The Secret Of His Success
The films that demonstrate stardom aren't the major titles. It's the minor films, the ones that do well because the star is in it. For instance, Top Gun (1986) helped turn Tom Cruise into a big star, but it might have been a hit if someone else got the lead. On the other hand, would anyone have gone to see Cocktail (1988)--which made a ton of money--if Cruise weren't in it?
The plot is a mix of a young man rising in business and a sex farce. It's reminiscent of films such as The Apartment and How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. Also, the formula of having someone with little experience take over a major company and know how to run it can be seen in other comedies of the go-go 80s, such as Nine To Five and Working Girl.
The plot has Fox, fresh out of college, moving to New York to make it big. He gets a job in the mail room (are there still mailrooms?) thanks to his CEO uncle, played by Richard Jordan. He takes over a vacant office, pretending to be an executive (shades of Spielberg). Meanwhile, he's romancing young exec Helen Slater, who's also having an affair with his Machiavellian uncle. In addition, Jordan's wife, played by Margaret Whitton, is tired of her marriage and makes a play for Fox.
The cast is okay, but there are certainly no names in it after Fox. (Though watching it today I recognized a lot of people I didn't know back then--John Pankow of Mad About You and Episodes, Bill Faggerbakke of Coach, Mark Margolis of Breaking Bad and Carol Ann Susi of The Big Bang Theory, not to mention short bits by Bruce McGill and Mercedes Ruehl.) So Fox made the difference.
His star would fall over the years. Happens to almost everyone. But for a brief moment, he showed he could turn even second-class material into a hit.
posted by LAGuy @ 7:30 AM
4 Comments:
Just a side point but the first sentence of Richard Jordan's bio on IMDB (and he had a long storied career even though he died young- well younger than I am now) makes the statement that he was the grandson of Learned Hand "the greatest American jurist never to have served on the U.S. Supreme Court."
Interesting debate to kickoff your professional bio
I remember when Richard Jordan died fairly young. He was tall and handsome, and worked regularly, but he never quite became a star. Maybe it was because he came across as a bit nasty--he often played villains.
I didn't know about the Learned Hand connection, though I was aware Jordan went to Harvard, so I guess he was part of a certain crowd. Learned Hand has regularly been called the most important judge not on the SC, though I can think of a few other names that have risen since who might compete for that title.
Posner, presumably. Any others?
There are others--plenty of influential and imaginative judges on the appellate courts over the years--but Posner certainly comes to mind.
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