The Wheeler Dealers

A comedy set in New York. Henry Tyroon is a Texan. He is in oil and appears to have made a great deal of money. He arrives with his hat, his accent and his coarse manners. In fact he is broke. His wells have run dry and he is looking for an investment. He goes to a brokerage in New York. Molly Thatcher is an analyst there. The only woman in the firm, and the management does not like her. They give her a stock. A company called Universal Widget. The company produces nothing. The stock is worthless and the point is for Molly to fail and be dismissed. Henry hears about it. From there the film is a story of manipulation. Henry buys the stock and starts building a story in the market. He calls two friends. The three of them buy together and the price rises. Nobody knows what they are buying. At the same time Henry gets into the art market. He finds a painter and sells blank canvases. The narrative builds this as a joke and the buyers genuinely buy. What the narrative is interested in is not money but story: its idea is that a stock's value is set not by the company but by the story told about it. A relationship forms between Molly and Henry. She understands what he is doing and objects. The securities commission steps in. An investigation is opened. The last section is a hearing. At the end it turns out the company really does have an invention, and the narrative gives that as a coincidence. The tone is light. The narrative asks to be taken seriously nowhere. The woman's position at work is described openly for the period; but the film puts her in a conventional place at the end. Arthur Hiller directed. James Garner, Lee Remick, Phil Harris, Chill Wills and Jim Backus are in the cast. Who it is for: anyone who likes 1960s American studio comedy. Who it is not for: anyone looking for sharp satire; the narrative does not criticise the market, it enjoys it.