the audience applauded

Thanks for the memories!

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The 1960s. Where we transitioned from a button down society to a vision of what people thought of as a modern society. I remember the tail end of this era as we transitioned into the 1970s, and this film gives a snapshot (in a hyper-reality sort of way) of that era. There were no personal computers, "mobile phones" were large things installed in cars, and email was a "top secret" thing.J. Pierpont Finch puts on a show of being the ideal employee, uttering flattery and showing what a great employee he is without actually being one (sort of).It was a familiar and yet alien time altogether. Most people had economic and society success on their minds, and were forward thinking only in terms of raking in new profits for services and products. Not a bad thing, but this film shows a kind of narrow mindedness that was extremely pervasive at the time. Conformity and corruption melded and split all at the same time, only to rejoin and split at the same time as business men (and women) rallied for one idea, then bailed on both idea and idea-man when it failed.Processing insurance forms, processing inventories, year end fiscal reports, reading marketing data and lab reports from R&D, are touched on, but the film is more about marketing yourself to succeed in your dream job. Finch will discover that true success comes from within.The hot secretary, the wholesome female worker, the gawky awkward hard worker, the yes men, the worry wart of the company, the bean counter, the company man, it's all here.It reminds me of the smells of office ink, carbon paper, hole punches, the clanging of typewriters, scratching of pencils, a time when no one but punks made crank phone calls, and certainly no one was hacking your email. This film will bring back those memories for those old (or young) enough to remember them. I can't say it's a period I remember with any fondness, though as a boy times were simpler then. There's a kind of Disney like quality or gloss to it. When you see Disney features or TV shows from the 1960s you get a kind of contemporary presentation where colors are slicker, styles of clothes, furniture and everything else are simpler, and yet everyone maintains a kind of casual form of 1950s etiquette while, strangely enough, at the same time being more formal (if that doesn't sound too paradoxical). And that's the kind of movie it is. We don't see any period specific trappings; no coke bottles, no Howdy Doody reruns, no references to the Space Program, no off handed references to the Soviet Union and whatever else was going on (though we do get an actor's portrayal of the Chief of State at the time).It's a window into a time when we could capture what life and styles were like in the middle of the 1960s, again presented in the hyper- reality that musicals offer, and from there we're launched into Finch's tail. The proverbial Campbell-Lucas "Hero's Journey"? In a "turned on its head" sort of way, sure.I guess what I'm saying is that in spite of everything I've written here, there isn't a whole lot to this movie. Boy meets girl, boy wants to get ahead, girl helps him, boy loses girl, and wins her back. How many movies are like that? Most of them, this one included.It's worth seeing once, or perhaps more than once if you're into the whole romantic comedy musical thing.Give it a shot.

J. Pierpont Finch (Robert Morse) is a lowly window washer in NYC. He buys the book "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" and starts following it up the corporate ladder at The World Wide Wicket Company. Secretary Rosemary Pilkington (Michele Lee) tries to be kind to the bumbling Ponty. J.B. Biggley (Rudy Vallee) is the company big boss. Bud Frump (Anthony Teague) is Biggley's incompetent nephew who battles Ponty as his rival. Biggley gets a job for his young squeeze, the dumb bombshell Hedy LaRue.This is definitely still filled with its Broadway musical sensibilities and the age which it's trying to spoof. The workplace jokes don't translate well over the years. The songs aren't very catchy or the least memorable. The dances are not so exciting. The style is particularly dated which is actually a little bit fascinating. Humor is something very peculiar. With the exception of slapstick, it can go out of date from one era to the next. This is like a time capsule to be seen by people for what was funny at a certain time. It's basically a Mad Men satire.

"How to Succeed..." is proof once again that it takes more than expanding the scenery to turn a hit musical into an entertaining movie. There's lots of shots of Robert Morse as the tale's corporate clamberer dancing giddily through Manhattan traffic. And the key setting, the headquarters of the Worldwide Wicket Company, contains a colorful array of cubicles, offices, washrooms and board rooms. But the style is pure proscenium arch. The acting is stagy, the Frank Loesser songs are shoehorned in on cue, the choreography is mannered and the comedy is aimed at the patrons in the third balcony. Only Michelle Lee as the secretary who falls for Morse's puppy-dog appeal brings a touch of romantic reality to the proceedings. Compare "How to Succeed..." with a superb adaptation like "Chicago" and despite a few things to enjoy -- starting with Loesser's lyrical send-up of office politics -- the result is pretty darned dated.

Finch (Robert Morse) is a greenhorn, just arrived in Manhattan. However, on the shelves of the corner refreshment stand is a small book. Entitled How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, it puts forth a step by step plan to rise quickly to the top of a major corporation. What a discovery! And, soon, Finch puts the book into action as he arrives at the threshold of a big firm. Before long, he has a job in the mailroom, although the company is "not really hiring at this time" and he is not there long. In the wink of an eye, he is a junior exec! That book knows its stuff. However, because Finch is working his way up by flattering the head honcho's (Rudy Vallee) secretary and devoting himself to knowing the personal likes of the other important bigwigs, he is really an exec with feet of clay. How long before they give him the boot? Also, although Finch doesn't want any romantic attachments at the moment, he can't help but notice the lovely secretarial worker, Rosemary (Michelle Lee) who, likewise, has eyes for him. Will there be an office romance, too? This is a nice film version of the classic musical with songs like "A Secretary is not a Toy" and other sly digs at the corporate environment. The cast is nice and can truly sing. What a treat to see Vallee, who was entertaining folks before the second World War! Lee does a fine job, too, and Morse is enjoyable as the astute "faker", with a demeanor and hairstyle that recalls Jerry Lewis. All students of the sixties will savor the sets, costumes, and amenities as a quick trip back in time and the direction is lively and sure. As for the songs, they are definitely hummable. Since musicals are truly a rare animal in the 21st century, why not look for this one on the next trip to the store, all you fans of showtunes? How to have fun in the home theater is this flick's credo.