"The Corporate Ladder", quite possibly, is one of the best softcore-erotica/thriller movies ever made. It goes right up there with "Scorned." The first time I seen this movie, I was hooked. First off, it's a Playboy-produced film, which means the "Women" grade should be pretty darn high.....and it is.
Matt Taylor, a fashion executive, is searching high and low for a replacement for his outgoing assistant. After a parade of nobodies and has-beens and never-weres, he's ready to give up. He's ready to call it a day.....but in walks this nicely-proportioned blonde with a body to die for and a "come hither" smile. It's Nicole Landon, played with reckless abandon by Kathleen Kinmont. She's an unstable woman with a checkered past and a penchant for moving around from place to place.
Anyway, she lands the job and begins working closely with Matt. She comes up with great ideas and even takes the lead on a couple of photo shoots. Eventually, it comes down to "Will they or won't they?" Hey folks, this is a Playboy movie--of course they will! Matt doesn't want to at first, since he's married to Susan, a nice-looking woman in her own right.
Ben Cross plays Matt's main rival Jay Williams, the prototypical playboy with all the money, a nice house and a nice ride. He appears in the SAME SCENE ON THREE DIFFERENT OCCASIONS!!!! All three scenes are the same in terms of camera movement and angles, lines, actions....everything except the woman in the scene is the same. He plays a major role in the action later on in the movie.
Matt and Nicole have sex a couple more times during the film, which is leading Nicole to believe that she really has something going on with Matt. During a tense scene right before the big finish, Matt attempts to let Nicole down easy, which leads Nicole into a psychotic tirade. The camera spins around Matt and Nicole, adding to the tension and plays up the unpredictability of Nicole's mental state.
"...What's so wrong with me, Matt? Am I not exactly what you want? I can be your intellectual equal at work, and I can be your whore in bed! Isn't that what you want, isn't that what every man wants??" Nicole screams, scenery spinning behind her. At this point, she has a nervous breakdown and makes it a point to hunt Matt down and cut him into little pieces.
The movie doesn't really have a dull moment, and the story was actually good. The sex scenes, albeit short in duration, did their job in moving the story along. Kathleen Kinmont was simply awesome in this movie. Her sexy striptease she does in the middle of the film resembles, in terms of placement, the striptease Rochelle Swanson does in "Mutual Needs", a similar movie made at about the same time.
In short, a great movie. For an erotic thriller, it ran a little long (1 hour, 52 minutes) but it didn't really drag at any point. Some folks call this a poor man's "Fatal Attraction" and I can't help but agree with them.
Sex: B+ Women: A- Story: A+ Overall: A
