How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying (1967)

Having nothing else to do on a Saturday night, I decided to watch How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying.  I hadn't seen it since I was a kid.  The only thing I remembered was Robert Morse's puppy dog look, and Rudy Vallee cursing constantly.

The story involves a window washer named J. Pierpont Finch (Morse) who buys a how-to book that explains how to move up to the top in business.  Following the book's advice, Finch immediately gets on the good side of several in a corporate company, including the CEO, J.B. Biggley (Vallee).  Finch also catches the eye of a pretty secretary named Rosemary Pilkington (Michele Lee) who becomes Finch's cheerleader.  But Finch has to contend with Biggley's nephew, Bud Frump (Anthony Teague), who has his eye on moving up as well.

A lot of the situations involving office politics still hold true today.  Biggley is surrounded by several 'yes' men, there's a totem pole mentality in the corporation, the women are regulated to the secretarial pool and treated like eye candy by both the married and single males on the job, etc.  Finch is not above using manipulation to get where he wants to go.  But overall, this is just a situation comedy set to music.  It's not exactly one of my favorite musicals because the songs aren't that memorable.

However, it was nice to see Morse, who originally created the role on Broadway and won a Tony Award for it, doing the role in the film.  Hollywood is notorious for casting the film versions of musicals and overlooking the people who performed in the Broadway versions.