“I’m never illegal—just close to it.”
The Wheeler Dealers (1963) was a truly a movie MADE for James Garner! I mean, who else could play a Boston born, Yale-educated conman who has everyone thinking he's a sweet, little Texan boy...with such charm?!
I, being the viewer knew everything that was going on....AND HE STINKIN' FOOLED ME.
This movie just offered so much awesome mind-smushing entertainment. And not mind-smushing in the Frankie + Annette way, but in intelligent mind-smushing way. (I'm being completely serious by the way. I think the thesis of my next research paper is RIGHT HERE.)
Basically, I'm trying to say...it was brilliantly hilarious!
Lines like: "That's the way the Popsicle melts. " and "What are you taking...HAPPY PILLS?!" will now be said constantly by me. MWAHAHAHAHA!
James Garner is clearly the star and chief scene-stealer (except he never even has to steal them), and that is usually the case when James Garner shows up in a movie. But, Lee Remick is also quite amazing! She plays the only woman at her particular Wall Street company, who is soon going to be fired because of her gender. (They need to cut back on costs...she's "clearly" the only "logical" choice!) UNLESS she can unload a bundle of worthless stocks from a company that no one has ever heard of, the makers of the Universal Widget!
The supporting cast is of course equally brilliant:
Pat Crowley, Jim Backus, Chill Wills, Elliot Reid, Robert Strauss, Charles Lane, and Phil Harris are just a few!
I have nothing else to say about this Wowzie Kazam film. I am quite sorry. But, I am tired. And, I'm being forced to use the "family computer". My own laptop unfortunately decided to die last night by jumping off my desk and taking a full glass of organic iced mango tea with it! (The "organic" really was relevant to that sentence.) It's a sad day.
I leave you with this:
Lee Remick: I don't understand. How can you buy something when you don't even know what it is?
Chill Wills: Well, you see, ma'am, Henry here is a real wheeler dealer. And a wheeler dealer is somebody that loves to find places for money to go. It's like hitchin' on to a star. You may zoom up to the sky on a mighty pretty ride.
Lee Remick: And if the star falls?
James Garner:Well, then I find some way for the, uh, government to take three-quarters of the loss.
I would recommend this movie to anyone! SERIOUSLY! Go watch it! (And if you want a real synopsis/review, check out IMDb!) I seriously can't understand why this movie has never been released on DVD. Thanks Kate for sending me a copy! :-D
-Meg
originally published on ClassicForever on October 8, 2010