Barry Lyndon (1975), Sleuth (1972), Mildred Pierce (1945), A Place in the Sun (1951), Dodsworth (1936), Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), Lacombe, Lucien (1974), Diary of a Chambermaid (1964) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Social Climber movies.
Storyline: Well-to-do Joyce Ramsey is the dominant and domineering force in her household comprised of her lawyer husband David Ramsey, their young adult daughter Diana Ramsey and their late teenaged daughter Martha Ramsey. Everything Joyce has done in the course of her marriage to David has been in the pursuit of wealth, prestige, comfort and security for her and the family, which belies her and David's humble beginnings. Their current wealth and status began with a white lie told by Joyce to one of David's potential clients when David was still struggling as a lawyer, that lie which had the consequence of Joyce, and by association David, stepping on the back of a friend as they climbed the social ladder, Joyce never to look back after this and subsequent such actions. Joyce has no real idea of how her actions have negatively affected David's feelings for her, Joyce who is blindsided when David asks her for a divorce in no longer loving her. As such, Joyce has no idea why David wants the divorce. Although Joyce's friends put into her mind that another woman may be involved which does make Joyce curious if that is the sole reason for David's want, Joyce begins to reflect on key points in the course of her and David's marriage. Those reflections, Joyce's investigation into David's possible infidelity, she getting a glimpse of her future without David and his love, and she getting a sense of that young, pure love again that she and David truly had when they wed may affect what Joyce decides to do about David's request for the divorce.—Huggo
Plot Keywords: divorce, social climber, extramarital affair, cruise, lawyer, negotiation, flashback ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Remy Marco, Prohibition beer baron, figures he'll do even better after repeal. Only trouble is, his beer tastes terrible. (He drinks no beer himself and nobody dares tell him). Four years later, when he's about bankrupt, he visits his summer home in Saratoga, complete with: 1) a dead-end-kid orphan; 2) his daughter's fiance...a state trooper!, 3) the bodies of four gangsters who planned to ambush Remy but had a shootout; 4) half a million in loot they hid in the house...just the amount Remy needs to get out of hock. The comic confusion mounts...—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>
Plot Keywords: screwball comedy, party, orphanage, murder, money, gunshot wound, gunfire ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Lindsay Lohan stars as Cady Heron, a 16 year old homeschooled girl who not only makes the mistake of falling for Aaron Samuels (Jonathan Bennett), the ex-boyfriend of queenbee Regina George (Rachel McAdams), but also unintentionally joins The Plastics, led by Regina herself. Join Cady as she learns that high school life can and will be really tough.
Plot Keywords: miniskirt, nipples visible through clothing, short skirt, teenage sex, high school girl, lingerie, bra ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Simon and Robyn are a young married couple whose life is going just as planned until a chance encounter with an acquaintance from Simon's high school sends their world into a harrowing tailspin. Simon doesn't recognize Gordo at first, but after a series of uninvited encounters and mysterious gifts prove troubling, a horrifying secret from the past is uncovered after more than 20 years. As Robyn learns the unsettling truth about what happened between Simon and Gordo, she starts to question: how well do we really know the people closest to us, and are past bygones ever really bygones?
Plot Keywords: gift, rape, directorial debut, memory, nightmare, hitchcockian, female protagonist ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: 1938. Julia Lambert (Annette Bening) and Michael Gosselyn (Jeremy Irons) are the royal couple of the London theater scene, Julia, an actress, and Michael, a former actor, who took over running the theater and its troupe after the death of their mentor, Jimmy Langton (Sir Michael Gambon). Jimmy is still constantly with Julia in spirit as she navigates through life. Besides their work, Julia and Michael lead largely separate lives, they, long ago having stopped a sexual relationship. Julia of late has been feeling disenchanted with her life, she not wanting to admit it's because she is approaching middle age. Her disenchantments manifests itself in wanting Michael to close their current production early so that she can recharge her juices, something he is reluctant to do if only for not wanting to let the theater sit empty. What Julia ends up doing instead is embarking on an affair with Tom Fennel (Shaun Evans), an adoring young American who is young enough to be her son. As Julia and ...
Plot Keywords: open marriage, infidelity, unfaithfulness, adultery, sex, kiss, hallucination ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Russian exiles in Paris plot to collect ten million pounds from the Bank of England by grooming a destitute, suicidal girl to pose as heir to the Russian throne. While Bounin is coaching her he comes to believe she is really Anastasia. In the end the Empress must decide her claim.—Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>
Plot Keywords: russian, based on play, impersonation, russian revolution, princess, refugee, foreign language adaptation ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Three New York models, Shatze, Pola and Loco set up in an exclusive apartment with a plan....tired of cheap men and a lack of money, they intend to use all their talents to trap and marry three millionaires. The trouble is that it's not so easy to tell the rich men from the hucksters - and even when they can, is the money really worth it?
