Watch and Learn: The 10 Greatest Business Movies You've Never Seen
1. The Apartment (1960)
Jack Lemmon is a nebbishy company man who will do anything for a promotion-including supplying his bachelor pad to the philandering men who run the corporation. As the key to his apartment becomes the key to his success, Lemmon's character is bemired in an ethical quandary involving the company Christmas party, an office with his name on the door, and a sweet elevator girl played by Shirley MacLaine. A great flick for anyone seeking a clever way to keep his job in this unpredictable economy.
1. The Apartment (1960)
Jack Lemmon is a nebbishy company man who will do anything for a promotion-including supplying his bachelor pad to the philandering men who run the corporation. As the key to his apartment becomes the key to his success, Lemmon's character is bemired in an ethical quandary involving the company Christmas party, an office with his name on the door, and a sweet elevator girl played by Shirley MacLaine. A great flick for anyone seeking a clever way to keep his job in this unpredictable economy.
2. Desk Set (1957)
The opening credits announce that the filmmakers "gratefully acknowledge the cooperation and assistance of the International Business Machines Corporation." You soon see why: A media company is installing room-size computers to assist its research and payroll departments. Spencer Tracy is the IBM transition guy in charge of Katharine Hepburn's research department, where she and her "girls" are in a tizzy over being replaced by a machine-which today, incidentally, would be known as Google.
The opening credits announce that the filmmakers "gratefully acknowledge the cooperation and assistance of the International Business Machines Corporation." You soon see why: A media company is installing room-size computers to assist its research and payroll departments. Spencer Tracy is the IBM transition guy in charge of Katharine Hepburn's research department, where she and her "girls" are in a tizzy over being replaced by a machine-which today, incidentally, would be known as Google.
3. Dodsworth (1936)
Motor company tycoon Samuel Dodsworth has just retired, and he's ready to enjoy life. His wife is gamboling around Europe, and Sam does his best to join in. But Dodsworth finds the transition from powerful boss to man of leisure awkward and uneasy-after pouring himself into his work for so long, even his wealth doesn't save him from feeling like a lifetime prisoner who can't hack it on the outside. In the title role, Walter Huston gives a knockout performance from which the current flock of CEOs turned outcasts could learn a lot.
Motor company tycoon Samuel Dodsworth has just retired, and he's ready to enjoy life. His wife is gamboling around Europe, and Sam does his best to join in. But Dodsworth finds the transition from powerful boss to man of leisure awkward and uneasy-after pouring himself into his work for so long, even his wealth doesn't save him from feeling like a lifetime prisoner who can't hack it on the outside. In the title role, Walter Huston gives a knockout performance from which the current flock of CEOs turned outcasts could learn a lot.
4. The Efficiency Expert (1991)
In this quirky Australian film, Anthony Hopkins plays a taciturn consultant hired to "modernize" a moccasin company. But his all-business measures don't jibe with the employees, a tight-knit, slightly loony, set-in-their-ways clan. When he erects partitions between the seamstresses to prevent them from gossiping all day, they just smile and take them down. Russell Crowe has a small part as a smarmy up-and-comer bent on importing slippers from Japan. A weird, highly enjoyable movie about the value of loyal employees.
In this quirky Australian film, Anthony Hopkins plays a taciturn consultant hired to "modernize" a moccasin company. But his all-business measures don't jibe with the employees, a tight-knit, slightly loony, set-in-their-ways clan. When he erects partitions between the seamstresses to prevent them from gossiping all day, they just smile and take them down. Russell Crowe has a small part as a smarmy up-and-comer bent on importing slippers from Japan. A weird, highly enjoyable movie about the value of loyal employees.
5. Executive Suite (1954)
What happens when the president of a major corporation drops dead? A flock of underlings jockey for the job in a pyrotechnic power struggle. The setting is a furniture company's mahogany-paneled front office, teeming with egos, stock scams, blackmailers, backstabbers, love affairs, and a corporate femme fatale-the founder's daughter and a major shareholder who was sleeping with the deceased. In the end, it's nothing more than good, juicy fun, and nobody's 401(k) gets hurt.
What happens when the president of a major corporation drops dead? A flock of underlings jockey for the job in a pyrotechnic power struggle. The setting is a furniture company's mahogany-paneled front office, teeming with egos, stock scams, blackmailers, backstabbers, love affairs, and a corporate femme fatale-the founder's daughter and a major shareholder who was sleeping with the deceased. In the end, it's nothing more than good, juicy fun, and nobody's 401(k) gets hurt.
