The Secret of My Success Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

The Secret of My Success Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 16, 2020

Herbert Ross' "The Secret of My Success" (1987) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include vintage trailer for the film; new video interview with actress Helen Slater; and new audio commentary by entertainment journalist and author Bryan Reesman. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Don't worry, Mom. It's all good.

When I come back to Kansas, I’m comin’ back in my own jet. Anyone carrying that kind of a determination in his head is a genuine winner. You want to have him on your team because he will work hard to make his dream a reality and, in the process, help you grow bigger as well. You test him to make sure that he is sincere, sign him up, and unleash his potential.

When Brantley Foster (Michael J. Fox) lands in the Big Apple ready to pursue his dream, however, only one prospective employer recognizes his potential and tells him that he would look great on her team. Then she shoots him down because he does not fit the right profile -- she wants a woman of color, not a white boy from the heartland. But instead of crushing his ambition to make it big, the rejection only further solidifies Brantley’s conviction to reach the top, where he belongs. Shortly after, he changes strategies and meets uncle Howard Prescot (Richard Jordan), hoping to get a job in the massive company he runs in the heart of Manhattan. Because they have not met before, uncle Howard reluctantly interviews Brantley and then just as reluctantly offers him a job in the mail room. From there Brantley slowly begins climbing to the top, first by following the instructions of his laidback partner Fred (John Pankow), and then by following his instincts and pretending to be Carlton Whitfield, a brand new but fake top executive with a charming smile. While climbing the corporate ladder, Brantley/Carlton also accidentally becomes auntie Vera’s (Margaret Whitton) favorite toy boy and falls in love with fellow colleague Christy (Helen Slater), who has been secretly having an affair with uncle Howard.

Directed by Herbert Ross, The Secret of My Success is a delightful but in many ways quite cynical comedy about the price of success in a place that refuses to tolerate losers. This makes it an old-fashioned comedy because it calls balls and strikes and allows its characters to look and behave almost like real people do. Why almost? Because from time to time the film shows some mercy as well, which tones down the ugly that defines their reality and helps them appear a bit more humane than they really are. In the ‘80s, this was a common trick that these types of films loved to use. (For reference, even the most cynical of the bunch, Wall Street, showed plenty of mercy and humanized its characters while it deconstructed their supposedly deeply inhumane reality).

The humor ranges from playful to witty to just plain silly and the glue that keeps it together is the strong chemistry between the leads. Their chemistry also provides the film with a tremendous positive energy that ultimately negates its cynicism and makes it look attractive. Indeed, there is just not enough time to begin scrutinizing what might be perceived as genuinely sinister in their intentions, so even when they get trapped in compromising situations it feels like they are only silly troublemakers rather than shameless opportunists.

The romantic subplot produces a seemingly endless string of overused clichés, but admittedly this was unavoidable given where the film wants to go and how it wants to get there. Again, it is all about channeling positivity and in a typical ‘80s fashion trying to convince that the real world is perfectly fine as it is. It is hard to remain cold to such an attitude and this is essentially why so many people still enjoy revisiting the film today.

The original soundtrack features some great AOR ‘80s tracks that even classic rock stations rarely play anymore. Amongst them are Night Ranger’s “The Secret of My Success”, Roger Daltrey’s “The Price of Love”, and Restless Heart’s “Something I Gotta Do”.

The Secret of My Success Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, The Secret of My Success arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from an old master that was supplied by Universal. However, this is a much healthier master than the one that was used for the recent release of The Hard Way.

First, there are no traces of sharpening adjustments, which is the main reason why even though there are various limitations on display the entire film has a pretty decent organic appearance. Also, this master is free of that awful distracting digital smearing, so in backgrounds many subtle nuances are actually quite easy to identify. Unsurprisingly, color balance is better as well because in darker areas there are more black nuances that are retained. This being said, grain exposure can and should be much better, especially during indoor/darker footage where it begins to collapse and appear noisy. Obviously, delineation isn't optimal when this effect becomes noticeable. Density levels fluctuate for the exact same reason, but overall they are acceptable. The color scheme is good. However, some primaries and plenty of supporting nuances can have superior saturation levels. Image stability is very good. A few blemishes and stains remain, but there are no distracting large debris, marks, cuts, warped or torn frames to report. All in all, even though a fresh 4K master will instantly make this film look much more vibrant and healthy, the current technical presentation is rather pleasing. My score is 3.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

The Secret of My Success Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

On my system the lossless track sounded quite incredible. I was genuinely surprised because the film's soundtrack is quite busy and there are plenty of areas where the lossless track could have underperformed. Clarity, sharpness, depth, and balance were simply great. However, I also have to say that the film very much deserves a proper 5.1 track. It just feels like there is a lot of footage where the audio field can be much more open. There are no encoding anomalies to report in our review.

The Secret of My Success Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - a vintage trailer for The Secret of My Success. In English, not subtitled. (3 min, 480/60i).

• Interview - in this new video interview, co-star Helen Slater recalls her involvement with The Secret of My Success. The interview was conducted exclusively for Kino Lorber. In English, not subtitled. (11 min, 1080p).

• Commentary - an exclusive new audio commentary recorded by entertainment journalist and author Bryan Reesman.

The Secret of My Success Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The late Roger Ebert once argued that "everyone is an idiot" in The Secret of My Success. Well, perhaps he was partially right, but I think that there are many refreshingly honest people in it as well. Do they always behave like normal people do? Of course not, but there are a lot of normal people out there that would risk looking like idiots while pursuing a dream career or soulmate. I like this film. I think that it has a great attitude, and while it is a bit silly, I think that it captures the spirit of the '80s really, really well. Kino Lorber's release is sourced from an older but quite nice organic master that was supplied by Universal Pictures. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.