The Secret of My Succe$s
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| The Secret of My Succe$s | |
|---|---|
 The Secret of My Success movie poster |
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| Directed by | Herbert Ross |
| Produced by | Herbert Ross |
| Written by | A.J. Carothers |
| Starring | Michael J. Fox Helen Slater Richard Jordan Margaret Whitton John Pankow Fred Gwynne |
| Music by | Night Ranger Roger Daltrey Pat Benatar |
| Cinematography | Carlo Di Palma |
| Editing by | Paul Hirsch |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | April 10, 1987 |
| Running time | 111 min. |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
The Secret of My Succe$s (a.k.a. The Secret of My Success) is a 1987 film starring Michael J. Fox.
[edit] Plot
Fox plays Brantley Foster, a recent college grad from Kansas State University, who moves to New York City to start a new financing job. However, the company where he is supposed to work was taken over by another corporation, and he gets immediately laid off.
After several unsuccessful attempts to get another job, he ends up working in the mailroom of his Uncle Howard Prescott's (Jordan) company, Pemrose. Pemrose was actually founded by his father-in-law, and he got the ownership of the company only because he was married to Vera Pemrose (Whitton).
Foster, after looking at company reports, realizes that a lot of executives are not making effective decisions that benefit the company. Noticing that there is an empty office in the building due to a firing, Foster pretends to be a company executive using the alias Carlton Whitfield.
Aside from his conflicts at handling two jobs (mailboy and executive), Foster also falls head over heels for Christy Wills (Slater), a financial wizard who graduated Harvard. At the same time, he cannot stop his Aunt Vera from hitting on him (they're not related by blood). Meanwhile, his uncle (without Foster's knowledge) has been having an affair with Wills and has asked her to spy on Whitfield (though Wills retracts and falls for Carlton, not knowing he is Brantley). The Pemrose company is in the process of being taken over by the Davenport company, and Uncle Howard (unware that Whitfield is Foster) believes Whitfield may be a spy for Davenport. In the end, Foster and Vera buy enough company stock to own the company. Vera, who has found out that her husband was cheating on her and fires (as well as divorces) him. Foster and Wills begin to date as well.
John Pankow, of Mad About You fame, plays Foster's mailroom colleague. Fred Gwynne plays Mr. Davenport. Cindy Crawford makes a cameo appearance in the opening credits.
The film was a box office hit and grossed over 66 million dollars.
Tagline: There's no such thing as an overnight success. Brantley Foster took two weeks.
