| The Wheeler Dealers | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Arthur Hiller |
| Produced by | Martin Ransohoff |
| Written by | George Goodman Ira Wallach |
| Starring | James Garner Lee Remick |
| Studio | Filmways |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | 1963 |
| Running time | 107 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
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.[1] The movie was written by George Goodman and Ira Wallach, based on Goodman's novel, and directed by Arthur Hiller.
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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 a stereotypical Texas millionaire. 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 complicated business deals, often in partnership with his Texan cronies, Jay Ray (Chill Wills), Ray Jay (Phil Harris), and J.R. (Charles Watts). One such deal is a venture into dealing modern art, with the aid of Stanislas (Louis Nye), a cynical avant-garde painter.
Molly and Henry have trouble figuring out Universal Widgets' reason for existence; its only factory burned down around the time of the Civil War, it manufactures nothing, and provides no service. (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 regular dividends to its complacent shareholders.
When Henry makes an attempt to take control of the undervalued 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). Once the Texas trio confess that they got Molly fired, she and Henry make up. (She even discovers that he's really an Easterner and an Ivy League university graduate to boot; the fake Texan act helps him with his dealmaking.)
A radio ad featured Pat Harrington, Jr., in character as movie publicist Buddy Zack. In the spot, Zack pleads with the audience to see the picture or "my boss, Mr. Mogul, will fire me!" The commercial was playing on KLIF radio in Dallas at 12:33 CST on November 22, 1963, just moments after President Kennedy was shot. KLIF, a top 40 station, began playing the Chiffons hit "I Have A Boyfriend", only to interrupt the record with the first radio bulletin of the shooting.
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