The Secret Of My Success: Music From The Motion Picture Soundtrack [Soundtrack]

the secret of my success: music from the motion picture soundtrack [soundtrack]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Derivative fluff from 1987, made tolerable by its bawdy exuberance and an appealing performance by Michael J. Fox, who was still enjoying TV stardom and the career momentum he earned by traveling Back to the Future. Here he plays a Kansas farm boy who dreams of scoring big in New York City, but reality turns out to be brutal to his ambition. When his uncle (Richard Jordan) gives him a mail-room job in the high-rise headquarters of a major corporation, Fox occupies an empty office and poses as a young executive, winning the attention of a lovely young colleague (Helen Slater) and having an affair with his boss's wife (Margaret Whitton). Sporadically amusing as a yuppie comedy and rather off-putting as a wannabe sex farce, the movie's still recommendable for its lively cast and a breezy style that almost succeeds in updating the conventions of vintage screwball comedy. Whitton is a standout performer here, so you may wonder why her comedic talent has been underrated, apart from a good role in the first two Major League movies. This may be little more than a big-screen sitcom, but it's not without its charms. --Jeff Shannon

The Secret Of My Success: Music From The Motion Picture Soundtrack,Various Artists,Mca,Pop,Soundtrack,Soundtracks & Film Scores

The Secret Of My Success: Music From The Motion Picture Soundtrack [Soundtrack]

Average customer rating:

A Successful Soundtrack that's not complete.
Funny and Entertaining
Frustrated
Beware of "Auntie Vera"
Michael J. Fox's performance makes up for some big holes

The Secret Of My Success: Music From The Motion Picture Soundtrack
Various Artists
Manufacturer: Mca
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Movie Soundtracks | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

1980s | By Decade | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

The Secret of My Success
Collection
Teen Wolf
Doc Hollywood
Symphony Sessions

ASIN: B000002O59
Release Date: 1990-10-25

Tracks:

The Secret Of My Success - Night Ranger
Sometimes The Good Guys Finish First - Pat Benetar
I Burn For You - Danny Peck/Nancy Shanks
Riskin' A Romance - Bananarama
Gazebo - David Foster
The Price Of Love - Roger Daltrey
Water Fountain - David Foster
Don't Ask The Reason Why - Restless Heart
3 Themes - Daivd Foster
Heaven & The Heartaches - Taxxi

Customer Reviews:

A Successful Soundtrack that's not complete........2007-05-12

Just about all the other reviewers have summed up this gem of a soundtrack. It's great for parties, it's great for driving, it's fun.

There's only one major problem I have with it. That's the fact that it's just not complete.

The main track that's instantly missing is "OH YEAH", by the band 'YELLO'. Also 'Walking On Sunshine' should deffinatley be on there also.

I purchased this album from Amazon a while ago and feel it's high time there was a re-released special edition containing all the missing tracks, especially 'Oh Yeah' as that's the first song that comes to my head when I think of the movie full stop.

Here's hoping it's re-released without the mistakes of the new Top Gun soundtrack.

Sean.

Funny and Entertaining.......2007-01-17

I found it interesting that Roger Ebert disliked this movie. This movie is not artistic or well-acted. The situations are ludicrous and unlikely. However, this movie offers well-executed comedy that is highly entertaining.

Michael J. Fox is Brantly Foster, a recent college graduate and the nephew of a business executive and his wife. Foster is intelligent and considers that Uncle Howard (Richard Jordan) might give him an opportunity in his company. A job in the mail room was not exactly the start that Foster had in mind.

Foster realizes that in a corporation the size of his uncle's that it is easy to do things without anyone realizing what is happening. So Foster sets himself up as newly hired executive Carlton Whitfield. Most of the executives accept Whitfield for what he seems to be. Foster's only significant problems are keeping Uncle Howard from finding out that he is also Carlton Whitfield and keeping his mail room boss from learning that he is not always delivering mail when his boss thinks he should be.

Foster/Whitfield soon encounters beautiful Christy Wills (Helen Slater), a young and highly intelligent executive, with whom he soon falls in love. Just as quickly he encounters Aunt Vera (Margaret Whitton) and has more than one amorous encounter, before and after finding out she is his aunt by marriage.

With Foster impersonating an executive while working in the mail room, courting Christy, who, unbeknownst to him, is also involved with Uncle Howard, and avoiding Aunt Vera as much as possible, the comedic potential is high, and the movie delivers. Much of the comedy is borderline slapstick, but much of it is also situational.

