Top 5 New Year's Eve films: 3. "The Hudsucker Proxy"

December 28, 3:45 PMClassic TV ExaminerDoug Krentzlin

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    Robbins, Newman & Jason Leigh in "The Hudsucker Proxy"

This is the third of five recommendations of films involving New Year's Eve (to be presented in chronological order).

The Coen Brothers’ 1994 comedy “The Hudsucker Proxy” was their biggest box office failure. Amazingly, very few of the critics or audiences realized that the film was the Coens’ satirical homage to the films of Frank Capra, borrowing plot elements from “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” “Meet John Doe” and, especially, “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town.” (Indeed, it is almost impossible to appreciate “The Hudsucker Proxy” without some familiarity with the aforementioned Capra films.)

The movie opens with Norville Barnes (Tim Robbins) standing on a ledge on the top floor of the New York skyscraper headquarters of Hudsucker Industries contemplating suicide on New Year’s Eve, 1958. Via flashbacks we learn that Norville originally started out in the mail room, but was unexpectedly appointed president of the company by chairman of the board Sidney Mussburger (Paul Newman).

The board wants to drive down the price of the stock so they can take control of the company and naïve country boy Norville is the patsy. Unfortunately for them, Norville proves to be a success when he invents a children’s toy called the Hoola-Hoop.

In a sub-plot lifted verbatim from “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town,” newspaper reporter Amy Archer (Jennifer Jason Leigh) worms her way into Norville’s trust by pretending to be a small-town girl he can relate to and uses the inside info she gets from him for a series of exposés.

Written (with Sam Raimi) and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, “The Hudsucker Proxy” is a sharp, hilarious comedy/fantasy (with a wonderfully bizarre supernatural deus ex machina) that is also a visual marvel thanks to Dennis Gassner’s production design and Roger Deakins’ cinematography.