The Honeymoon Machine is a 1961 film starring Steve McQueen, Brigid Bazlen, Jim Hutton, Paula Prentiss, Jack Mullaney, and Dean Jagger, based on the 1959 Broadway play The Golden Fleecing by Lorenzo Semple Jr.. In the film, three men devise a plan to win at roulette with a United States Navy computer. The scheme works until an admiral ruins their plans.
Plot
Civilian scientist Jason Eldridge (Hutton) runs Magnetic Analyzer Computing Synchrotron (MACS), a vacuum-tube computer aboard the USS Elmira. He and his friend LT Ferguson Howard (McQueen) realize that, by using MACS to record a roulette table's spins over time, the computer can predict future results. Howard and LTJG Beauregard Gilliam (Mullaney) check into a Venice casino's hotel dressed as civilians with Eldridge, defying Admiral Fitch's (Jagger) order that naval officers on shore avoid the casino and wear uniforms. They plan to use signal lamps to communicate with a confederate manning MACS on the Elmira.
At the hotel dedicated bachelor Howard meets and romances Julie Fitch (Bazlen), the admiral's daughter. Eldridge reunites with former girlfriend and heiress Pam Dunstan (Prentiss), in Venice to marry another man. The betting system is very effective, and the three men accumulate hundreds of thousands of dollars in casino chips; the money gives Eldridge the confidence to propose to Dunstan. However, Admiral Fitch sees and investigates their signals; soon the Navy, the American and Soviet consulates, and Venice city authorities are on alert for a "revolution".
The gamblers get Signalman Burford Taylor (Weston), who finds their signal lamp, drunk to detain him, but Taylor escapes and reports to the admiral. Julie Fitch tells her father that she and Howard have "got to marry" each other to save him from court-martial. The Soviets accuse the Navy of using MACS to steal from the casino. To avoid an international incident Howard agrees to intentionally lose his last bet, but a riot breaks out between Soviets, Americans, and Italians in the casino over the chips. The movie ends with newlyweds Howard and Fitch celebrating their honeymoon in the hotel.
Cast
Steve McQueen - Lt. Ferguson 'Fergie' Howard
Brigid Bazlen - Julie Fitch
Jim Hutton - Jason Eldridge
Paula Prentiss - Pam Dunstan
Dean Jagger - Admiral Fitch
Jack Weston - Signalman Burford Taylor
Jack Mullaney - Lt. Beauregard 'Beau' Gilliam
Marcel Hillaire - Inspector of casino games
Ben Astar - Russian consul
William Lanteau - Tommy Dane
Ken Lynch - Capt. James Angle
Simon Scott - Capt. Harvey Adam
Directed by Richard Thorpe
Produced by Lawrence Weingarten
Written by Lorenzo Semple Jr. (play)
George Wells (screenplay)
Music by Leigh Harline
Cinematography Joseph LaShelle
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s) 1961
Running time 87 min.
Country United States
Language English
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