The highlight of this movie, as with many light comedies of the 80s, is the somewhat cliche happy ending in the face of apparent doom. While you know there has to be a happy ending somewhere, you have to be very attentive to catch the clues that suggest what the ending might be.

This movie is one of my favorite 80s comedies. While some critics have treated it harshly, the movie is fun to watch over and over because the situations, while predictable, are well done. Michael J. Fox at the peak of his career always brought a likable presence to the screen and his execution usually brings at least smiles and more often laughs.

Note that this version is a VHS tape and a DVD version also exists.

Frustrated.......2006-12-14

They ruined my favorite song on this album, "I burn for you" by putting lyrics into it. Just butcher a masterpiece. I loved it in the scene where Fox and Slater kiss for the first time...the duet is killing me. Anyone know any -good- voice remover programs?

Beware of "Auntie Vera".......2005-08-24

Brantley Foster (Michael J. Fox) new to the city is a young lad out of management school and looking for a job. Luck would have it that his Uncle Howard Prescott (Richard Jordan) runs a big corporation. He gets a chance to work his way up from the mail room.

In the process he encounters his uncle's wife "Auntie Vera"(Margaret Whitton.) She takes an instant shine to him. One of my favorite scenes is where he barely escapes Auntie Vera's clutches.

Soon he realizes that the only way to get to the top is start on a higher rung; finding an empty office and knowing the way the building system works, he takes on the persona of Carlton Whitfield male "Suit". He has a business type interaction with Christy (Helen Slater) a female "Suit". She has a quasi relationship with someone higher up.

Then the action starts. There is a "working" weekend in which everyone has a second agenda. To this weekend both Brantley and Carlton are invited.

What are Brantley and Vera cooking up?
Is Carlton getting too close to Christy?
Does someone else have plans for Christy?
Will Carlton meet Brantley?

And who is the "bimbo?"

Michael J. Fox's performance makes up for some big holes.......2005-01-29

I have concluded that I have probably used "The Secret of My Succe$s" as an example in class more than just about any other film ever made. Part of the reason is that most students have seen this film, so I am likely to get nods of recognition more than if I mention "Battleship Potemkin" or "Citizen Kane." This 1987 comedy tells the story of Brantley Foster (Michael J. Fox), who heads from his family's farm in Kansas to the Big Apple to put his business degree to use, but all he can get is a job in the mail room of a firm owned by a distant uncle (Richard Jordan).

Brantley comes up with a short cut but there comes a moment when he has to step up to the plate and impress a group of potential investors with a brilliant idea. We see Brantley explain but his idea to an enthralled group of rich businessmen, but...WE HEAR NOTHING. The script by Jim Cash & Jack Epps, Jr. and AJ Carothers ("&" does not mean the same thing as "and" in Hollywood) could not come up with anything good enough to carry the scene so they just turned up the music and figured if we had enjoyed the movie to that point and if we liked Michael J. Fox then we would just buy this and proceed to the happy ending. We do like Fox and we proceed to the happy ending.

However, contrast this scene with its counterpart in another familiar film, "The Karate Kid." That would be the great scene where Mr. Miyagi explains to Daniel-san that "sand the floor" means a whole lot than he ever imagined. That is the sort of scene that makes an entire movie (and gets an actor an Oscar nomination), and "The Secret of My Success" has a big hole where that scene should be and it really bugs me that the writers could not come up with something that proved our hero deserved to be the hero.

There are more holes in this film, which allow Brantley to create the persona of Carlton Whitfield, a young executive in a previous empty office (being in the mailroom has its advantages in such a scheme) and provide a fairy godmother in the person of his Aunt Vera (Margaret Whitton). Meanwhile, Brantley (or Whitfield, depending on your perspective), is interested in Christy Wills (Helen Slater), who is introduced in the most erotic display of drinking from a water fountain in the history of American cinema.

This is Michael J. Fox's movie and his engaging performance forgives most of the film's faults in this mindless comedy (mindless in that you will like the film if you mind the holes in it less). Actually, I was amazed to really see how many stupid things happen in "The Secret of My Succe$s," but I still like Fox's performance. If nothing else, this film is a reminder that Fox was a gifted physical comedien. The world of business does not come out looking well, but then it is hard to find too many movies in the past twenty years that make you think kindly towards big business.

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