Executive Suite
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Movie Reviews of Executive Suite
Movie Review: A Return On Investment
Summary: 5 Stars
Until this decade, "Executive Suite" was rarely shown on TV, for good reason. The building crescendo of human expectations would get side-railed and it would appear boring to the non-accountants. This is a wonderful send-up from Cameron Hawley, who also wrote "Cash McCall,"(scheduled for re-make), which tackled those leverage-buyout sharks in the 50's. Both were written at a time when business was rewarding for all ranks of life and a man could still spin an idealistic yarn, without targeting the lowest common denominator.Two cast members, Dean Jagger and Nina Foch appear in both movies playing minor, though important characters. I give this film high marks for answering two questions: Is a company the sum of its parts, or is it just the leadership? What is the purpose of a corporation? How prescient this film was, that the leaders today can not re-invent themselves without going overseas. Louis Calhern, Paul Douglas, Frederick March and Barbara Stanwyck must have realized they would be taking a stand on a way of life that should not vanish.Having worked in an accounting office and seen what one insignificant death in a company can launch within, I found this to be extremely fascinating for the human drives, conscious and unconscious, that corporate maneuvering drops on the corporate animal. When William Holden's character, very human and honest, testifies at the climax, the board meeting, by revealing his personal philosophy to win a concensus,there is tremendous release, because you feel he is speaking for humanity, if it cares about the future. Sadly, we know, that the nouveau ceo's have swung to epitimize the character of Frederick March, self-aggrandizing,low and soul-less.It succeeds without a music score, building upon its tight script, with room for another Shelly Winters cameo. Nina Foch, plays her role as the career executive secretary with great strength, decency and smarts. All the characters were nicely drawn, fleshed out. You could tell that by the way they all learned from one another and were grateful for it. If people work together, there's enough for all, even at the top. Isn't that a refreshing idea?Movie Review: Struggle for the soul of a corporation
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a wonderful "business" film, one of the few that gives a reasonable treatment to the issues facing business today, not just fifty-five years ago. With a stellar cast, a world-class producer, and zero special effects, "Suite" delivers a powerful argument for the potential of business to do the right thing, to help people, and to serve customers. When William Holden, the brash head of research and development, tears off the leg of one of their products during his climatic tirade in the boardroom, you almost want to stand up and cheer for his cockeyed optimism, as Frederic March sweats in his chair as interim chairman.
As a business professor, I have used the closing boardroom scene in this film for several years (before the DVD, in hard-to-find VHS format) as a vivid contrast to a similar scene from "Other people's money," to illustrate the conflicts within a company, making choices between the short- and long-run, between the customer and the employee, between the shareholder and the local citizen. In the end, we see a powerful argument for wealth creation, not just "maximizing shareholder value", as the most effective, long-term, sustainable business strategy is, as Holden says, to give customers what they want, at prices they can afford and, when better products come along, we give them those. Only then will companies truly thrive.
Some aspects of the film are cliched, somewhat dated, yet effective: Holden's family life and struggle for a work-life balance, the vice president of sales' affair with his secretary, the womanizing director of communications. But they all ring true and they all still exist today, just not in black and white. The compact time line of the story helps build pressure without ringing false. This is a film that can be studied and discussed, not just enjoyed.
Movie Review: Craftsman vs. businessmen
Summary: 5 Stars
"Executive Suite" (1954: dir.: Robert Wise): The chief executive of a furniture enterprise suddenly deceases, and the whole film deals with the question who will be his successor. The decisive meeting will take place in the "Executive Suite"... This is an outstanding ensemble film in which about ten persons each have an important part (e.g. William Holden, June Allyson, Barbara Stanwyck, Nina Foch, Water Pidgeon, Dean Jagger, Shelley Winters, Fredric March). They all give excellent performances. Especially the women are great in showing how emotional feelings have to be hidden in the world of top management. Stanwyck, Foch and Winters each have a significant scene with a "silent scream" which is more touching than any overacting. Furthermore, the picture is perfectly constructed with all its linked subplots culminating in the final meeting, using no musical soundtrack at all, but the dramatic sound of a nearby huge bell. And the plot is more up-to-date than ever: Holden is the only engineer in the board of directors, mainly composed by mere accountants. Should one stick to the product to be sold or should one only stick to profit? "Wall Street"-director Oliver Stone explains in the audio commentary that in the fifties, the great US enterprises were taken over by a second generation of managers who had not built them up and who had no knowledge about the fabrication of their products. This is still worth watching and should be presented to all bankers from New York to Frankfurt.Movie Review: Executive Suite is Awesome, Reminds me of Rod Serlings "Patterns".
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an awesome movie. If you have seen and enjoyed Rod Serlings "Patterns" you will love Executive Suite". This is all about how corporate america works behind the scenes. The fictional Treadway Corporation is full of back stabbers corporate higher ups who are predigious lairs, cheats, drunks and flim flam men willing to do anything they must to beef up the bottom line.
With these people running a business is nothing but a bottom line driven process. People, employees, towns and everything else is expendible tho those in this companies executive suite. Sit and watch while the corporate elite play God with the lives of rank and file blue collar workers, their town, their lives. Look at the class system in America laid bare as lines are clearly drawn in the Executive Suite.
Actually this 1950's movie shows the Executive Suite in a much more tame light than it is in real life today. The guys in this movie are too sweet and gentle for todays corporate cut throat where human life is not worth anything that can not be translated into a bottom line profit! If I sound cynical to the max its because thats the way life is in the executive suite. Look at the shabby way the executive hero treats his own son interrupting all their family time together because, the corporation comes first even in front of family!
See it all for yourself in Executive Suite!
Movie Review: Well-portrayed power struggle in the business world
Summary: 5 Stars
The CEO of a large furniture-making company suddenly dies of a stroke, which triggers off a power struggle for the next in line. A number of junior execs vie for the position, but basically it comes down to a battle between Frederich March and William Holden. March plays the beady little calculating machine of a man who tries so hard to weasle his way into the presidency no matter what it takes, while Holden is the idealist who opposes him. It's company profits vs. old-fashioned pride in the product, with the latter obviously winning out in these more innocent, righteous times. The viewer's interest never flags, however, except for maybe during the long tirade Holden delivers at the end in the boardroom in favor of company pride. There's no doubt who wins the presidency. Although the gray flannel suit set was starting to come under scrutiny by cultural forces, the message of the movie is not yet tinged by the cynicism that would soon infiltrate the business world (at least as seen through the eyes of Hollywood). The script is strong and sharp in its humor. Definitely worth a watch.