Plot Keywords: manhattan new york city, remake, millionaire, diner, f rated, fashion model, reference to winston churchill ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: The pathetically shy LV lives the life of a recluse listening to her late father's old records in her room and in the process driving her abusive, loud-mouthed mother, Mari Hoff, to distraction. At night, however, when her father's ghost visits, LV sings the songs of the great divas such as Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, and Dame Shirley Bassey. One evening, LV is overheard by one of her mother's loathsome boyfriends, the disastrous dead-end talent scout Ray Say, who recognizes her innate talent and realizes this is his last big chance for the glittering prizes. Gambling everything, Ray Say forces LV to appear at a local run-down, seedy nightclub run by Mr. Boo. As preparations for the big event proceed apace LV meets the equally shy Billy, a pigeon-racing telephone engineer and they form a tentative, gentle friendship. The big night finally arrives and everything is in readiness, the band, the club, and even a big agent from London, but what about LV?
Plot Keywords: yorkshire, reference to marilyn monroe, photograph, working class, strip club, single mother, convertible ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: In the small town of South Renford, Alice Adams comes from a working class background, although she aspires to be among the upper class. Alice's mother blames her husband for their low social standing, despite his working hard and Alice not blaming him for anything. Regardless, Alice tries to do whatever necessary to put on appearances of wealth and social standing, despite everyone in that class in town knowing who she is, and thus largely ignoring her because of her false airs. First meeting at a society ball, Alice surprisingly catches the eye of Arthur Russell, surprisingly as he purportedly is engaged to débutante Mildred Palmer. As Alice continues to hide her true social standing from Arthur as he courts her, Mrs. Adams pressures Mr. Adams into doing something he doesn't want to do in an effort truly to become part of the business class, that measure which entails sinking all his money into a business venture. Beyond the time when Arthur finds out the true nature behind Alice's facade, other issues may bring the fragile Adams society house of cards tumbling down around them, and thus the happiness Alice is seeking with Arthur.—Huggo
Plot Keywords: forgiveness, card playing, candle, cafe, butler, book, black american ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: The Hunter family has long owned a mansion on Pine Island, a summer resort located off the Maine coast. Bart Hunter's now deceased father was able to open the mansion for free when Bart was younger, but current owner Bart, a drunkard and weak man, must now live there year round for financial survival with his wife Sylvia and their late teen-aged son Johnny, the family which is barely able to eke out a living with the mansion now as a year-round inn which is in an extreme state of disrepair. Bart and Sylvia are in a quietly unhappy marriage due largely to Bart's drinking. The Buffalo-based Jorgensons - husband Ken Jorgenson, his wife Helen Jorgenson and their late teen-aged daughter Molly Jorgenson - have rented rooms at the inn for the summer, while Ken looks for a summer house on the island. Ken lived on the island twenty years ago, he actually a working class lifeguard for Bart's father at that time. Ken is now a self-made millionaire as a research scientist, who had never been back to the island until now. Ken and Helen too are in an unsatisfying marriage, Helen, a shrew and prude, who seems to hate and mistrust anything and everything, including her husband and daughter. Helen only seems concerned with public perception that their lives are perfect. Upon first meeting, Johnny and Molly fall in love. Meanwhile, Ken and Sylvia rekindle a romance from twenty years earlier, they uncertain if Bart knew at the time of their relationship, which did not last because of the differences in their social background. The two romances have a rocky road to potential happiness. Helen does not trust either Johnny or Molly to be morally proper. Ken and Sylvia know that their respective spouses will never consent to divorce, and if they do will do whatever they can so that they will never get to see their children again. And despite knowing that their respective parents are unhappy in their marriages, Johnny and Molly do not approve of a liaison between his mother and her father. Regardless, Ken and Sylvia want to provide their children with as much love and guidance as possible, including encouraging them to follow their hearts while not getting into trouble, a message which may not be heard if only because of Johnny and Molly believing that what they are doing is disgusting, and because of Johnny and Molly's own raging hormones.—Huggo
Plot Keywords: adultery, pregnancy, domineering mother, dysfunctional family, dysfunctional marriage, boathouse, infidelity ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: New Yorkers Ouisa and Flan Kittredge are upper-class private art dealers, pretentious, but compassionate. Their prized possession is a double-sided Kandinsky: one side represents control; the other, chaos. They relay a story to their friends and acquaintances that becomes legendary over time: their encounter with a young black stranger who came stumbling upon their front door one evening as they were courting Geoffrey Miller, an important investor who could make them wealthy beyond their dreams. The young man, Paul Poitier, had just arrived in the city when he was mugged outside their building, he sported a minor knife wound to the abdomen. He was a friend of the Kittredges' children, who are attending Harvard; more importantly, he's the son of actor and Director Sidney Poitier. Tomorrow, Paul is meeting up with his father, who is in town directing a movie of "Cats". Beyond the attraction of talking Paul into getting them roles in the movie, Ouisa, Flan, and Geoffrey all end up being ...
