The Secret of My Success

**The Secret of My Success** is a 1987 film starring Michael J. Fox, Helen Slater, Richard Jordan and Margaret Whitton, directed by Herbert Ross, written by Jim Cash, Jack Epps Jr. and AJ Carothers and produced by Ross.

## Plot

Brantley Foster is a recent graduate of Kansas State University who moves to New York City where he has landed an entry level job as a financier. Upon arriving, he discovers that the company for which he is supposed to work has been taken over by a rival corporation. As a result, Brantley is laid off before he even starts working.

After several unsuccessful attempts to get another job, mostly because he is either overqualified or underqualified and has little experience, Brantley ends up working in the mailroom of the Pemrose Corporation, which is directed by his uncle, Howard Prescott, the CEO. Pemrose was founded by Howard's father-in-law; Howard received presidency of the company by marrying his boss's daughter, Vera Pemrose.

Upon inspecting company reports, Brantley realizes that Howard and most of his fellow "suits" (executives) are making ineffective or detrimental decisions. After Brantley notices an empty office in the building due to one of Howard's frequent firings, he uses his access to the mailroom and his understanding of company processes to create the identity of Carlton Whitfield, a new executive. Brantley then assumes this role.

While handling two jobs (switching between casual wear and business suits in the elevator), Brantley also falls head-over-heels for Christy Wills, a fellow financial wizard who recently graduated from Harvard. Brantley meets Vera after driving her home in a company limo (at his employer's request). Vera persuades Brantley to stay for a swim and seduces him by stripping off his swimsuit and having an underwater kiss before she rips off her swimsuit and ultimately swims naked with him. Upon seeing Howard arriving, Brantley and Vera realize they are related (albeit not by blood). Vera only seduced Brantley to get back at her husband for having an affair with a woman in his office. Brantley then gets changed as fast as he can and leaves the mansion without being seen by Howard.

Howard, without Brantley's knowledge, is having an affair with Christy. When Howard asks her to spy on Carlton Whitfield, Christy falls head-over-heels for "Whitfield", not knowing he is actually Brantley. The Pemrose Corporation is preparing for an impending takeover by the Davenport Corporation. If Davenport Corporation absorbs Pemrose, everyone gets fired. Howard, unaware that Whitfield and Brantley are one and the same person, suspects "Whitfield" is a spy for corporate raider Donald Davenport. Brantley’s double identity is discovered when he, Christy, Vera and Howard end up in the same bedroom after a party at Howard’s home that all 4 are attending. Brantley and Christy end their budding relationship and Brantley gets sacked from his job he did as Whitfield, as does Christy for refusing to continue the affair with Howard.

While both Christy and Brantley are moving out of their offices, they end up in the same elevator and make up, conceiving a revenge plan with Vera. In the end, they raise enough cash, bonds, and stocks to wrest ownership of the Pemrose Corporation from Howard, and to proceed with a hostile takeover bid of Davenport's Corporation. Vera, already contemptuous of Howard for his counter-productive business practices, which were driving her father's empire into the ground, tells the board about his affair as well. She promptly replaces him with Brantley, with Jean, Christy and Melrose at his side. While security guards escort Howard and his aide, Art Thomas, from the Pemrose Building, Brantley and Christy start planning their future together, personal as well as professional. All of them made it to the big time with a penthouse and a limo to take them to the opera. Brantley and Christy decided to visit his parents with a corporate jet.