Hucksterism Inc. Movies
Definition of Hucksterism to be applied here: A person or group who uses aggressive, showy, and sometimes devious and deadly methods to promote or sell a product, belief (sincere or otherwise) or an idea.
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Choose the film you think best demonstrates the hucksterism profession.
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Choose the film you think best demonstrates the hucksterism profession.
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- DirectorMorton DaCostaStarsRobert PrestonShirley JonesBuddy HackettTraveling con artist Harold Hill targets the naïve residents of a small town in 1910s Iowa by posing as a boys' band leader to raise money before he can skip town.Harold Hill: Ladies and gentlemen, either you are closing your eyes to a situation you do not wish to acknowledge, or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated by the presence of a pool table in your community!
- DirectorJoseph AnthonyStarsBurt LancasterKatharine HepburnWendell CoreyDuring the Depression, a con-man promises rain to a desperate drought-ridden Kansas town and marriage to a local desperate spinster.Noah Curry: We don't believe in rainmakers.
Bill Starbuck: What DO you believe in mistah? Dyin' cattle? - DirectorRichard BrooksStarsBurt LancasterJean SimmonsArthur KennedyA fast-talking traveling salesman with a charming, loquacious manner convinces a sincere evangelist that he can be an effective preacher for her cause.Lulu Bains: Oh, he gave me special instructions back of the pulpit Christmas Eve. He got to howlin' "Repent! Repent!" and I got to moanin' "Save me! Save me!" and the first thing I know he rammed the fear of God into me so fast I never heard my old man's footsteps!
- DirectorJack ConwayStarsClark GableDeborah KerrSydney GreenstreetA World War II veteran wants to return to advertising on his own terms, but finds it difficult to be successful and maintain his integrity.Victor Albee Norman: I want a very sincere necktie.
Clerk: I beg your pardon?
Victor Albee Norman: I want something that makes me seem sincere. You know, honest; genuine; upright; trustworthy.
Clerk: Well... um, here's a handpainted one in four colors; at thirty-five dollars. Is that sincere enough?
Victor Albee Norman: I think, my friend, any more sincerity would be downright foolhardy. - DirectorRaoul WalshStarsJames CagneyBarbara HaleAnne FrancisA charismatic peddler from the bayous finds his true calling in politics. Is he a demagogue in the making?Hank Martin: Well, all folks is wonderful. You just have to know the right place to kick 'em in.
Verity Wade: What?
Hank Martin: Sure. It's like learnin' to play a musical instrument by ear. All you gotta know is what place to push to get what note. Then pretty soon, everybody's dancin'...to your tune. - DirectorRobert RossenStarsBroderick CrawfordJohn IrelandJoanne DruThe rise and fall of a corrupt politician, who makes his friends richer and retains power by dint of a populist appeal.Madison sends Burden to the backwaters of the state to learn about political upstart Willie Stark]
Jack Burden: What's so special about him?
Madison, the Editor: They say he's an honest man. - DirectorSidney LumetStarsFaye DunawayWilliam HoldenPeter FinchA television network cynically exploits a deranged former anchor's ravings and revelations about the news media for its own profit, but finds that his message may be difficult to control.Diana Christensen: Well Max, here we are: Middle-aged man reaffirming his middle-aged manhood, and a terrified young woman with a father complex. What sort of script do you think we can make out of this?
- DirectorElia KazanStarsAndy GriffithPatricia NealAnthony FranciosaA female radio reporter turns a folk-singing drifter into a powerful media star.Mel Miller: [commenting on one of Lonesome Rhodes' on-air tirades after the two have had a falling out] I'll say one thing for him, he's got the courage of his ignorance.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsGary CooperBarbara StanwyckEdward ArnoldA penniless drifter is recruited by an ambitious columnist to impersonate a non-existent person who said he'd be committing suicide as a protest, and a social movement begins.D. B. Norton: You'll play your cards right and you'll never have to worry about money again.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsJames StewartJean ArthurClaude RainsA naive youth leader is appointed to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate. His idealistic plans promptly collide with corruption at home and subterfuge from his hero in Washington, but he tries to forge ahead despite attacks on his character.Senator Joseph Paine: Let me go! I'm not fit to be a senator! I'm not fit to live! Expel me, not him! Willet Dam is a fraud! It's a crime against the people who sent me here - and I committed it! Every word that boy said is the truth! Every word about Taylor and me and graft and the rotten political corruption of my state! Every word of it is true! I'm not fit for office! I'm not fit for any place of honor or trust! Expel me, not that boy!
