How is this not top 250?
William Holden's speech during the end was one of the best speeches I've ever seen in a movie.
shareI agree!
It always makes me long for that time when those words had the weight of their intention.
Great Stuff
MovieChat Forums > Executive Suite (1954) Discussion > How is this not top 250?
[deleted]
It's trite, talky, soapy, cliched, dated, visually uninteresting, directed without pace or distinction, and star studded in a failed attempt to make cardboard characters interesting by casting well established performers;not top 250 material by any stretch of the imagination.
share[deleted]
I disagree with the above post but, personal opinion notwithstanding, one primary reason it won't be listed is that it hasn't been voted for enough. As I type this any top 250 film must have had at least 1300 votes; ES only has 806. IOW, not a large enough sample of IMDb users have voiced their opinion through rating the film.
shareYes, it's soapy, but the plot and acting (esp. Holden, Winters, and Foch) are good enough that this may deserve a top 500 designation, anyway.
BTW, it says only votes from "regular voters" count towards the top 250. Anybody know what a regular voter is as they figure it?
"This is our hill, and these are our beans!" Lt. Frank Drebin
To me, the value of this movie derives from it's commentary on the pradigm shift that was occuring in the boardrooms of corporate america at that time (1950s). On the surface, this film seems a rather staightforward drama about a power struggle which follows the death of the founder of this company.Nothing very special so far,right? Ok,ok I like Holdens speech too. After all, Im a big
fan of Bill Holden - perhaps only Spencer Tracy can deliver this kind of 'statement' speech better than Holden - and I think this was a very solid cast overall.However, beneath the surface, couched in the dialog,embodied in the charcters of Walling (Holden) and Shaw (March) is this clash of fundamental
world views. Shaw,the 'bean counter', the bottom line guy, manipulative, ruthless, with no particlar knowledge of either the product or its production,in the very company he would lead.And Walling, the production man,the engineer,hands-on,smart and tough with an intimate knowledge of production. Shaw argues that the type of decisions that now reach the presidents level will be financial ones and that expansion and growth is the wave of the future. Walling in an impassioned speech to the board asserts that quality and commitment to people is the true path. In the movie.Walling
wins. In society,however, money talks and boards of directors would not often be so noble and the Shaws of the world came to power. Corporations would expand, becoming wealthier but losing touch with the communities that had
nurtured them. So yeah, for all the above reasons ES definetly makes my top 250
The value of a film is not in its intended message but rather the execution. I may agree with what it is saying but am bored by the presentation. Executive Suite is doddering.
share"The value of a film is not in its intended message but rather the execution. I may agree with what it is saying but am bored by the presentation. Executive Suite is doddering."
What a silly thing to say! The value of a film is whatever each individual viewer finds in the movie. If people find the content of a movie uplifting or illuminating, then clearly that movie has value for them, even if "the execution" is not especially good.
Your assertion that Executive Suite is doddering is absurd. It moves swiftly, there are almost no redundant scenes and each scene is tightly edited. That you are bored by the presentation tells far more about you than about the movie
You're right to mention Spencer Tracy. So, which speech is better, Holden's in Executive Suite, or Tracy's at the end of Who's Coming to Dinner?
shareIt isn´t quite that great perhaps - Sweet Smell Of Success was a lot more acidic and ultimately clear-eyed take on the world of big business. However, considering what kinds of films ´are´ in this 250 here... why not. It´s better than at least half of the pictures featured in there.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
Agreed. This movie is seriously underrated. Great from start to finish with a terrific cast that was entirely in top form.
shareI don't know that it belongs there, but it wouldn't be difficult to make the case for its inclusion.
LL