Will success spoil rock hunter?

Success was unable to phase Rock until he finally understood what success really was. But even then, in the end, Rock Hunter was not spoiled by success. In fact, you might say that Rock Hunter was humbled by success. Rock was able to see past the façade after being in, what we can only surmise was a very strange, relationship with Rita Marlow. Rock wanted to get the woman with the "oh-so-kissable" lips to do his lipstick adverts and save his job and the company he was working for. Little did he know that he would get into a deal he did not intend to make. Rock had to pretend to be in a hot and steamy relationship with Rita in order to get her ex-boyfriend jealous and to get her to sign on to the campaign. He scratched her back so she could scratch his and that's where the whole problem started. Rock didn't know fame could be so uncomfortable, wearing platform heels and huge monkey suits and all that. Rock almost loses the love of his life, Jenny, in the process. On the way to becoming a successful  chicken farmer, Rock’s campaign wins the favor of his boss and the owner of the company! Rock becomes the head of the company while Irving goes on to become a horticulturalist like he always wanted to (but he had to take over his father’s company and inheriting success is very difficult to live up to). I think that Irving going out and doing what he always wanted to do despite his father’s constant stare of disappointment really shook up Rock’s idea of what success is. Success isn’t being the head of a company and making a lot of money; it’s being surrounded by love and being what you’ve always wanted to be despite all the pressures around you. Rita Marlow was spoiled by success because she knew how to work the system to get what she wanted (except for love but that comes at the end of the movie). It’s not surprising to find out that the director, Frank Tashlin, has a background in animation (working with such brilliant minds as Chuck Jones at Warner Brothers). The physical comedy is very similar to many cartoons produced by Warner Brother Pictures. The best scene that really shows that off is when Rock tries on a suit that was her ex-boyfriend’s and Rock is swimming in the huge shoulders (extremely reminiscent of Tom and Jerry “The Zoot Cat”) and on a tilted axis in the high heeled men’s platform shoes. The point of this movie was to show what success was imagined as and what success should be seen as. Love was also a HUGE theme in the movie, although that message was much more mixed. Rock stayed with Jenny, Irving made a Even Rita finally ended up with the love of her life, the man who found her and made her a star in the first place, Georgie, played by Groucho Marx. In the end, everyone ends up happy and that’s how it should be.

Rock Hunter Isn't Spoiled by Success

 Holly Reese
1-27-13
English 220
Serio

            The only thing business executives care about is money and a nice, private bathroom. At least, this is what I learned from the film “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?” I am personally not familiar with the lifestyles of the wealthy business class, but Rock Hunter’s satirical critique of the executives of a big advertising firm gave me some pretty good ideas. Tony Randall’s portrayal of Rock Hunter was critical and humorous. The entire film is full of subtle jokes and sight gags that make fun of success.
             While the main focus of this film is a critique of the business class, the character and storyline that struck me was the interesting relationship Rock Hunter had with his secretary, Jenny. When Rock get swept up in his relationship with Rita and becomes her “Lover Doll,” his girlfriend and future fiancee, Jenny, drives herself crazy trying to meet Rita’s standard of stardom. One of the funniest scenes of the film is when Jenny is working out so much that she has to be taken to the hospital and has her arms stuck in the push-up position. Rock continuously tells her that he loves her the way she is, but it doesn’t stop Jenny from trying to impersonate and become Rita. This is a strong critique of Hollywood actresses and starlets of the time and I think it is still a relevant commentary today. It is impossible these days to turn on a television or getting on the internet without seeing stories about celebrities. These stories can range from how terrible a celebrity’s new haircut is to another celebrity’s workout routine. There has always been pressure for the average person to live up to the physical standards that Hollywood sets. Rita Marlowe is a complete exaggeration of this celebrity complex and Jenny’s reactions to Rock’s situation may seem silly, but I think it has a some truth in its critique.
          Ultimately, I don’t think Rock Hunter’s accidental success spoils him. Throughout the entire film he somewhat remains a good guy. While he is enticed by becoming president of the advertising agency and the perks of a private bathroom, he always seems to be out of his element. While he likes success and believes it is what he wants, he never really fits into the role of an executive or of a movie star’s boyfriend. He is simply a man who has to deal with extraordinary circumstances, and he never really loses himself. I enjoyed the light hearted comedy of this film and that my opinion of Rock Hunter was not disappointed by success.

Rock Hunter....Never Spoiled....Just Celebrities- warren roberson

            “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?” was an interesting movie, much like its title.  Immediately the movie opened up with some great comedy. All the advertisements were hilarious. These various ads claimed to do one thing, but either failed miserably or did the exact opposite.  The ad for the cereal was my favorite. “Crunchy Crispes.” While the woman was claiming the crispies were easy and fun to eat; they began to jump and explode in her face after she added milk. Although this was ridiculous, we still have ads and products that do the same thing today. It reminded me of the ab belt that supposedly made one burn fat and get a shredded core. Soon consumers that used the product began developing serious burns.

