- The Wheeler Dealers
Infobox Film
name = The Wheeler Dealers
imdb_id = 0057681
writer =George J.W. Goodman
Ira Wallach
starring =James Garner Lee Remick Chill Wills Jim Backus
director =Arthur Hiller
producer =Martin Ransohoff
distributor =
released =
runtime = 107 min.
language = English
music =
awards =
budget ="The Wheeler Dealers" (released as "Separate Beds" in the UK) is a 1963
comedy film starringJames Garner andLee Remick and featuringChill Wills andJim Backus . The film was written by George J.W. Goodman and Ira Wallach, based on Goodman's novel, and directed byArthur Hiller .Plot
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. (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 heftydividend s regularly 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). 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.)Cast
*
James Garner as Henry Tyroon
*Lee Remick as Molly Thatcher
*Phil Harris as Ray Jay
*Chill Wills as Jay Ray
*Charles Watts as J.R.
*Jim Backus as Bullard Bear
*Louis Nye as Stanislas, a painter who joins Tyroon in a moneymaking venture
*John Astin as Hector Vanson
*Pat Harrington, Jr. as Buddy Zack
*Patricia Crowley as Eloise Cott
*Howard McNear as Mr. WilsonExternal links
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8844857220560459276&q=%22James+Garner%22+%22Charlie+Rose%22&total=4&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0 James Garner Interview on the "Charlie Rose Show"]
* [http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=%22archive+of+american+television+interview+with+james+garner%22 James Garner interview] atArchive of American Television - (c/o Google Video) - March 17, 1999
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