Brilliant and touching

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Boy, usually we think of very-dated movies being from the decades, perhaps of the 1920s through 1950s, but this 1960s can be the absolute worst in that regard as that decade was undergoing such radical cultural changes. What was "hip" or "cool" back then looks so stupid now, it's embarrassing to watch. This movie is a prime example.This isn't quite the bra-burning days later in the decade, but the feminist message was a big part of this story, that women can wheel and deal on Wall Street, too. Well, that's fine but most of the characters in here acted so arrogant and stupid that the movie is annoying. Yet, to be honest, remember liking this in 1963 at the movie theater. Times - and us - change. Now this just looks like the typically-dated and immature 1960s.One thing that hasn't was my fondness for Lee Remick's face (not her politics). She was pretty to look at in 1963 and just as attractive when I saw this on VHS in the late 1990s. She was a good poster "girl" for the feminist movement.I can't say I was enthralled with the humor of Phil Harris, Jim Backus or Chill Wills in here, although I have laughed at those guys on occasion. Louis Nye, pretending to be an abstract painter riding a bicycle on the canvas, still made me laugh, however. James Garner was the star of the film and it's tough to criticize him, so I won't.

Wheeler Dealers is a very entertaining movie with Garner as a charming Texan who makes his money in shady deals and clever schemes, staying just this side of the law. Remick plays a stockbroker who is struggling to prove herself in a male dominated industry - it's one of these interesting examples of early feminism in movies; she is treated badly and is smart, but at the same time she basically ties her star to Garner (as do some men) rather than making her own way. Also note that in this period apparently even feminists referred to themselves as "girls." At times Wheeler Dealers approaches brilliance, with some great lines and a clever satire of finance on the highest levels, but unfortunately the movie is far too fond of sitcom-like plot twists and the ending feels rushed and unconvincing, as though the writers just ran out of ideas and decided to quickly dash something off. But the good outweighs the bad, and at its best this is a very funny movie, while at its worst it's still pretty cute.

I first saw Wheeler Dealers as a kid in the early 70s and was tickled by the broad comedy of the Texas oilmen scenes and excited by the raw capitalism. The movie got shown regularly for some reason over the next few years and became a favourite of my circle of friends. Only when I saw it much more recently did the prophetic nature of some of the situations strike me.For example, the absurd way the oilmen use and recycle their wealth seems more like the Houston boom days of the 70s than the early 60s. Tyroon is an early investor in Pollock-style modern art and predicts it will one day sell like old masters. When he dreams up the infamous Consolidated Widget scam (the movie helped popularize use of the word with reference to technology) the blind enthusiasm over satellite components could have been straight out of Nasdaq in the late 1990s. And the scene with Ms. Remick decrying the lot of women investment analysts with her peers is startlingly contemporary - indeed I have trouble believing all the female analysts on Wall St. could have filled a room in 1963!All of which is just to say, plus ca change - catch this anachronistic (in the good sense) gem of a movie if you ever get the chance.

This may be the best comedy movie to come out of the 1960s. Wheeler Dealers features James Garner at the top of his game, Lee Remick doing her best Doris Day imitation, and a wonderful cast of some of the best character actors ever assembled.Of all the characters James Garner has created for the screen, I think I like Henry J. Tyroon the best. Cowboy oilman and conman par excellence, he moves skillfully from one situation to the other in business, but really comes up against it with Lee Remick in the romance department.The supporting cast is soooo good I don't know where to begin to single anyone out. If put to torture I suppose I'd have to mention Louis Nye, "the boss wrangler of the Henry Tyroon collection", and John Astin the manic SEC investigator.As Mr. Garner puts it: "Only the taxman loses in a Henry Tyroon deal". Even a the most dedicated and humorless IRS agent will find laughs in this classic comedy."I'M INTERESTED IN THE ECONOMICS OF ANY SITUATION"