            “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter” is about Rockwell Hunter, an employee of a large advertisement company. In the beginning of the film, he is portrayed as a man “losing his edge” for advertising. This all changed when he developed an idea to hire the famous celebrity, Rita Marlowe, for Stay-Put Lipstick. Marlowe becomes available for this position after a rough break-up with her boyfriend.  After Rock is able to reel this seemingly beautiful actress in, she turns out to be an annoyance and a very shallow human being.  She began to throw herself at Rock in very lustful ways.  Rock resisted, though he is made out to be a celebrity and her lover when they are seen together.

           

            Slowly Rock had begun his road to success. He becomes an executive and begins to travel with Rita Marlowe.  His fiancé suspected him of being unfaithful and they separate for a time.  Success began to consume him. Hunter finds himself head of the company with his own personal bathroom in his office.  He discovered true happiness after his fiancé returns and he steps down from his position.

            The film poked fun at Celebrities and the media as a whole. Rita Marlowe was portrayed as an uneducated actress with an annoying voice.  Though she was stupid and insanely annoying people were still obsessed with her. When I noticed this, I thought of Kim Kardashian.

           

            Rock’s niece was constantly following her through the television and in person. Almost portraying the paparazzi, and the crazy fans we have today.  

            Rock’s fiancé, Jayne, was always trying to change her to look better or act in certain ways to attract men.  She represented the teenage girls in today’s society that feel like they have to look a certain way to be loved.  

            The film was excellent. I thought it really showed what was wrong with yesterday’s media and today’s media. Some parts were extreme.  Rita’s voice was awful, but it really did get the point across. Celebrities are just glorified people, but we (the average) make up the majority and direct where society should go.

Spoiled On The Rocks

First off… I am sorry this is late; my Internet had been disconnected. 

           

            At first I was unsure what to think of “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?” but then I as the movie continued, I understood why they started the movie the way they did.  What I mean is how they had all the bad TV commercials at the start of the movie.  But then when I learned the job of the main character is a writer of TV commercials himself it all made sense.  The entire movie is a play on the efforts of companies and how they would go to ridiculous lengths to simply better advertise their products with little regard to how important the actual product is.  Companies would spend immense amounts of money to try to sell their product, even if the product itself was rather inexpensive. 

            I found myself laughing much more at things that could go un-noticed but the satirical humor is put in so naturally that it can be undetected if you aren’t watching for it.  For instance there was a psychiatrist joke that there were none in Hollywood because they are all busy with producers.  It isn’t really that easy to catch, but if you do, it is a good little chuckle.  Other more blatant humor clips that caught me were the girls climbing out of the sewers when Rockwell was running from the fan-girls, or when Rockwell is wearing the oversized suit and elevated shoes, it was so ridiculous I really did laugh.  Other things such as the visual cues that were really to symbolize something else such as the popcorn exploding in Rock’s pocket as he hugged Rita, or the pipe lighting itself as Rock hugged his fiancé, I found to be comical in their own manner even with their ridiculous timing.  Overall I found the movie very comical and well done, I’m not sure if I would ever watch it again however, I am glad to have learned about it.  

            One thing about the movie that kept driving me insane that I almost muted it was Rita Marlowe’s high-pitched squeal was absolutely annoying!  I will tell you I didn’t actually mute it but it was quite annoying.  To continue on, another instance that I found funny was when he got promoted to President of the company and he was dancing around in his office and making faces and acting like a child.  I found myself relating to his reaction, I might not dance around however when I find myself celebrating in ridiculous manners. 

            The ending of  “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter” was in my mind excellent because everyone was truly successful because they ended up doing what the wanted and loved, not what was necessarily expected.  Giving a funny movie a meaningful ending was a bit unexpected but I thought it worked very well.  I did find it a little weird that Marlow’s true love was some old guy, I wasn’t really sure why but his sense of humor did make it a little easier to watch and accept.   

Will Success Spoil Our Lives?

The issues we experience today in relation with depression and lack of purpose in our lives are not new or sudden. With the increase of economic “development” we always believe that our lives will be better by inertia. However, in our way to what we call “success,” we forget about the simple but most important things in our lives. Just as the movie “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?” warned us about the way economic gain can make us forget other more important aspects of our lives, we can see the signs of depression and mental instability all around us. We live in search of a better job or a nicer car, but fail to recognize that the relations with others, as well as staying connected to our real passions is more important.

