How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967)

Director:

David Swift

Writers:

Abe Burrows (book) and
Jack Weinstock (book) ...

Release Date:

9 March 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical

Tagline:

Nothing Succeeds Like "Succeed" ! !

Plot:

Armed with a "How to..." manual, an ambitious window washer seeks to climb the corporate ladder.

Plot Keywords:

How To | Business | Book | Secretary | Advertising

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Robert Morse	...	Finch
Michele Lee	...	Rosemary
Rudy Vallee	...	J.B. Biggley
Anthony 'Scooter' Teague	...	Bud Frump (as Anthony Teague)
Maureen Arthur	...	Hedy
John Myhers	...	Bratt
Carol Worthington	...	Lucille Krumholtz
Kay Reynolds	...	Smitty
Ruth Kobart	...	Miss Jones
Sammy Smith	...	Twimble Womper / Wally Womper
Jeff DeBenning	...	Gatch (as Jeff Debenning)
Janice Carroll	...	Brenda
Robert Q. Lewis	...	Tackaberry
Paul Hartman	...	Toynbee
Dan Tobin	...	Johnson

Also Known As:

How to Succeed in Business... (USA) (short title)

Runtime:

121 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Canada:14A (video rating) | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | USA:Approved (certificate #21357) | Australia:G | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

270 Park Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Mirisch Corporation, The

Trivia:

The song "Coffee Break" was filmed, but the footage was later deemed unusable, leaving a somewhat obvious cut when the coffee cart arrives.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: In the musical number at the end when the men are singing about being members of the human race, the clapping of the businessmen is on the downbeat but the audio claps are on the upbeat.

Quotes:

J. B. Biggley: I realize that I'm the president of this company, the man that's responsible for everything that goes on here. So, I want to state, right now, that anything that happened is not my fault.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Red Zone Cuba (#7.19)" (1994)

Soundtrack:

A Secretary Is Not a Toy

Much better then I remembered

I saw this movie on a local PBS station for the first time since it originally came out in the movies. I was only 10 at the time so I didn't get it and I remember not being crazy about it. ALthough the song "I believe in you" was a favorite of mine. I actually looked at the TV schedule to see what else was on. And I vowed to change the channel at 12, the coming hour. But a funny thing happened, I forgot about the other movie and I remained glued to the screen and saw it to the end. The movie is about a window washer who pledges to become a CEO within a short time by reading a "How To Book", hence the title. How delightful to see Michelle Lee singing..what a voice. I didn't remember her singing I Believe in You. Then we have Robert Morse. I was never a big fan of the slap stick comedy ala Jim Carrey Chevy Chase and Robin Wiliams. Robert Morse could give them all a few lessons on playing broad comedy without going over board. Rudy Vallee and the man who played Big Deal in West Side Story (one of my favorite musicals) were hilarious. He was the nephew of the CEO Vallee so we all know what type of character he was playing. We also have the CEO's bimbo girlfriend who wants to get out of the Secretary pool. She actually is not as dumb as we are suppose to think she is. It was a very upbeat funny movie. And for some reason I believe a lot of people in the business world probably know even less then the Robert Morse character, a window washer Maybe they should read the same type of book he was reading. This musical actually would be good if it was just the story. The book could stand on its own. I felt the same way about Carousel. Which deals with very serious issues. The music adds to the story which IMO separates a OK musicals from a great musical. This is a great musical. Oh beware a few songs were cut for the film. The Broadway musical was almost 3 hours, as a lot are. They have intermissions on Broadway. So they cut musical numbers from movie musicals. They did that with Guys and Dolls, one of the great songs at that. HTSIBWRT they cut the Coffee break scene, a great scene. So just as a caution to people who look at movie versions of Broadway musicals. Don't expect to see/hear all of the songs. It's a dumb practice because there are movies made now which are running 3 hours which have a whole lot less going for them then a Broadway musical.