Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989) - Robinson harpoons advertising world with pointed satire

6/01/2022

How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989) - Robinson harpoons advertising world with pointed satire

♥♥♥

A giant screen crushes through the earth on this mysterious poster for Bruce Robinson's How to Get Ahead in Advertising

A successful advertising man in London is pressured by deadlines and develops a zit on his throat, which talks, and which grows bigger and stronger ...

How to Get Ahead in Advertising is written and directed by Bruce Robinson (Withnail & I (1987)).

For a British film, Robinson's are uncharacteristically outspoken and frank, and this one is a gem in the absurd-comedy genre with high energy, many good ideas, - the story's premise in itself is a minor stroke of genius, - and good acting: Rachel Ward (Double Jeopardy (1992, TV movie)) is lovely as the wife; both Richard Wilson (Women Talking Dirty (2001)) as the boss, and John Shrapnel (Alien Autopsy (2006)) as the psychiatrist are excellent, and Richard E. Grant (Tooth (2004)) is impressively credible as the mentally unwrapping protagonist.

Towards the end, the film seems to give up on its plot and develop in an almost entirely polemic direction, as the contrast between the now materialistically rejecting ad man and the excited consumerist personality grown from his neck gets the main stage, which is a shame. But How to Get Ahead in Advertising is still a very funny and original film.

Bruce Robinson: 2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess

The Rum Diary (2011) or, The Puerto Rican Adventure of Mr. Kemp

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown

Box office: 670k $ - North America and the UK only

= Uncertain

[How to Get Ahead in Advertising premiered 30 March (New York) and runs 94 minutes. Shooting took place around June 1988 in England, including in London. The film grossed 418k $ in North America, and 201k £ in the UK, coming to around 252k $, and around 670k $ combined. It was also released in West Germany and Japan. The film's theatrical status is impossible to ascertain without knowing more, especially its budget. Robinson returned with Jennifer 8 (1992). Grant returned in Warlock (1989); Ward in Shadow of the Cobra (1989, miniseries) and theatrically in After Dark, My Sweet (1990). How to Get Ahead in Advertising is fresh at 60 % with a 6.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

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Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

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Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

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6/01/2022

How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989) - Robinson harpoons advertising world with pointed satire

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