User:Mthurlow/The Moneychangers (1976 miniseries)

The Moneychangers (1976 miniseries) is a 1976 NBC miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Arthur Hailey. It was produced by Ross Hunter Productions Inc., and Paramount Television and starred Kirk Douglas, Christopher Plummer, Susan Flannery and Anne Baxter. The series it notable for its depiction of banking operations including cash handling and security procedures rarely seen by the public. It was rebroadcast in 1978.

Plot
The miniseries largely remains true to Hailey's original novel. The series opens with the president of First Mercantile American Bank (FMA), Ben Roselli (Leonardo Cimino), informing a gathering of his closest friends and business associates that he is dying and that the bank's board will be asked to choose a successor. The two front-runners are the bank's current vice presidents, Alex Vandervoort (Kirk Douglas) and Roscoe Heyward (Christopher Plummer). Vandervoort is an honest banker with a social conscience, while Heyward is suave and skilled in boardroom politics.

In the bank's main branch, manager Edwina Dorsey (Anne Baxter), calls in the bank's audit team after teller Juanita Nunez (Amy Levitt) reports a $6,000 loss from her cash drawer. It is subsequently found that senior teller Miles Eastin (Timothy Bottoms) is responsible for the theft, as well as embezzling $10,000 from the branch's dormant accounts. He is dismissed, arrested, and convicted. In prison, his knowledge of counterfeiting brings him to the attention of a gang of credit card forgers. The prison sequence is also notable for its graphic depiction of male sexual assault. (The New York Times described Eastin's rape as "one of the most explicit sexual-assault scenes devised without benefit of outright hardcore pornography".) On his release, Eastin visits Nunez, who forgives him for stealing from her cash drawer. The bank is also experiencing a major uplift in credit card fraud. Nunez convinces the bank's head of security, Nolan Wainwright (Percy Rodriguez) to hire Eastin to go undercover among the forgers to gather intelligence. Eastin is later exposed and he is tortured by the gang. Nunez and her daughter are also abducted but all three are recovered by Rodriguez.

Meanwhile, Vandervoort and Heyward continue to vie for the bank's presidency. Heyward is initially seen as the front-runner after he secures the business of Supranational Corporation (SuNatCo), a large and seemingly successful multi-national conglomerate. Its unscrupulous CEO, George Quartermain (Lorne Greene) gradually manipulates Heyward into arranging a $50 million loan using flattery, luxury holidays, free SuNatCo shares and the sexual favours of Avril Devereaux (Joan Collins). Vandervoort's efforts to convince the bank's board the loan is too large, illegal and toxic are put down to jealously by Heyward and fellow board member Howard Austin (Patrick O'Neal). Vandervoort is also criticised by Heyward for his relationship with Margot Bracken (Susan Flannery), a "notorious left-wing activist" and lawyer, while his mentally-ill wife Celia (Marisa Pavan) is confined to a treatment centre under the care of Dr. McCartney (Helen Hayes). Margot is later involved in organising for hundreds of people to simultaneously converge on the bank's main branch to open accounts, thereby disrupting normal operations. The protest was in response to the bank's decision to wind down its funding of the Forum East social housing project following its loan to SuNatCo.

Vandervoort is tipped off to the parlous financial state of SuNatCo by Edwina's husband, Lewis Dorsey (Hayden Rorke) who is the author of a well-regarded financial newsletter. Vandervoort hires a financial investigator who reveals SuNatCo is on the verge of bankruptcy. The ensuing scandal causes a run on deposits by customers at the bank's Alves branch. Vandervoort is able to stop the run by trucking in large amounts of cash by armored car from the bank's central vault to prove to worried customers that it's not on the brink of collapse. Heyward dramatically commits suicide by throwing himself from the top of FMA's headquarters. The series ends with Heyward being asked to assume the bank's presidency.

Cast
The principal cast is as follows:
 * Kirk Douglas as Alex Vandervoort
 * Christopher Plummer as Roscoe Heyward
 * Anne Baxter as Edwina Dorsey
 * Timothy Bottoms as Miles Eastin
 * Susan Flannery as Margot Bracken
 * Amy Levitt as Juanita Nunez (credited as Amy Tivell)
 * Joan Collins as Avril Devereaux
 * Ralph Bellamy as Jerome Patterton
 * Percy Rodrigues as Nolan Wainwright
 * Lorne Greene as George Quartermain
 * Helen Hayes as Dr. McCartney
 * Robert Loggia as Tony Bear
 * Marisa Pavan as Celia Vandervoort
 * Jean Peters as Beatrice Heyward
 * Patrick O'Neal as Harold Austin
 * James Shigeta as Wizard Wong
 * Hayden Rorke as Lewis Dorsey

Production
The principal crew is as follows:
 * Ross Hunter - producer
 * Jacques Mapes - producer
 * Marvin Miller - associate producer
 * Henry Mancini - music

Original Broadcast Dates
The series was originally broadcast by NBC on the following dates:

Filming Locations
The former ARCO Plaza (now City National Plaza) at 525 South Flower Street, Los Angeles, is featured prominently as FMA's headquarters and main branch. The tower closest to West 5th Street was also known as Bank of America Tower prior to that company's move to Bank of America Plaza in 1992. The Bank of America branch located in the "jewel box" building between the two towers at the time of filming was re-badged as First Mercantile American Bank Main Branch and used for both interior and exterior filming. Exterior shots of the Bank of America Tower (now the Paul Hastings Tower) established it as the location of FMA's executive offices. The monumental sculpture-fountain on the plaza forecourt, Double Ascension by artist Herbert Bayer, also appears in multiple scenes.

Awards
The series received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Limited Series in the 1976-77 season. In the same year, Christopher Plummer received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series for his portrayal of Roscoe Heyward.