- DirectorJohn FrankenheimerStarsFrank SinatraLaurence HarveyJanet LeighAn American POW in the Korean War is brainwashed as an unwitting assassin for an international Communist conspiracy.Raymond Shaw: It's a terrible thing to hate your mother. But I didn't always hate her. When I was a child, I only kind of disliked her.
- DirectorArchie MayoMichael CurtizStarsHumphrey BogartAnn SheridanDick ForanA hard-working machinist loses a promotion to a Polish-born worker, he's seduced into joining the secretive Black Legion, which intimidates foreigners through violence.Cliff Moore: Well, what's the matter? You afraid?
Ed Jackson: So, you're afraid! Maybe they better change the name of your outfit from the Black Legion to the Yellow Legion. - DirectorOrson WellesStarsOrson WellesJoseph CottenDorothy ComingoreFollowing the death of publishing tycoon Charles Foster Kane, reporters scramble to uncover the meaning of his final utterance: 'Rosebud.'Emily: He happens to be the president, Charles, not you.
Charles Foster Kane: That's a mistake that will be corrected one of these days. - DirectorPeter BogdanovichStarsRyan O'NealTatum O'NealMadeline KahnDuring the Great Depression, a con man finds himself saddled with a young girl who may or may not be his daughter, and the two forge an unlikely partnership.Moses Pray: I got scruples too, you know. You know what that is? Scruples?
Addie Loggins: No, I don't know what it is, but if you got 'em, it's a sure bet they belong to somebody else! - DirectorElia KazanStarsMarlon BrandoKarl MaldenLee J. CobbAn ex-prize fighter turned New Jersey longshoreman struggles to stand up to his corrupt union bosses, including his older brother, as he starts to connect with the grieving sister of one of the syndicate's victims.Terry: Hey, you wanna hear my philosophy of life? Do it to him before he does it to you.
- DirectorDanny DeVitoStarsJack NicholsonDanny DeVitoArmand AssanteThe story of the notorious American labor union figure Jimmy Hoffa, who organizes a bitter strike, makes deals with members of the organized crime syndicate and mysteriously disappears in 1975.Robert Kennedy: If James R. Hoffa is acquitted, I will, uh, jump from the top of the Capital Dome.
- DirectorEdward F. ClineStarsW.C. FieldsGloria JeanLeon ErrolA filmmaker attempts to sell a surreal script he has written, which comes to life as he pitches it.Ouliotta Delight Hemogloben: The only game I've ever played is bean-bag.
The Great Man: Bean-bag... ah, it's very good. Becomes very exciting at times. I saw the championship played in Paris; many people were killed. - DirectorLeo McCareyStarsGroucho MarxHarpo MarxChico MarxRufus T. Firefly is named the dictator of bankrupt Freedonia and declares war on neighboring Sylvania over the love of his wealthy backer Mrs. Teasdale, contending with two inept spies who can't seem to keep straight which side they're on.Rufus T. Firefly: Remember, you're fighting for this woman's honour, which is probably more than she ever did.
- DirectorOliver StoneStarsCharlie SheenMichael DouglasTamara TunieAn impatient young stockbroker is willing to do anything to get to the top, including trading on illegal inside information taken through a ruthless, greedy corporate raider who takes the youth under his wing.Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko
Gordon Gekko: It's all about bucks, kid. The rest is conversation. - DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsJack NicholsonFaye DunawayJohn HustonA private detective hired to expose an adulterer in 1930s Los Angeles finds himself caught up in a web of deceit, corruption, and murder.Noah Cross: 'Course I'm respectable. I'm old. Politicians, ugly buildings, and whores all get respectable if they last long enough.
- DirectorTony RichardsonStarsRobert MorseJonathan WintersAnjanette ComerSatire on the funeral business, in which a young British poet goes to work at a Hollywood cemetery.Rev. Wilbur Glenworthy: Death has become a middle class business. There's no future in it.
- DirectorJames FoleyStarsAl PacinoJack LemmonAlec BaldwinAn examination of the machinations behind the scenes at a real estate office.Blake: You want to know what it takes to sell real estate? It takes BRASS BALLS to sell real estate.
- DirectorMichael MannStarsRussell CroweAl PacinoChristopher PlummerA research chemist comes under personal and professional attack when he decides to appear in a 60 Minutes exposé on Big Tobacco.Agent: Do you have a history of emotional problems, Mr. Wigand?