Plot Keywords: racism, based on true story, based on play, new york city, satire, urban setting, impostor ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Ronald Miller is tired of being a nerd, and makes a deal with one of the most popular girls in school to help him break into the "cool" clique. He offers her a thousand dollars to pretend to be his girlfriend for a month. It succeeds, but he soon learns that the price of popularity may be higher than he expected.
Plot Keywords: cheerleading, shopping mall, teenager, opposites attract, school life, social climber, teen angst ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Kathryn Merteuil and Sebastian Valmont are seductive, manipulative step-siblings who get what they want when they want it. Kathryn makes a bet with Sebastian: Sebastian must bed Annette, daughter of the headmaster at their school, before the end of summer break. Annette has stated that she would wait until love and marriage to sleep with a man. If Kathryn wins, she gets Sebastian's vintage 1959 Jaguar Roadster. If Sebastian wins, he gets Kathryn, the only girl he knows he'll never have. Also in play is Cecile, a naïve girl whose mother had enlisted Kathryn to help her fit in at her new school. However, Kathryn (with Sebastian's help) plans to ruin Cecile's reputation as revenge on Kat's ex-boyfriend, who left her for Cecile.
Plot Keywords: seduction, virgin, female female kiss, mini skirt, rich kid, french kiss, cocaine ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Two London brothers are hard-up for cash, and both have girls to look out for, too. When rich Uncle Howard comes to town and agrees to help them out, he admits his finances are under investigation, and he asks them to do him a favor and "take care of" an old business relation to keep his trouble under wraps - he says that they're family, and since he always takes care of them, the least they could do is help him out this once, as they're the only ones he can trust. The film follows their struggle with the immorality of this request and how each brother chooses to deal with it.
Plot Keywords: surprise ending, apostrophe in title, punctuation in title, assassination attempt, assassination, breaking and entering, car trouble ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: San Francisco's Barbary Coast is the hub of light and gaiety for a bustling young metropolis, while at Sharkey's Colosseum , Trudy Evans (Alice Faye), Johnnie Cornell (John Payne), Dan Daley (Jack Oakie) and Beulah (June Havoc) offer divertissement. Trying out a new number the group pulls the paying customers away from the bar, and they are promptly fired. True-blue Trudy begs Dan and Beulah to stick with Johnnie who is full of ideas, some of which, later cause Trudy much distress. When fast-talking Sam Weaver (Laird Cregar) happens upon Johnnie with another tale of a sure bonanza gold strike. Johnnie grubstakes him to the group's last $10. Coming upon an anti-drinking missionary group, Johnnie makes them a proposition which will benefit them all. He stages a series of street carnivals in front of the saloons which attracts the crowds, especially when Beulah performs cooch-dance, to the ruination of the juke-and-gin mills. Each proprietor offers $500, if Johnnie will keep away from their bars, but to Sharkey (Ward Bond) the price is $1000. With the money from his high-handed extortion Johnnie opens The Grizzly Bear and it becomes an overnight sensation with Trudy as the star of an elaborately-mounted show which even brings in the carriage trade from Nob Hill, including the haughty Bernice Crodt (Lynn Bari) and her pre-entourage days entourage. Johnnie is fascinated by her poise and social position. The Grizzly prospers and Johnnie soon opens three more saloons which makes him an early-day impresario , and Trudy the Toast of the Coast. Beulah is rather toasty herself. Ned (John Archer), a Trudy admirer, brings Cochran (Aubrey Mather), an English theatrical producer, slumming in the colonies, to see the show and offers a starring role in his next London production. Deeply in love with Johnnie, Trudy refuses, but cad Johnnie, eager for society prestige abruptly marries femme-fatale Bernice so he can climb up Nob Hill. Broken-hearted Trudy sails for England where as the star of "The Girl from Piccadilly" she is the darling of the London theatre crowds. Johnnie and Bernice go on a European honeymoon, during which time he sees Trudy's show. That's is Johnnie last highlight for a while. Back in gay old Frisco, Johnnie's fortunes decline rapidly when he becomes a sponsor of Grand Opera, long a pet project for money-drain Bernice. One by one he closes Barbary Coast saloons including the Grizzly Bear. Dan and Beulah go back to Sharkeys and Johnnie is a barker for a cooch-show on the carnival midway. Trudy returns and is distressed more than somewhat to find the familiar night spots shuttered and silent and Bernice had given Johnnie his walking papers when he ran out of money. So True-Blue Trudy quietly finances Sam, who in turn convinces Johnnie that he has at last struck a gold bonanza. With "his share" of the old grubstake Johnnie reopens the Grizzly but refuses to hire Trudy for his show since he now has a large case of remorse. Will they get together again?—Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>
Plot Keywords: song, reconciliation, comeback, frustration, treachery, trickery, depression ...
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