I also found interesting the way the movie highlighted the instability of jobs. At the beginning of the movie, Rock Hunter almost lost his job after having worked so hard to keep it. I believe this is relevant even more than when the movie came out. Many of us work in constant fear of loosing our jobs, and with the versatility of today’s economic system, jobs are created and lost in a matter of days.

In addition providing a comic view of how we work in fear of loosing our jobs, “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?” also shows how the fear of staying true to our passions can be the rout to fake success. The 1950’s film represents how even people who we believe are already successful are not contempt with their lives. For example, the character of the movie whom was the owner of the marketing company was not happy with working as the President or doing anything else besides working in horticulture.   

“Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?” not only exposes some realities of our society in a very clear way, but also uses comedy to bring a positive side to the daunting process of finding out what we will do to survive as adults while staying connected to our passions. I think that depression will be lowered tremendously in the United States if we were able to study for free what really makes us happy instead of making decisions based on fear of economic loss. 

Good ol' Rocky

This film was very interesting from the start, I really like when movies do things out of the ordinary, and how this one started was very unique. I immediately understood the tone it had and the direction it was taking with its humor and what it was joking with. Slightly similar to the feeding machine from Modern Times, the products that were showcased at the beginning of this film set up the idea of an overzealous attempt at streamlining and oversimplifying life. The products shown were also indicative of the times, people wanted (and still want) money, so incomplete, or just utter garbage products were released. At the same time, these beginning ads were also trying to show that it’s hard to come up with something different that grabs and holds the attention of their target audience, a rapidly changing American public.

            Rockwell Hunter, the main character, is what he and the movie itself define as a “normal man” he’s not famous and he sees himself as unsuccessful. This theme of success flows through the entire movie, the humor of the film is also mostly derived from this concept as well. What Rock defines as successful is being a vice president or even president of a company. He cares about the status more than money in a general sense and this is evident when he says “…I could be a vice president, and maybe even get a raise” After finding Rita Marlow. Because being an executive in a company is success to Rock. It also shows the stinginess of the company, and adds another, relatable level of comedy.

            This movie showed a lot of different aspects of humanity, but focused primarily on the undesirable traits. It showcased our obsession with fame, showcased the shallow nature of people, and portrayed the struggle we have as “normal” people to keep up with the famous and successful people. This movie showed that even when people seem like they have all they want in power, fortune and fame, there is still something else they’re missing, or need. Each character was missing something, or pining for something and this movie forced these underlying struggles into the light. The boss, mr. la salle jr., for example didn’t even want his position, when Rock thought that he was utterly happy with his life.

            Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter did a very good job of conveying and portraying different character types. It made them understandable and easy for the audience to recognize what it was poking fun at. It also made an interesting statement about what we want out of life, and gave rise to the question of what success really is. 

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter

            Not really the kind of film I watch and wasn’t one that made me laugh like “Modern Times. It kind of felt to serious with the jokes, but overall a well-done film. Rock Hunter wants success and to be like the president of the company he works for. His point of view of the president is he has it all. His own restroom, huge office, and of course money. That is the success he wanted and got but was thrown into a different kind of success, overnight success.

            In this film we are watching to see if this sudden change into the spotlight will go to Hunter’s head. There was a lot of critical humor in this film about Hollywood. This type of humor can be funny or offensive to people, but the way this film presented it was humorous. The humor towards Hollywood was probably what most people think about it. That it is a glamorous life and the people living it are too pampered to know anything and don’t have to do anything. When Rita Marlowe is getting on a plane to go into seclusion with her dog and secretary, she is clueless about what she is doing and what the word seclusion means. Also, that when your in Hollywood you don’t have to do anything. When Marlowe and Hunter were in the car driving to the courthouse, she explains that the publicity is good for her since her acting is not that good. Even with little to show for Marlowe is famous and her success spoiled her.

            Being thrown into Hollywood and being a big hit all over is a success. “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?” I think is referring to the overnight success of becoming Marlowe’s lover boy, will that success spoil him. It did not because that was not the success he was after. He kept saying this was all for the endorsement for his company. His main focus was his work and being a success there, which is why I think that the Hollywood success did not spoil him.

           

            

#willsuccessspoilRockHunter #ihatehashtags

Will success spoil Rock Hunter? It did, and it takes you on an amazing ride to prove so! This movies starts off very interesting by breaking the forth wall. This is a term that is used when stage performers address the audience. They somehow include the audience in the play, by either interacting with them or at least addressing that they are there. Tony Randall starts off by making fun of 20^th century fox and their catchy jingle. After that little first laugh you get, he addresses you personally. I found this very interesting because most movies tend to stay away from including the audience. He welcomes you and in a way settles you in to see a thriving comedy.

