If you like montages, have I got a movie for you.  It is called The Secret of My Success (1987), and it takes this cinematic device to its 1980s apogee by having one seemingly every five minutes.  You can accuse me of exaggerating if you like.  Watch it and find out for yourself.  You can find it on Netflix.  I first noticed it while scrolling through the streaming service’s “Feel Good Movies.”  The only reason I had yet to watch is because it is a little lengthier than I typically want, being a little under two hours.  I am willing to bet that if it took out a few montages, it would be significantly shorter.  As for the rest, I am not sure it lives up to Netflix’s categorization, but I did not hate the experience, repetitive though it may be.

The star of The Secret of My Success is Michael J. Fox, who plays Brantley Foster, a college educated kid from Kansas seeking to make it big in the Big Apple’s business world.  Not to get ahead of myself, but I am not sure we ever learn what the title suggests, unless hard work is some big mystery to you.  That is exactly what Brantley tells his parents, assuring them that he will accomplish his goals.  He makes these declarations to assuage their misgivings over him moving to New York City.  Despite them letting their son go, they give him a return airfare just in case things do not work out.  Mom (Elizabeth Franz) also gives Brantley the address of his distant uncle, Howard Prescott (Richard Jordan).  Brantley accepts these tokens, but insists that he wants to do it on his own.  As so many have found out before him, life in the big city is not the automatic road to riches he believes.  The job he arranged before coming fires him on the first day amidst downsizing; no other company will take him on with his lack of experience; his apartment is overrun with vermin; and he witnesses a violent crime while on the phone with his mother.  Not wanting to go back to Kansas, Brantley decides to go see Howard in hopes of securing a position with his uncle’s business, Pemrose.  Howard at first claims to have no knowledge of Brantley, but a little explanation gives Pemrose’s president some recognition.  Brantley follows this up with an appeal, his motivation as a worker shining through, and earning him a position in the mailroom.  Still, it is a foot in the door, as they say.  On his first day of hustling about the corporate headquarters delivering memos and missives, he spots Christy Wills (Helen Slater).  Brantley is instantly smitten, having some strange vision of her (I suspect that this, too, was a montage), but she takes little notice of him.  This is because she is what Fred Melrose (John Pankow), a co-worker of Brantley’s in the mailroom, refers to as a “suit,” Pemrose’s legion of executives.  Brantley is unfazed, continuing to dream of joining their ranks.  An opportunity of sorts in this way presents itself when he is asked to drive home Vera Pemrose Prescott (Margaret Whitton).  Brantley is not told her name, though, and she quite literally pounces on his innocence, if you get my meaning.  It is not until after their interlude that he learns that he has slept with his aunt, so, yeah. . . .  Still, he remains firm in his desire to rise in the company on his own merits.  His time spent as a courier has taught him enough about the enterprise’s innerworkings that he is able to find an empty office, create a false identity, and bluff his way into a corporate position.  He must also continue to deliver the mail, which means he is now leading a double life as Brantley Foster, lowly clerk, and the new suit Carlton Whitfield.  It all comes as the result of picking up a phone on a vacated desk and now Carlton is indispensable.  At the same time, Howard learns that a man named Donald Davenport (Fred Gwynne) is attempting a hostile takeover of Pemrose.  Howard’s solution to prevent this is to downsize the company.  Carlton has a different idea, thinking they should expand, and it is putting forward these ideas to other executives.  This is also how he once more comes into contact with Christy.  She has her own notions, more along the lines of what Howard wants.  It should also be noted that she is Howard’s mistress.  In this guise, she brings Carlton’s contradictory statements to Howard’s attention, which is how he first learns of the upstart.  To get more information, Howard tells Christy to essentially spy on Carlton.  In the process, Carlton and Christy fall in love.  She appreciates the fact that he is not trying to use her, though he is not forthright with his true identity.  Meanwhile, a chance encounter with Brantley leads Howard to invite his nephew to an upcoming company weekend at his house, mostly to keep Vera occupied while he attempts to get closer to Christy.  I think you can see how this makes for a tense situation.  In between her rough advances, Vera takes Brantley around to various moneyed people in attendance, and he impresses them all with his acumen.  Elsewhere at the party, Howard is unsuccessful with Christy, she telling him that there is somebody else in her life.  It all comes down to a Scooby Doo-esque climax, with anxious lovers going in and out of doors looking for one another before all ending up in one room.  Finally, all is revealed and nobody is happy.  Unsurprisingly, Howard fires Brantley.  The next day, though, Brantley and Christy are able to forgive one another.  They then orchestrate their own takeover of Pemrose with Vera’s majority share and some other backing, preventing Donald’s maneuver and sacking Howard in the process.  And I guess everyone lives happily ever after.

There are a few interesting snippets in The Secret of My Success to look at from a Catholic perspective.  One is some of the words from the last song in the film, talking about how sometimes nice guys do finish first.  This is put there intentionally to celebrate Brantley getting everything he wanted before coming to New York City.  As a self-professed nice guy, it is refreshing to see one of my brethren with this kind of happy ending, even if it is a piece of cinema.  As for reality, one way or another, I try to remind myself that there is reward in Heaven for upright behavior.  Such benefits far outweigh any just desserts in this life.  Another piece I would mention is the relativistic morality of the business world as represented by Howard.  At one point, it is suggested that there is no right or wrong, only opinion.  This is, of course, a fallacy.  If there were no such thing as right or wrong, then we might as well give up now.  While a discussion of religion is far from this film’s themes, Brantley represents a better way of going about business.  He treats everyone with dignity, especially those who might lose their jobs as a result of downsizing.  This is why he proposes expansion while everyone else is supporting contraction.  The closest we get in the film to what God might say in support of such a corporate attitude is when a waitress overhears Brantley’s ideas and comments that expansion is a positive reaction in the universe.  To put this more in God’s terms, there is no such thing as a contraction in God’s love.  Take this to mean whatever you like, but in its simplest terms, it simply means that God’s love cannot be taken away.  I will take comfort in that over whatever the corporate world has to offer.

My reason for why I was confused about The Secret of My Success being listed in the “Feel Good Movies” section pertains to the rather forward sexual nature of some of the scenes.  Then again, I am a pretty square Catholic.  I also think such material could have been removed without losing any of the film’s meaning.  And here again, you see another example of how premarital (or extramarital in this case, too) can complicate things.  Otherwise, it is a solidly okay movie.