Head Office (1985)

Lazy, womanizing Jack gets employed at the NYC HQ of the multinational conglomerate, INC. Crazy chaos, promotions, firings, suicides etc. seem to be the way of the day.

Director:

Ken Finkleman

Writer:

Ken Finkleman

Stars:

Judge Reinhold, Eddie Albert, Lori-Nan Engler

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Judge Reinhold	...	Jack Issel
Lori-Nan Engler	...	Rachael Helmes
Eddie Albert	...	Pete Helmes
Merritt Butrick	...	John Hudson
Ron Frazier	...	Bob Nixon
Richard Masur	...	Max Landsberger
Rick Moranis	...	Howard Gross
Don Novello	...	Sal
Michael O'Donoghue	...	Scott Dantley
Jane Seymour	...	Jane Caldwell
Wallace Shawn	...	Mike Hoover
Bruce Wagner	...	Al Kennedy
Danny DeVito	...	Frank Stedman
Ron James	...	Mark Rabinovich
John Kapelos	...	General Sepulveda

Storyline

Upon graduation from college with a business degree, John Issel is promptly hired by Helmes's company I.N.C. At INC, the one who gets ahead, does it by kissing ass, or over someone else's dead body. John keeps getting promotions, but cant figure out why. Actually management doesn't care about him, they hope that having hired him, his father, Senator Issel, will vote the way they like.

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Plot Keywords:

senator | u.s. senator | bribe | corruption | protest | 

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Taglines:

An Outrageous Comedy About Making It Big In Big Business

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 January 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

Männer für jeden Job

Filming Locations:

Sears Tower - 233 S. Wacker Drive, Downtown, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$1,937,934, 5 January 1986

Gross USA:

$3,393,807

Company Credits

Production Co:

HBO Pictures, Silver Screen Partners, The Guber-Peters Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

3 of the characters have the same last names as former American presidents: Bob Nixon (Ron Frazier), Mike Hoover (Wallace Shawn), & Al Kennedy (Bruce Wagner).

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Goofs

When Jack is first shown his new office in Complaints, the name plate by his door appears and disappears between shots.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Pete Helmes: Hi. My name is Pete Helmes. 30 years ago, I started a small company called INC Bearing and Tool, and with these balls of steel I built INC International. Now, we produce over 10,000 products, from a 50-megaton nuclear warhead to a creamer, nuttier peanut butter and a new, quieter, artificial heart. Every day at INC we're developing products that will improve your life, like Permalax, an all-new laxative implant, that relieves irregularity for up to 25 years with a one-step ...

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Alternate Versions

The TV network version has various additional scenes which include:

• Jack walking across a basketball court and shooting a basket with some player friends of his while on his way to his first day at INC.
• Additional bit of dialog between Helms and General Toliver in the helicopter.
• A scene of Jack buying a Rolling Stones magazine at a corner news stand and the first introduction Robert Hoover and Al Kennedy bickering about Helms.
• Additional dialog between Jack and Jane in her office telling him that "information is power."
• Another bit of dialog where Kennedy discuses INC's plans for a proxy fight over a company called West Oil during the board meeting in which Helms disagrees.
• Helms detailing INC's strengths in another bit while discussing an unpaid phone bill over a client.
• Kennedy telling Jane about him quitting INC and his plan for asking Helms to join a Los Angeles office during the board meeting scene with the little German-speaking man.
• Additional scene of Jack first arriving at Helms' house and a frantic Kennedy trying to talk to Helms during his morning jog around his back garden about an Los Angeles job and being set upon by a guard dog as well as treading across a reflecting pond to keep up with him.

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Connections

References Those Amazing Animals (1980)

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Soundtracks

FLYER
Performed, written and produced by GEO

User Reviews

At its best, the most underrated comedy ever.

I agree with most of the previous reviews, but I'd like to emphasize that not only is the first half of this movie great, its as funny and ahead of its time as it gets. An absolute classic and contains some of its actors' best work. Rick Moranis is one of the comic geniuses of his generation and his brief scenes are worth the entire experience alone. I've quoted his big line in appropriate situations (unfortunately to no appreciation / recognition) more than any other movie joke. This is the only feature film where he's as funny as in his best moments from SCTV and SNL. Eddie Albert's very first scene and punch line is one of the greatest satirical jokes ever written of this genre. Michael O'Donoghue's deadpan performance is chillingly convincing, etc, etc. Yes, there is the obligatory Judge Rhienhold "voice of sanity" character who's storyline gradually sinks the movie into formulaic banality (and I subtract just one point for that), but the first half of this thing is an absolute must-see for any satirical comedy fan. I'll go further - this movie, at its best, is the most underrated American comedy ever. Period.