History Film / TheHudsuckerProxy

** Sid Mussburger is notably the only one who can make Buzz shut his MototMouth on sight.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Mussburger's reaction to one name put forward while he fields potential CEOs on the phone:

** "The future is now." Both Hudsucker Industries' prominently-featured motto, and the last line of Waring Hudsucker's will.

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

** A bit more randomly, Norville's dream sequence is a Creator/CydCharisse-style number.

* OverlyLongGag: The laughing scene after Norville becomes president.

Soon enough, [[InadvertentEntranceCue Norville 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.]]

Hijinks ensue, before eventually [[spoiler: the letter is read and revealed to be a will in which Hudsucker left his shares in the company to whoever was his successor as CEO - which turned out to be Norville, for all the wrong reasons!]]

** A bit more randomly, Norville's dream sequence shows him incorporating the [[Film/TheKarateKid Crane stance]] into his dancing.
* SoftGlass: Used both straight and subverted.

* InstantExpert: A kid randomly finds a hula hoop and tries it out. Despite being the ''first'' person besides possibly its inventor to use one, he masterfully spins it around his hips, ankles and neck without ever missing a beat and impresses all the other kids in school.

Hijinks ensue, before eventually [[spoiler: The letter is read and revealed to be a will in which Hudsucker left his shares in the company to whoever was his successor as CEO - which turned out to be Norville, for all the wrong reasons!]]

* LawyerFriendlyCameo: Vic Tenetta bears a striking resemblance to Creator/DeanMartin.

* {{Expy}}: Mussburger is [[Film/SweetSmellOfSuccess J.J. Hunsecker]] as a CorruptCorporateExecutive. Amy Archer is [[Film/HisGirlFriday Hildy Johnson]].

* PetTheDog: Mind, he only did it as part of a scheme to smear Norville Barnes as a fraud, but Mussburger's plan ''does'' include giving Buzz his job back, after Norville unjustly fired him.

-->[[spoiler: '''Norville:''' "Accordingly, I hereby bequeath all of my shares in Hudsucker Industries to whomever you and the board shall elect as...to succeed me as president..."]]

-->[[spoiler: '''Norville:''' "Accordingly, in the spirit of hope, and the ringing in of the new, I hereby bequeath my entire interest in the company, and my seat on the board, to whomever is Hudsucker's most recent employee at the time of my demise..."]]

Norville Barnes (Creator/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 (Charles Durning), 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.

* MagicalNegro: Moses, keeper of the Hudsucker Industries clock tower, not only has the keenest insights into the events of the film of any character, but also has the power to ''stop time itself'' by jamming the clock's mechanism.

* HolyHalo: Lampshaded by the late Mr. Hudsucker calling it a "fad" with the "boys upstairs". Note that the halo is behaving like a hula hoop.

* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: When the film was first released, discovering that the circle referred to a hula hoop was a surprise; the film carefully saves it for the BigReveal. A later poster made it blatantly obvious.