6. Fitzcarraldo (1982)
The most successful businesspeople are obsessive about everything they do. Fitzcarraldo dreams of building an opera house in the jungles of South America. The story of his quest to make a fortune in the rubber business (to fund the opera house) is a portrait of a businessman to be admired from afar, not to be employed by: His madman scheme involves a spectacular attempt to drag a giant steamboat over a mountain to reach an unharvested forest.
The most successful businesspeople are obsessive about everything they do. Fitzcarraldo dreams of building an opera house in the jungles of South America. The story of his quest to make a fortune in the rubber business (to fund the opera house) is a portrait of a businessman to be admired from afar, not to be employed by: His madman scheme involves a spectacular attempt to drag a giant steamboat over a mountain to reach an unharvested forest.
7. The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956)
Gregory Peck has a lot on his mind-a promotion to a powerful and high-paying executive position, a hysterical wife, a lovechild in Italy from an affair during the war. The new job means more time away from his family, but they aren't much fun anyway. Still, he grapples with the question of how much of his life to give to his work. The film stands up well at a time when companies are breaking a sweat trying to appear flexible and family-friendly.
Gregory Peck has a lot on his mind-a promotion to a powerful and high-paying executive position, a hysterical wife, a lovechild in Italy from an affair during the war. The new job means more time away from his family, but they aren't much fun anyway. Still, he grapples with the question of how much of his life to give to his work. The film stands up well at a time when companies are breaking a sweat trying to appear flexible and family-friendly.
8. Other People's Money (1991)
"I love money more than the things it buys," squeals the unctuous corporate raider Lawrence "Larry the Liquidator" Garfield, played by Danny DeVito. Larry targets a small New England manufacturing company run by a grandfatherly Gregory Peck. As Larry unapologetically lusts after a sweet deal, Peck's stepdaughter/ lawyer hisses, "In 10 years, they'll be studying you at the Wharton School. They'll call it the Garfield Era and rinse their mouths out when they leave the room." Ten years from now they'll call it the Enron Era. No, the WorldCom Era. Or the Arthur Andersen Era. The Martha Era has a nice ring . . .
"I love money more than the things it buys," squeals the unctuous corporate raider Lawrence "Larry the Liquidator" Garfield, played by Danny DeVito. Larry targets a small New England manufacturing company run by a grandfatherly Gregory Peck. As Larry unapologetically lusts after a sweet deal, Peck's stepdaughter/ lawyer hisses, "In 10 years, they'll be studying you at the Wharton School. They'll call it the Garfield Era and rinse their mouths out when they leave the room." Ten years from now they'll call it the Enron Era. No, the WorldCom Era. Or the Arthur Andersen Era. The Martha Era has a nice ring . . .
9. Save the Tiger (1973)
Lemmon nabbed the Oscar for Best Actor this time (beating Brando, Nicholson, Pacino, and Redford) for his portrayal of Harry Stoner, the down-and-out owner of a clothing factory. In this 36-hour snapshot of his life, Harry arranges for an arsonist to burn down his factory for insurance money, hires strippers to entertain his clients, and picks up a horny flower child. A depressing but ultimately uplifting account of a businessman being asphyxiated by the life he chose for himself.
Lemmon nabbed the Oscar for Best Actor this time (beating Brando, Nicholson, Pacino, and Redford) for his portrayal of Harry Stoner, the down-and-out owner of a clothing factory. In this 36-hour snapshot of his life, Harry arranges for an arsonist to burn down his factory for insurance money, hires strippers to entertain his clients, and picks up a horny flower child. A depressing but ultimately uplifting account of a businessman being asphyxiated by the life he chose for himself.
10. Silkwood (1983)
Based on the story of Karen Silkwood, a lab analyst and union activist at the Kerr-McGee plutonium processing plant, who died in 1974. Believing that company negligence was endangering the lives of employees and clients-alleged corporate misbehavior that makes the recent wave of accounting scandals look like child's play-Silkwood set out to blow the whistle to a New York Times reporter. On her way to the rendezvous, she perished in a mysterious one-car accident. Meryl Streep uses equal parts naïveté and indignation in one of her greatest and least heralded
Based on the story of Karen Silkwood, a lab analyst and union activist at the Kerr-McGee plutonium processing plant, who died in 1974. Believing that company negligence was endangering the lives of employees and clients-alleged corporate misbehavior that makes the recent wave of accounting scandals look like child's play-Silkwood set out to blow the whistle to a New York Times reporter. On her way to the rendezvous, she perished in a mysterious one-car accident. Meryl Streep uses equal parts naïveté and indignation in one of her greatest and least heralded
