How to Frame a Figg (1971) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

The mayor and corrupt officials kept Hollis on because they believed he was the dimmest of the accountants. They needed someone simple enough to operate the computer without understanding what it was actually processing, making him the perfect pawn to cover up their embezzlement scheme.

Foreshadowing: Early in the film, characters repeatedly refer to Hollis as not very sharp, establishing why officials viewed him as ideal for their plan.

• hollis figg
• leo computer
• corruption
• accountant
• mayor

While operating LEO, Hollis accidentally discovered discrepancies in the city's road work budgets. The computer processed data revealing that funds had been misappropriated, which directly exposed the embezzlement scheme the mayor and his cronies had been running.

Foreshadowing: The setup shows the officials celebrating their plan to use the computer to hide their crimes, not realizing LEO would become their undoing.

• discrepancies
• road work
• budget
• leo
• exposed

After Hollis uncovered the budget discrepancies, the mayor and Spaulding panicked and tried to buy his silence. They promoted him to the third floor, gave him a shiny Cadillac, and assigned a seductive secretary named Yvonne Craig to distract him and manipulate him into signing documents that would implicate him in the corruption.

Foreshadowing: The officials' earlier confidence in Hollis's stupidity backfires once he stumbles onto their scheme.

• third floor
• cadillac
• yvonne craig
• promotion
• distraction

Yvonne Craig was a secretary strategically placed to seduce and manipulate Hollis. Her job was to keep him distracted and charm him into signing various documents and checks without reading them, making him appear complicit in the corruption and preventing him from revealing what he discovered.

Foreshadowing: Yvonne's introduction as an attractive new secretary immediately signals she's not just a normal employee.

• yvonne craig
• secretary
• manipulation
• signing documents

When Assistant State Attorney General Bill Quinn began investigating the corruption, Hollis realized he was at risk of arrest because he had unknowingly signed so many documents. He disguised as the mourning mother of Mr. Spaulding (who had apparently died) to infiltrate City Hall and retrieve the evidence from LEO's memory bank to clear his name.

Foreshadowing: The announcement of Spaulding's death creates the opportunity for Hollis to assume this identity.

• disguise
• mourning mother
• spaulding
• city hall
• evidence

The memory bank was secretly hidden inside the coffin containing Mr. Spaulding's body. The corrupt officials had stolen it from LEO and concealed it there to prevent the evidence from being recovered.

Foreshadowing: Spaulding's suspicious death and the quick removal of his body hint that something was being hidden.

• memory bank
• coffin
• spaulding
• hidden
• leo

Hollis and his friend exhumed Spaulding's coffin and connected LEO to retrieve the data. When LEO was plugged in, it exploded and scattered IBM cards everywhere. These cards contained encoded evidence proving Hollis's innocence and revealing the full extent of the city's financial corruption.

Foreshadowing: The desperate need to recover the memory bank builds tension before the comedic explosion scene.

• ibm cards
• evidence
• explosion
• corruption
• leo

Mr. Spaulding had actually died under mysterious circumstances, and his body was used by the corrupt officials to hide the computer memory bank inside his coffin. The body was later moved by the mayor's men in the final scene, suggesting they were still trying to cover their tracks even after the scandal began to unravel.

Foreshadowing: The vague reporting of Spaulding's death and the quick removal of his body foreshadow that something suspicious occurred.

• spaulding
• death
• body
• coffin
• moved

In the final scene, Hollis and Ema enjoy their honeymoon in Rio when they notice hotel staff who appear to be the mayor and his cronies in disguise. These men secretly wheel Spaulding's body out of their room on a dolly, revealing that corruption persists and the villains are still attempting to cover their crimes even after Hollis exposed them.

Foreshadowing: The earlier hint that the corruption was far from over sets up this darkly comic reveal.

• final scene
• rio
• honeymoon
• mayor
• body
• dolly

Yes, Hollis successfully retrieves the evidence encoded on the IBM cards, which proves his innocence and exposes the corruption of the mayor and city officials. The city rewards him and Ema with a honeymoon trip to Rio de Janeiro as a thank-you for exposing the truth.

Foreshadowing: The chaotic explosion of LEO and scattering of IBM cards leads directly to Hollis finding the proof he needs.

• innocent
• honeymoon
• rio
• reward
• cleared