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For most of the first reel the spectator sees nothing but financial tentacles, as a vast holding company stealthily envelops a small plastics manufacturer (Dean Jagger) and prepares to devour him. Then all at once the head and center of the conspiracy appears, and lo! it is not really a monster after all. It's a tall, dark and handsome young fellow (James Garner, better known as TV's Bret Maverick) who is rich but honest, smart with a heart—a sort of beatified billionaire who suffers terribly because he "can't make anything but money."
Naturally, young Cash McCall has to pay through the nose for this shocking lack of faith in the almighty dollar, but in the end he proves loyal to his principal and stands up boldly to the villain (Roland Winters). "Accept my generous offer," the hero announces in words that are apparently intended to represent the all-American spirit of rough-and-tumble competition, "or go home and cut your throat." The hero of course makes the merger and gets the girl (Natalie Wood), with whom he lives wealthily ever after.
The U.S. system of free enterprise, which has been doing pretty well in recent years, needs this sort of propaganda the way it needs a hole in the safe. And foreign countries, in which this film will be widely shown, may not take too kindly to the thesis—especially when it is propounded by their wealthy Uncle Sam—that the worth of a man can be measured by what he is worth.