American Success

Original title: The American Success Company

1979
PG
1h 31m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Harry, who married his boss Mr. Elliott's daughter Sarah, has had enough of being humiliated both at home and at work. He hires prostitute Corinne to help him get back at his boss, wife, and... Read allHarry, who married his boss Mr. Elliott's daughter Sarah, has had enough of being humiliated both at home and at work. He hires prostitute Corinne to help him get back at his boss, wife, and friends and gets richer in the process.Harry, who married his boss Mr. Elliott's daughter Sarah, has had enough of being humiliated both at home and at work. He hires prostitute Corinne to help him get back at his boss, wife, and friends and gets richer in the process.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.4/10

460

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

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User reviews11

5.4460

Featured reviews

10bkdb1

One of the Best Movies of all time!

Jeff Bridges stars in this very humorous story about a guy who is considered to be a loser by his wife, his boss (his father-in-law), and everyone who knows him. He decides to change his life, and become the man he has always wanted to be.

Many men will relate to this story. It serves as a real eye-opener, showing how the power of positive thinking and self-respect can influence those around us, and help us change our fate if we choose to so so. The movie, directed by William Richert, is very fun and enjoyable to watch, and should be considered an American classic...It currently has a substantial cult following, and it is extremely hard to find. All Jeff Bridges fans should definitely see it. There are some scenes which may seem controversial by today's standards, but the movie was ahead of it's time in several ways, just like the Bridges film "Winter Kills".

Look for the version titled "Success"... it is the best version to see if you can find it. (Other titles include "American Success Company", "Good as Gold" or "The Ringer").

p_beamer

I finally found American Success Company

After collecting five VHS tapes titled "Good as Gold" I was fortunate enough to purchase "American Success" also on VHS. I can personally vouch that nearly every detail is the same as "Good as Gold" also known as "the Ringer". The only difference is on the tape title "American Success Company". Whereas "Good as Gold" is on the others. All other details remain the same. If anyone reads this or wants to interact with me concerning this movie please Email me. I consider myself the ultimate on this video.

asaidi-2

A movie with several different titles.

The "American Success Company" (AKA "Good as Gold" or "The Ringer"). It was later re-edited slightly and titled "American Success". Then it was re-edited again with many scenes switched around, a couple scenes added, and a narration by Jeff Bridges added and titled "Success".

I'm not sure why it was re-edited twice, but I think the reason might be related to the reason it was never released on video (except for a few copies when it was re-titled "Good As Gold") in the U.S.

It's a somewhat humorous story about a guy (Bridges) who's considered by his boss (Beatty) and his bosses daughter, who's also his wife (Bauer), to be a loser. So, with some makeup, some exercise, and some help from a local prostitute (Jagger) he becomes a new man. He also conceives a plan to steal a lot of money from the company that he works for (AM-SUC-CO, a movie version of American Express).

The last version ("Success") has a narration by Jeff Bridges, which clears up a lot of plot holes and confusion that are in the first two versions of the movie. Plus, I liked the extra scenes in the last version, which aren't in the previous two versions. "Success" is the version to see if you can find it.

10landrover15

Pure gold! Rediscoverd after 40 yrs and better than ever!

The American Success Company is movie gold. In the vein of much better-known movies like, Joe vs the Volcano, Being There, and Flirting with Disaster. Much like the aforementioned movies, The American Success Company is a movie with transcendent messages at the core of the fun, funny and whimsical tale. I remember watching this during my college years and being completely entertained. Now, forty years later, it holds up better than ever. Only now, the underlying messages of positive masculinity (a non-pc term these days), positive thinking (the good kind) and relationship dynamics, I like this movie even more than I remember. The only flaw in this film (which really isn't a flaw) is the dated look and formatting which might bother some. It's formatted for theaters in what I think is 1.85:1 which looks more like it's formatted for television vs widescreen. The old look aside, this movie is money. To quote one of my favorite moveis (Swingers), it's "so money, that it doesn't know how money it is". See it! Share it! It's comedy and stoic philosphy gold.

5smatysia

Amusing premise, not enough

An amusing premise, but ultimately not believable enough (even in a movie) to really enjoy. I suppose the actors all did as well as possible considering the material. Special notice to Bianca Jagger, who was thoroughly credible, Which makes me wonder how hard acting really is. Not taking anything away from Ms. Jagger's performance, just noting how non-actors seem to often do reasonably well in movies. Boring overall, except to those interested in seeing Jeff Bridges at such a young age. Grade: D

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Trivia
The 'Rotten Tomatoes' website summarizes this film's troubled production history by saying: ''In mid-1978, the cult fantasy guru and comic book illustrator Bill [aka William] Richert -after months directing Jeff Bridges and Belinda Bauer in the scatter-gun carnival of a political satire, 'Winter Kills' -faced a real head-scratcher. With 'Winter' yet to be completed, Richert's backer, Avco-Embassy, lopped off all funding and suspended production indefinitely. Projectless, Richert spun around, picked up an unproduced feature script by drive-in director Larry Cohen . . . and somehow found the cash to churn out a second piece of eccentricity with Bridges and Bauer in the leads, this one for Columbia Pictures -hoping he could use the latter's earnings to polish off 'Winter'. Thus began a very shaky history over the next thirty years for a little film originally called 'The American Success Company'. This ghost of a picture bombed at the box office in 1979, was later re-edited twice by Richert under distinct titles (first as 'American Success' in 1981 and then as 'Success' in 1983), and received limited theatrical distribution. It has since fallen through the cracks of movie history, never receiving official distribution on home video [sic] but popping up in bootleg versions under the titles 'Good as Gold' and 'The Ringer'.''

Alternate versions
The film was originally released under the title "The American Success Company" (AKA "Good as Gold" or "The Ringer"). It was later re-edited slightly and released under the title "American Success". In 2005 it was re-edited by Brian Q. Kelley, with the inclusion of some deleted footage and a new narration by Jeff Bridges, under the title "Success -- The Director's Cut". This new version was screened at the Munich Film Festival in 2006.