In honor of MAD MEN’s triumphant return to the small screen (3/25), I want to take a moment to appreciate the long legacy marketing has had in the American cinematic zeitgeist.
Based on our favorite movies, we Americans are fascinated with marketeers, seemingly moreso than any profession besides cops, gangsters, and vague high-end executives. Maybe it’s the idea that these professionals live on the edge between creativity and commerce, where a man can come up with fun characters and catchy words while wearing sharkskin suits and pressed white shirts. Maybe it’s because, when we forget everything else, we’ll remember those damn marketing jingles; yes, we’re gonna be a bunch of crazy wrinkleds stumbling around the linoleum of the old folks’ home muttering “la da dah da dahhh – I’m lovin’ it” or “Just do it” or “You’re killing me Larry” as we mistake our own children for our dead siblings.
So marketing. Yes, high-paid brainwashers, a little bit psychologist, a little bit storyteller, a little bit schmoozing salesman, a little bit Svengali mind-trick purveyor, a little bit soulless corporate shill, a little bit creative pop culture maven. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, they’re as American as apple pie. Here’s a list of top movies about marketing and its execs to get you ready for Draper, Sterling, and Joan’s triumphant returns on Sunday:
MR. BLANDINGS BUILDS HIS DREAM HOUSE – Cary Grant plays an ad exec who, in the middle of Manhattan’s 50’s white flight, decides to buy a home out in the country, a “fixer upper.” The predecessor of THE MONEY PIT, this movie does a great job of tying his failure to come up with a good tagline to his distractions. This movie gets extra points for the depiction of the family living in a 1200 square foot NYC apartment with a big black live-in maid, extra points for all the sleazy contractors, extra points for the wife who flip flops like John McCain running for the presidency, and finally for the negro wisdoms who saves the day – and Grant’s job – and in return gets her a raise. “Ooh Lawd, thankee missah blandins”.2. PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES – This is Steve Martin and John Candy at their best, as directed by John Hughes in his 80’s prime. Steve Martin plays an uptight ad exec who misses his holiday flight because of his asshole client (“This job would be great if it wasn’t for the clients”) takes his sweet time making a decision. On the way home he keeps running into a schlubby salesman who does everything but purposely sabotage them. Hilarity ensues.
3. THE HUCKSTERS – Clark Gable comes home from serving his country with a dream – to go into advertising! But as he tries to work his way in, he finds his integrity and self-respect tested by demanding clients and shady romantic triangles. Who woulda though, even back in 1947 the world of advertising was shameless and full of shit.
4. KRAMER VS. KRAMER – A modern classic. Dustin Hoffman as an over-worked ad-exec whose job leads his wife, played by a young vixen Meryl Streep, to leave him and their kid. Then what the fuck is he gonna do? He works fulltime at a high-paced, stressful job. He can’t raise this kid. And yet – and yet this kid helps him realize what’s really important and it’s not coming up with taglines to sell other people’s shit. Guaranteed to make you reflect on your own life.
5. BOOMERANG – This was Eddie Murphy in his prime, before he started doing schlock movies about old people in fat suits. He plays a hotshot playboy who finds his pitching abilities usurped by a supreme feline woman who comes in and beats him at his own game. Sex, hilarity, and high-end glamour ensue. He’s a little bit player, a little bit played, a bit of a genius and a bit of a pawn. There’s nothing like a sexy PR woman who shows her fast-talking ad man how to do it.
6. WHAT WOMEN WANT – Before he was known for blaming the world’s problems on jews and calling female cops “Sugar tits”, Mel Gibson was one of the hottest actors on the planet. In this movie he plays an ad exec who gets electrocuted wearing panties and thusly gains the ability to hear what women think. Think this is just annoying chic flick? Sure, it stars the bland “Leelee Sobieski when she gets older” Helen Hunt. But the ability to read women’s minds – Jesus, if somebody could invent that, maybe, MAYBE, world peace could be realized.
7. HOW TO GET AHEAD IN ADVERTISING – What a weird fucking movie. Bruce Robinson directed so you know it’s good and crazy as shit but still; it’s about a kid who has to write a pimple campaign. He gets stumped. Then a boil grows on him, eventually becoming a second head that talks. Yeah. Seriously.
8. NORTH BY NORTHWEST – Maybe we’re all enamored with ad execs because Cary Grant kept on playing one. His Roger O. Thornhill is practically ripped out of MAD MEN – or perhaps Draper and Sterling are merely a muddle of Thornhill. Either way, the idea of a shiny-shoed New York ad man who gets mistaken for a spy, sending him into a flight that gets more and more desperate as he realizes that even his own government can’t save him, is brilliant. Oh yeah, maybe that’s because Hitchcock directed it. He made some good movies, right?
9. THANK YOU FOR SMOKING – Smoking is a big deal in MAD MEN. Phillip Morris is Sterling Cooper’s biggest account. And everybody smokes a pack a day. And many more plotlines hinge on it. But this movie that lifted Jason Reitman from his father’s shadow’s fucking amazing. A tobacco marketer who accuses his tree-hugging nemesis of clogging his arteries by promoting maple syrup. This smart piece of work shows not only how a man can easily spin the truth to make the people believe whatever he wants, it centers on a man who does this so damn well you find yourself cheering for the tobacco, gun, and alcohol companies against the evil liberal hippie douches.
10. CRAZY PEOPLE – Dudley Moore (yes) plays an ad exec who has a nervous breakdown and starts running ads that are completely honest. Like “Paramount Pictures presents 'The Freak.' This movie won't just scare you, it will fuck you up for life.” Or “Come in Jamaica” (get laid in Kingston). Or "Metamucil: It helps you go to the toilet. If you don't use it, you'll get cancer and die." He gets thrown into a crazy house but the ads are already run and, lo and behold, America loves it, honesty in advertising they call it. The citizens no longer feel like they’re being lied to. This leads Moore's company to hire him back and he goes to work writing all the campaigns with his crazy friends. A brilliant statement about advertising and the American consumer. And the campaigns really are fucking brilliant.
So go out. Sell something. Advertise a product, just for fun. Maybe a blog about manly, cool shit written by two hardworking model American brothers. Multi-felons, perhaps, but certainly not dangerous. Yes, any spread of the word about Man's Ambition, well, that would just be goddamn American. And worthy of a fine Hollywood film.
- - Ryan
No comments:
Post a Comment