Main Cast: Gene Wilder, Margot Kidder, Eileen Colgan, Seamus Ford, May Ollis
Release Year: 1970
Country: UK/IE
Run Time: 88 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Quackser Fortune (Gene Wilder) is a carefree fertilizer merchant in Dublin. Something of a local "character," Quackser becomes the object of fascination for wealthy American visitor Zazel Pierce (Margot Kidder). At first, the radical differences in their stations in life make little difference to Quackser and Zazel, but before long she grows bored by his eccentricities. Humiliated by Zazel's rich friends at a fancy dress ball, Quackser retreats to his old vocation of following the horses to gather his "wares." When his cousin in the Bronx passes away and leaves him a small inheritance, Quackser leaves Dublin, holding out hopes that now he will be an acceptable mate for Zazel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Gene Wilder is at the peak of his charm in this genial, understated character comedy that won the heart of many a counterculture viewer in the early '70s, but still remains largely unknown. As Quackser Fortune, the Irish eccentric who clings to an anachronistic existence scooping up horse manure and selling it to Dublin garden owners for pocket change, Wilder climbs so deeply into character that all traces of the actor (and memories of his hyper-neurotic presence in other roles) disappear; this is his most mature and finely felt screen work to date. Director Waris Hussein seldom reaches for laugh-out-loud humor; instead, he pulls little flyspecks of sympathetic amusement from Quackser's behavior and speech patterns. More broadly, Hussein also strives, with triumphant success, for a lingering, satisfying glow -- capped by the film's uplifting individualist spirit and its unexpectedly joyous denouement. On the negative end: as shot by Gilbert Taylor, the film suffers from a hideous aesthetic. Dublin may not be Aruba, but it still never looked so ghastly; mud and soot hang thick in the air throughout the film, and the palette consists mostly of grays, browns, and washed-out colors. Moreover, the film's poorly lit, slightly blurry exteriors and interiors suggest a shoddy production and a miniscule budget. (This may, in part, be attributable to the execrable VHS and DVD transfers of the film.) Luckily, these weaknesses cannot suppress the film's contagious inner vitality and its thoroughly winning central character. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
Liz Davis - Kathleen Fortune; Caroline Tully - Vera Fortune; David Kelly - Tom Maguire; Tony Doyle - Mike; John Kelly - Tim; Robert Sweeney; Robert Somerset; Danny Cummins - Men in Pub; Julie Hamilton - Charlady; Cecil Sheehan - Coal Merchant; Charles Byrne - Blacksmith; Brendan Mathews - Attendant; Lillian Rapple - Woman; Jeremy Jones - Student; John Hoey - Hall Porter; Martin Crosbie - Policeman; Marjorie McHenry - Elaine Boland; Patrick Smyth - Man at Foundry; Robert Carrickford - Walter; Liam Sweeney; Paul Murphy - Damien
Credit
Herbert Smith - Art Director, Waris Hussein - Director, Bill Blunden - Editor, Michael Dress - Composer (Music Score), Gilbert Taylor - Cinematographer, Mel Howard - Producer, Sidney Glazier - Producer, John H. Cushingham - Producer, Gabriel Walsh - Screenwriter
Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx is a 1970 film directed by Waris Hussein and written by Gabriel Walsh. It starred Gene Wilder as the titular Quackser Fortune as a lazy Irishman who falls in love with an Americanexchange student, Margot Kidder, who almost runs him over.