                The movie begins with a simple man (Rockwell Hunter) and his eagerness to attain success in the advertising business. He is an average Joe trying to make it in the tough world. Another thing caught my attention was that he started out in love. He fell in love with his secretary named Jenny Wells. This is an item you rarely see in movies because usually love can be a very gripping climax in a movie. But we all know if you start off in love you will eventually hit some juicy drama. Believe me when I say that the hilarious lite hearted drama is soon to follow. The start of this drama comes for a famous actress called Rita Marlowe. This actress is a superstar in need of a lover. Who can guess the man that just accidently falls into her lap?  Yup Rockwell Hunter, Rita first uses him to make an old boyfriend jealous. This was a win-win situation for the both of them. Rita got to make an old boyfriend jealous and Rockwell will use her to do a TV advertisement for his company.  But like any good comedy things became out of control. Rita starts to get feelings for Rockwell. This causes a fiasco with the press. Rockwell gets the name “Lover Doll” causing him to become an overnight sensation. At first this success is great. He is getting noticed at work as well as his face on magazines. Heck, he even gets the key to the executive bathroom. I know in our world you are thinking, “Executive bathroom, who really cares?” Believe this movie draws you in and makes you want that key.

                Then the success becomes too much.  His true love starts to slip away while Rita is trying to make him into this famous lover that he was not truly meant to be. But with all of this happening the manager of his company quits and he becomes top dog. Even getting his own bathroom!  But with all this success he is still missing something. Then it clicks inside his head, success is not how much money you make but the things you have in your life that are important to you. After all that mess, things begin to work out. Rita moves on to get her true lover and Rockwell moves on with Jenny to create a happy life together.

                This movie is great and can take you on an amazing and hilarious ride. It takes simple things like smoking a pipe or getting your own bathroom funny and meaningful. Also there is one part in the movie where Jenny and Rockwell are hugging behind a temper glass causing us to just see their silhouette. Rockwell is holding a pipe resembling a knife. I think this is a spoof on another older movie, maybe Physco. I am not sure though. Over all I would recommend this movie to anyone.  I truly enjoyed it.

David Duneman

1/26/13

English 220

Joe Serio

Would Success Spoil Us All?

            I must say “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter” was a humorous surprise. It’s simply a big spoof on the business of advertising and it does a good job at that. It begins with a series of dramatic ads where someone is trying to convince you to buy a product while they’re using the product and it’s not working. We see ads everyday where there’s a perfect product that can do anything the user wants it to do. In “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter” these types of ads are shown how the products actually work when they are used. This was a great intro to this movie. In one instance this lady is trying to convince you to buy this amazing comb while she’s combing her hair and the comb is pulling out chunks of her hair. This is the type of advertisement we would see if they showed us a non-exaggerated form of the product.

            They also criticize the wealthy, top-of-the-pyramid business men. The head business men, at Rock Hunters’ advertisement company, are portrayed as lonely, pill-popping, ignorant idiots that only got to where they are because of pure luck. When we first met Hunters’ boss he was laying on a massage chair taking some pills. In actually reality the boss of a big corporation is viewed as an idol, someone with a lot of money, like how Hunter views the head of his corporation. The boss’ are viewed as emotionless jerks, until the head of the corporation, Irving, later on, spills his feelings on Rock Hunter, saying that he is lonely and didn’t end up where he wanted to be at all, he actually wanted to grow flowers for a living instead. He later leaves the corporation to Hunter, and goes to gardening for a living and has a flower named after him. So the wealthy business men are highly criticized in “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter”. The wealthy movie stars are highly criticized as well. The main pop-star, Rita Marlowe, is portrayed as a ditzy, blonde girl with the most annoying, high-pitched squeal of a laugh that you’ll ever hear. At one point, when Rita Marlowe is being interviewed, her manager tells the press that Marlowe wants to go into seclusion for a while, and Marlowe, dim-wittingly, thinks that “seclusion” is a sexual term. So the highly idolized pop-stars are under criticism in this film as well.

            On another hand, the average people of the world are under criticism as well. There’s an assumption going around that everybody wants fame and fortune. Rockwell Hunter is the metaphor for this. Hunter is the “average” American civilian that works all the time and just wants to make it to the top. I believe not everybody wants to be rich and famous. They also criticize the fanatics that follow the pop-star, like Rita Marlowe. Rockwell Hunters’ niece is obsessed with Ms. Marlowe. She ditches school to keep the house clean for Ms. Marlowe, when she probably doesn’t clean house for anybody else. So this movie is a big spoof on advertising and pop-culture, and is a movie I would recommend to watch.