Henry make sophisticated business deals, often in partnership with his frequent Texan backers, Jay Ray (Chill Wills), Ray Jay (Phil Harris) and J.R. (Charles Watts).

The couple finds out that Universal Widgets seems to have no purpose; its only factory burned down around the time of the Civil War, it manufactures nothing and provides no service. (The movie's fictional widgets apparently had something to do with horse-drawn carriages.) It's just a corporation on paper...whose sole asset is a huge block of shares in AT&T, bought long, long ago when it was ridiculously cheap. Now it pays hefty dividends regularly to its complacent shareholders.

When Henry makes an attempt to take control of the company by questionable methods, over-enthusiastic government regulator Hector Vanson (John Astin) takes him to court. Further complications arise when Jay Ray, Ray Jay and J.R. get Molly fired so she can spend more time with Henry; she thinks Henry is responsible. The case is dismissed when it is determined that all the shares are in the hands of a few people, not the general public. The Texans are bought out (at a sizable premium). And once the Texas trio confess that they got Molly fired, she and Henry make up. (He even admits that he's a well-educated university graduate from the East - he justs pretends to be a Texan because it helps him with his dealmaking.)