The Secret of My Succe$s
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| The Secret of My Succe$s | |
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 The Secret of My Success movie poster |
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| Directed by | Herbert Ross |
| Produced by | Herbert Ross |
| Written by | A.J. Carothers (story) Jim Cash (screenplay) |
| 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 |
| Budget | Unknown |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Secret of My Succe$s (a.k.a. The Secret of My Success) is a 1987 comedy film starring Michael J. Fox, produced and directed by Herbert Ross. The screenplay is written by Jim Cash. The film is marketed with the tagline "There's no such thing as an overnight success. Brantley Foster took two weeks."
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[edit] Plot summary
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) with having to strip himself to switch between jobs, 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 finds out that her husband was cheating on her and fires (as well as divorces) him. Foster and Wills begin to date as well.
[edit] Soundtrack
The soundtrack was a considerable success, although it can be viewed as a best-kept secret by now, as the compact disc release has long been out of print. The collection of songs is above-average, especially for something forgotten by now. It is notable for being produced by 1980s super-producer David Foster, who also contributes several instrumental tracks to the album.
Soundtrack listing:
- "The Secret Of My Success" (performed by Night Ranger)
- "Sometimes The Good Guys Finish First" (performed by Pat Benatar)
- "I Burn For You" (performed by Danny Peck and Nancy Shanks)
- "Riskin' A Romance" (perfomed by Bananarama)
- "Gazebo" (performed by David Foster)
- "The Price Of Love" (performed by Roger Daltrey)
- "Water Fountain" (performed by David Foster)
- "Don't Ask The Reason Why" (performed by Restless Heart)
- "3 Themes" (performed by David Foster)
- "Heaven And The Heartaches" (performed by Taxxi)
As with many soundtracks, not all of the songs featured in the film are included on the soundtrack, or, at least not in the same version. The film version of "The Secret of My Success" is slightly different, and also features a mini-instrumental version. The film version of "I Burn For You" does not feature vocals, whereas the soundtrack version does, much to the ire of fans. Lastly, The Restless Heart track from the film has a different title and different lyrics than the soundtrack version, although they have the same general melody. The soundtrack version is consiberably stronger.
The songs "Walking On Sunshine" by Katrina & The Waves and "Oh Yeah" by Yello are notable songs that appeared in the film but do not appear on the soundtrack. "Oh Yeah" is markedly absent, especially given its frequent and memorable use throughout the film.
Additionally, David Foster scored bits and pieces for the film that also did not appear on the soundtrack, although some of his finest songs did make it to the soundtrack.
[edit] Trivia
- 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.
