The Fortune Cookie

The Fortune Cookie (1966) is a Billy Wilder comedy you can watch online on iFILM, starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in their first screen pairing. TV cameraman Harry Hinkle takes a minor knock on the football field. Nothing serious. But serious money is absolutely on the table.

Harry's brother-in-law Willie Gingrich is an ambulance-chasing lawyer who sees a million-dollar insurance claim where everyone else sees a bruise. The plan: Harry stays in a wheelchair, acts broken, and splits the payout. His ex-wife reappears on cue, moved by sudden devotion. NFL star Boom Boom Jackson is wracked with guilt and won't leave the bedside. The whole scheme depends on Harry keeping his mouth shut — and Harry is running out of reasons to.

Matthau took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for Willie, a role that launched one of Hollywood's great comic partnerships. Wilder's script is dry and merciless about American greed, and the film holds up as one of the sharper satires the decade produced. Stream The Fortune Cookie (1966) in full on iFILM.