Main Cast: James Garner, Natalie Wood, Nina Foch, Dean Jagger, E.G. Marshall
Release Year: 1959
Country: US
Run Time: 116 minutes
Plot
In this routine business-story-cum-romantic-comedy, James Garner is Cash McCall, a wheeling and dealing tycoon, and Natalie Wood is Lory Austen, the daughter of failing businessman Grant (Dean Jagger). McCall's expertise lies in acquiring businesses about to go belly up, attaching them to successful enterprises and then taking a large tax deduction on the resultant equation. Those deals are enhanced when the once-failing business is then sold at a profit. This is a savvy gambit for late '50s movie fare, but its proponent begins to have second thoughts when he comes up against the attractive Lory -- who is not afraid of baring all for a good cause. The well-known co-stars and others like Nina Foch and E.G. Marshall do their best with a limited script. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
Review
Probably a bit on the edgy side when first releasedCash McCall has no edge whatsoever for modern audiences, who are likely to find this business-set soaper alternately laughable and yawn-inducing. A lot of the laughs come from the fact that Cash tries to have it both ways with its titular hero: he's a maverick businessman who doesn't mind finagling shady deals that bring him great riches but he's also supposed to have his heart set on helping the average worker. Admirable sentiments, but there's nothing solid to back them up, and this will play into the cynicism with which many audiences view aggressive corporate takeover types nowadays. The dialogue is very "Hollywood business mode," full of buzz words that don't mean a great deal, as well as speeches that sound incredibly stilted, despite the best efforts of James Garner. For his part, Garner does as well as could be expected, as does love interest Natalie Wood; the whole cast, in fact, does fine. They just can't do anything with the material. Nor, apparently, could director Joseph Pevney, whose work is straightforward and unsurprising. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Representative Albums: "Cash up Front," "No More Doggin'," "Blues Classics"
Biography
Guitarist Cash McCall has segued from gospel to soul to blues over a distinguished career spanning more than three decades. Born Morris Dollison, Jr., he found that the best way to exit his rural existence was to enlist in the Army. After completing his hitch, he relocated in Chicago (where his family lived for a time when he was a child). Gospel was Dollison's initial passion -- he sang with the Gospel Songbirds (he also played guitar with the group, recording with them for Excello in 1964 with fellow future R&B hitmaker Otis Clay singing lead) and the Pilgrim Jubilee Singers.
He waxed his first secular single, the two-part workout "Earth Worm," for One-derful Records' M-Pac! subsidiary in 1963 as Maurice Dollison. In 1966, he made a demo of a soul number called "When You Wake Up" that he had penned with producer Monk Higgins. He was doubtless shocked to learn of its subsequent release on the Thomas label, billed to one Cash McCall! The tune proved a national R&B hit, sending the newly christened McCall on the road with Dick Clark's Caravan of Stars (others on the bill: Lou Christie and Mitch Ryder).
Similarly tasty R&B follow-ups for Thomas and Checker failed to hit the same commercial heights. McCall was a valuable session guitarist and composer at Chess, learning the business end of his trade from Chess in-house legend Willie Dixon. McCall's blues leanings grew more prominent during the next decade. He cut an LP for Paula in 1973 called Omega Man before relocating to L.A. in 1976. In 1983 McCall released his first solo record in ten years, No More Doggin', and followed it up with Cash Up Front in 1987. McCall's ties to Willie Dixon remained strong, he co-produced Dixon's Grammy-winning Hidden Charms in 1988 and worked as a sideman with Dixon's band, the All-Stars. McCall has since toured frequently as a solo blues artist and has often appeared on stage with the Chicago Rythym and Blues Kings (who were formerly known as the Mellow Fellows), backed singer Big Twist, and performed in the Chicago Blues Review. ~ Bill Dahl, All Music Guide
Cash McCall is a 1960 movie starring James Garner and Natalie Wood, based upon the novel of the same name by Cameron Hawley about a man who buys businesses in order to sell them at a profit. Recognized by critics as decades ahead of its time in numerous ways,[citation needed] especially its hardcore depiction of business dealings, the innovative film was directed by Joseph Pevney from a screenplay by Lenore J. Coffee and Marion Hargrove.
Plot
Grant Austen (Dean Jagger), the head of Austen Plastics, yearns for retirement. So when Scofield Industries, by far his largest customer, threatens to take its business elsewhere, Austen considers selling his company. He hires a consulting firm, which finds an interested potential buyer, the notorious Cash McCall (James Garner).
Cash meets with Austen and his daughter Lory (Natalie Wood), who owns part of the company. Austen conceals the problem with Scofield Industries. Afterwards, Cash speaks to Lory privately; they had met the previous summer at a party and become instantly attracted to each other. However, when Lory showed up at his cabin later that night, Cash was not ready for a serious relationship and turned her down. Mortified by the rejection, she fled. Upon further thought, Cash realized he had made a mistake. Not really interested in the company, he buys Austen Plastics just so he can talk to her.
Before the deal is finalized, Cash's assistant Gil Clark (Henry Jones) discovers that Austen Plastics holds patents essential to Scofield Industries. Its alarmed boss, General Danvers (Roland Winters), tries to buy Austen Plastics himself. Cash then decides that he could run Scofield more profitably and starts buying up controlling interest in the second company.
In the middle of all the dealmaking, Cash proposes marriage to Lory, and she accepts. However, the assistant manager of the hotel where Cash lives, Maude Kennard (Nina Foch), wants Cash herself, and tricks Lory into believing that she is Cash's girlfriend. Meanwhile, one of Danvers' associates convinces Austen that Cash is offering much less than the company is worth. Eventually, everything is cleared up, and Cash and Lory reconcile.
