Climbing the corporate ladder can be murder.
When experienced advertising executive Graham Marshall loses out on a promotion to a young man, he goes down in a path of vengeance.
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Classical in form, contemporary, effortless and spare.
- classical in formformally daring
- contemporarynostalgic
- effortlessdemanding
- sparerichly built
- unpretentiousprestige
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Reviews on TMDB
Written by TMDB members; each links to the original. Not part of Tastebuds's numbers.
- kevin2019on TMDB · Mar 20268/10
"A Shock to the System" is one of those films where you eventually find yourself rooting for the character - in this case Graham Marshall - who would ordinarily be considered the bad guy, especially in light of the fact he proceeds to murder all the key figures in his life who have gradually become obstacles frustrating his efforts at every turn to achieve his full professional potential. This excellent film has been wonderfully directed by Jan Egleson with the camera restlessly roaming around the spacious office and allowing us to momentarily eavesdrop on random snippets of administrive business and there is also a slow and marvellously well balanced tension which begins to mount towards the end when it seems as though Marshall's homicidal machinations are slowly unravelling, but guess what? The film decides to let him escape justice so he can continue his unscruplous climb up the long ladder to corporate success.
Read the whole review on TMDB - CinemaSerfon TMDB · Aug 20237/10
I enjoyed this. "Graham" (Michael Caine) gets a bit narked when he is overlooked for promotion at work. When he heads home, he realises that that is just the beginning of his irritations - his wife "Leslie" (Swoosie Kurtz) nags him relentlessly! What to do? Well, his house has some dodgy electrics and whilst trying to restore the lights, he gets a mild electric shock. His "Eureka" moment is upon him - he can just eliminate those who stand in his way, or annoy the hell out of him... What now ensues is a short series of cleverly thought out, well, "accidents" that enable him to rid himself of his wife and to occupy that all important corner office at work. Can he get away with it? The thing about Caine's performance here is that it engenders sympathy. You feel for the man - and I was certainly egging him on as his shenanigans start to attract the attentions of others - not least the insurance company inspector who is looking at their domestic wiring. Not even 90 minutes long, this flies by - good efforts from Caine, the usually rather bland Elizabeth McGovern, Kurtz and Peter Riegert as the smarmy, corporate man who stole his chair in the first place. Not laugh a minute, no - but it
Read the whole review on TMDB - John Chardon TMDB · Nov 20149/10
Graham has had enough of getting the shaft… A Shock to the System is directed by Jan Egleson and adapted to screenplay by Andrew Klavan from the novel written by Simon Brett. It stars Michael Caine, Elizabeth McGovern, Peter Riegert, Will Patton and Swoosie Kurtz. Music is by Gary Chang and cinematography by Paul Goldsmith. Graham Marshall (Caine) is once again overlooked for promotion and once again his harpy wife (Kurtz) belittles him.Then a heated exchange at the train station results in the accidental death of a beggar, and he gets away with it, something which gives Graham some devilish thoughts, one of Satan's light bulbs ignited above his head. By his own admission Michael Caine has readily done films just to pay the bills or build a new house. His success ratio as per great films and performances to bad films and tired performances probably stacks up as 1 in 10, consider this, in this same year he made Bullseye! What we do know though, is that when he gets it right he knocks it out the park and thus makes all his bad films easy to forgive. A Shock to the System is an under valued film on his CV, a brilliantly constructed black comedy that finds Caine effortlessly shifting t
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Cast
- Michael CaineGraham Marshall
- Elizabeth McGovernStella Anderson
- Peter RiegertRobert Benham
- Swoosie KurtzLeslie Marshall
- Will PattonLieutenant Laker
- Jenny WrightMelanie O'Conner
- John McMartinGeorge Brewster
- Barbara BaxleyLillian
- Haviland MorrisTara Liston
- Philip MoonHenry Park
Crew
- Jan EglesonDirector
- Andrew KlavanScreenplay
- Simon BrettNovel
- Paul GoldsmithDirector of Photography
- Gary ChangOriginal Music Composer
- Peter C. FrankEditor
- William M. AndersonEditor
- Patrick McCormickProducer
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