History Film / TheHudsuckerProxy

* ItWillNeverCatchOn: Nobody has much confidence in Norville's innovations; these include the "Hula Hoop" and the "Bendy Straws".

* MundaneMadeAwesome: The entire process detailing the invention and production of the Hula Hoop. Detailed blueprints are produced and patented, the entire accounting department performs extensive research to come up with the retail price (of $1.79), a trio of guys run through countless names for the project, safety is practiced using explosives, and a fairly elaborate machine is used to make the things.

* IntrepidReporter: Amy Archer, naturally.

%%* ChekhovsGun: The blue letter.

[[caption-width-right:350:You Know, For Kids!]]

Norville Barnes (TimRobbins), a recently graduated business major, makes his way from his hometown of Muncie, Indiana, to New York City to "make it big." He winds up working in the mailroom of the monolithic Hudsucker Industries, whose CEO, Waring Hudsucker (CharlesDurning), has recently committed suicide. On the day he is hired, Norville is given the task of delivering an important letter from Hudsucker to Sidney Mussburger (Creator/PaulNewman), the second-in-command at Hudsucker Industries.

!!''TheHudsuckerProxy'' contains examples of:

* AlmightyJanitor: involves a brawl between two of them, either one capable of [[spoiler:freezing time for the rest of the universe.]]

* BigApplesauce

* CatchPhrase: "You know, for kids!"

* ChekhovsGun: The blue letter.
* ClockTower

* DaEditor

* DreamSequence: A hot one, too.

* FootballFightSong

* HowWeGotHere

* ItWillNeverCatchOn: Hula Hoops
** Nor Bendy Straws.
* LaserGuidedKarma: Sidney J. Mussburger
* LiteralCliffhanger

* MagicalNegro
* {{Motif}}: Time, circles, and cycles.

* MysteriousMiddleInitial: Sidney J. Mussburger

* SmarterThanYouLook

* SpringtimeForHitler

* TimeStandsStill: Time miraculously stops when [[spoiler:a broomstick jams the gears of the clock tower]], allowing Norville to [[spoiler:survive the fall from the Hudsucker building ledge, have a chat with the angel of the late Mr. Hudsucker in mid-air, and learn that the company is all his according to the infamous Blue Letter]]...yet the snow never stops falling.

* MysteriousMiddleName: Sidney J. Mussburger

A 1994 retro-screwball comedy directed by Creator/TheCoenBrothers, from a story devised by them and SamRaimi. A box office and critical flop when it was released, but has been somewhat VindicatedByHistory.

* {{Will}}: Hudsucker didn't leave one behind, which is why Mussburger developed the proxy plan in the first place. [[spoiler:Turns out, the blue letter Norville was supposed to deliver to Mussburger was the will, giving the stock to whomever the board appointed the new CEO of the company, giving Neville one heck of an UnexpectedInheritance.]]

A 1994 retro-screwball comedy directed by TheCoenBrothers, from a story devised by them and SamRaimi. A box office and critical flop when it was released, but has been somewhat VindicatedByHistory.

----

Norville Barnes (TimRobbins), a recently graduated business major, makes his way from his hometown of Muncie, Indiana, to New York City to "make it big." He winds up working in the mailroom of the monolithic Hudsucker Industries, whose CEO, Waring Hudsucker (CharlesDurning), has recently committed suicide. On the day he is hired, Norville is given the task of delivering an important letter from Hudsucker to Sidney Mussburger (PaulNewman), the second-in-command at Hudsucker Industries.

* FootBallFightSong

--> Goooooooooo Eagles!

--> Both: ''Lumbago.''
--> Lou: That gag's so old it's got whiskers on it!
* HeyItsThatGuy: BruceCampbell as a sleazy newspaper reporter.
** [[{{Frasier}} Martin Crane]] as BruceCampbell's editor.
** Anna Nicole Smith's first film appearance in a [[TheCameo cameo]].
** Wow, [[TheOC Sandy Cohen]] can really sing!
** Steve Buscemi cameos as the bartender at the beatnik bar Amy frequents.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome: The entire process detailing the invention and production of the Hula Hoop. Detailed blueprints are produced and patented, the entire accounting department performs extensive research to come up with the retail price (of $1.79), a trio of guys run through countless names for the project, safety is practiced using explosives, and a fairly elaborate machine is used to make the things.

Meanwhile, Mussburger is upstairs trying to calm the board of directors. Apparently, Hudsucker had no will, which means according to company policy his majority stock share in the company must be put up for sale on the open market within six month's time. This means the company would be open to hostile takeover by whomever can buy the expensive shares. Mussburger hits upon the idea of appointing an idiot as a secret "proxy," someone who can be easily controlled and cause the company's profitability to tank without doing any lasting damage. This way, with stock prices depressed because of poor profitability, Mussburger and the other members of the board can buy up the shares on the cheap quickly when they go up for sale, and maintain control.

Soon enough, Barnes appears at Mussburger's door, with the letter, but Barnes is so eager to mention his ideas for the company that he never does deliver the letter, and ends up nearly killing Mussburger during their first meeting. Mussburger comes away convinced he's an idiot...but just the right kind of idiot for his needs, and so Barnes is quickly made the new CEO of Hudsucker Industries, with Mussburger's secret plan in action, and Barnes has an idea for a new toy - [[CatchPhrase you know, for kids.]]

* AndThereWasMuchRejoicing: Hudsucker's death, for quite a few people. He had just jumped when Mussburger (his Vicepresident) took the cigar he had left behind and started to smoking it, procaiming it would be a shame to "waste a Montecristo".

* HeyItsThatGuy: [[strike: {{God}}]] BruceCampbell as a sleazy newspaper reporter.
** [[{{Frasier}} Martin Crane]] as [[strike: {{God}}'s]] BruceCampbell's editor.

* HolyHalo: Lampshaded by the late Mr. Hudsucker calling it a "fad" with the boys upstairs

* IntrepidReporter: again, Amy Archer

* NaiveNewcomer: Norville, fresh from business school, ends up in the mailroom but has big ideas
* {{Newsreel}}: Provides exposition about hula hoop craze- narrated by JohnGoodman
* OneOfTheBoys: Amy Archer, fast-talking career gal

* SeriousBusiness A very literal example. The scene showing an ironic amount of Research and Development that went into designing a circular piece of plastic. From blueprints with just a circle on them to an army of accountants to decide the MSRP.

-->[[spoiler:'''Moses:''' And that's the story of how Norville Barnes climbed waaay up to the forty-fourth floor of the Hudsucker Building, and then fell all the way down but didn't quite squish hisself. You know, they say there was a man who jumped from the forty-''fifth'' floor? But that's another story (storey).]]

* UnexpectedInheritance: Near the end, Norville Barnes learned that, as the first CEO of Hudsucker Industries after Hudsucker's death, he inherited Hudsucker's shares of the company.
* Will: Hudsucker left his shares of Hudsucker Industries to the first person to be named as the company's CEO after his death.

Norville Barnes (TimRobbins), a recently graduated business major, makes his way from his hometown of Muncie, Indiana, to New York City to "make it big." He winds up working in the mailroom of the monolithic Hudsucker Industries, whose CEO, Waring Hudsucker (CharlesDurning), has recently committed suicide. On the day he is hired, Norville is given the task of delivering an important letter to Sidney Mussburger (PaulNewman), the second-in-command at Hudsucker Industries. In the process of bungling the delivery attempt, Norville winds up as president of the company, with a neat idea that he believes will turn the company around--you know, for kids.

* OnOneCondition: Hudsucker left his shares of Hudsucker Industries to the first person to be named as the company's CEO after his death.