Jeffrey Wigand: Yes. Yes, I do. I get extremely emotional when *beep* put bullets in my mailbox! - DirectorMel BrooksStarsZero MostelGene WilderDick ShawnA stage-play producer devises a plan to make money by producing a sure-fire flop.Max Bialystock: How could this happen? I was so careful. I picked the wrong play, the wrong director, the wrong cast. Where did I go right?
- DirectorMel BrooksStarsCleavon LittleGene WilderSlim PickensIn order to ruin a western town, a corrupt politician appoints a black Sheriff, who promptly becomes his most formidable adversary.Hedley Lamarr: My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives.
Taggart: God darnit, Mr. Lamarr, you use your tongue prettier than a twenty dollar whore. - DirectorSergio LeoneStarsHenry FondaCharles BronsonClaudia CardinaleA mysterious stranger with a harmonica joins forces with a notorious desperado to protect a beautiful widow from a ruthless assassin working for the railroad.Morton: Not bad. Congratulations. Tell me, was it necessary that you kill all of them? I only told you to scare them.
Frank: People scare better when they're dying. - DirectorRowland V. LeeAlexander HallStarsEdward ArnoldCary GrantFrances FarmerNotorious robber baron financier Jim Fisk, who makes and loses fortunes, tries to corner the gold market as well as the heart of a beautiful actress.Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt: [Yelling at Fisk and Boyd in the disappearing Jersey Ferry] You scoudrels! I'll run you down if I have to crawl in every rotten hole in Jersey!
- DirectorFrank O'ConnorStarsRobert FiskeHelene LeBerthonArthur GardnerA wealthy young woman, racked with guilt because she wasn't there when her mother died, is so desperate to contact her that she gets involved with a phony mystic who promises to put her in touch with her mother's spirit, but who is really after her money. A reporter who loves the young woman sets out to expose the phony "psychic" for the charlatan he is.Harry Houdini's widow exposes the Occult Racket.
- DirectorIrvin KershnerStarsGeorge C. ScottSue LyonHarry MorganA rural con artist and an army deserter cheat the townsfolk and are aided by a rich gal who shields the fleeing duo from the wrath of the pursuing sheriff.Mordecai Jones: Son, you'd be amazed at the hundreds of satisfied students I've matriculated over the last 50 years!
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsLeonardo DiCaprioTom HanksChristopher WalkenBarely 17 yet, Frank is a skilled forger who has passed as a doctor, lawyer and pilot. FBI agent Carl becomes obsessed with tracking down the con man, who only revels in the pursuit.Frank Abagnale, Jr.: Brenda, I don't want to lie to you anymore. All right? I'm not a doctor. I never went to medical school. I'm not a lawyer, or a Harvard graduate, or a Lutheran. Brenda, I ran away from home a year and a half ago when I was 16.
Brenda Strong: Frank? Frank? You're not a Lutheran? - DirectorGeorge Roy HillStarsPaul NewmanRobert RedfordRobert ShawTwo grifters team up to pull off the ultimate con.Doyle Lonnegan: Your boss is quite a card player, Mr. Kelly; how does he do it?
Johnny Hooker: He cheats. - DirectorPreston SturgesStarsBarbara StanwyckHenry FondaCharles CoburnA trio of classy card sharks targets a socially awkward brewery heir, until one of them falls in love with him.Jean Harrington: Boy, would I like to see you givin' some old harpie the three in one!
"Colonel" Harrington: Don't be vulgar, Jean. Let us be crooked, but never common. - DirectorStephen FrearsStarsAnjelica HustonJohn CusackAnnette BeningA small-time conman has torn loyalties between his estranged mother and new girlfriend, both of whom are high-stakes grifters with their own angles to play.Bobo Justus: One question. Do you want to stick to that story, or do you want to keep your teeth?
Lilly Dillon: I want to keep my teeth. - DirectorLeonard KastleDonald VolkmanStarsShirley StolerTony Lo BiancoMary Jane HigbyAn obese, embittered nurse doesn't mind if her toupee-wearing boyfriend romances and fleeces other women, as long as he takes her along on his con jobs.Martha Beck: [after making their first kill] Do you want the light on or off?
Raymond Fernandez: Leave the light on. I want to make love. - DirectorRidley ScottStarsNicolas CageAlison LohmanSam RockwellA phobic con artist and his protégé are on the verge of pulling off a lucrative swindle when the former's teenage daughter arrives unexpectedly.Angela: She said you were a bad guy. You don't seem like a bad guy.
Roy: That's what makes me good at it.