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

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.

3fullheadofsteam

Conceptually interesting, ultimately a cinematic failure

The heart and intention of and for this movie are nothing but good, but ultimately it fails in a script that starts smart but becomes, as the movie progresses, not only flawed but terribly disjointed. Add to this that some of the acting is far to hammy, and some scenes entirely too stagey and contrived. Grading it, an A minus for intent of message, and D minus for successful cinematic execution of same. In other words, do not spoil your own social ideals hoping this flop will further the awareness you would like to share with the world.

1Angela757777

The WORST

This is the worst most preposterous long dragged out film that sony should have thrown in the trash. I have never seen a worse movie. This was a HUGE mistake to make. It was torture to watch and thought it would never made. If I could rate it negative -100 I would. A waster of Jeff Bridges talent. This should NEVER be shown again.

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.

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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.