The Secret of My Success (1987)

Helen Slater: Christy Wills

Photos 

Quotes 

• Christy Wills : [Groans in frustration]  Why do you keep saying the exact opposite of what I say?

  Brantley Foster : Because you keep saying such stupid things.

• Christy Wills : Just tell me one more time what your solution is to this crisis.

  Brantley Foster : We don't cut, we expand.

  [the waitress, Sheila, arrives] 

  Sheila : I agree. Expansion is a positive reaction to the universe, while retraction, or cutting back, or pulling off, those are all negative forces. I used to be very negative, and then I took this personality workshop - my whole life turned around. Hiya, my name's Sheila. You make a good-looking couple - how long you been going together?

  Brantley Foster : About 20 minutes.

  Sheila : Ohhhhh, first date, huh? Good luck.

  Christy Wills : No, we're business colleagues.

  Sheila : Colleagues, who needs that? You should go together. You look good together. - Oh, oh, d'you want to order?

  Brantley Foster : Yeah, we need to see some menus, Sheila.

  Sheila : Menus! I'm sorry. - I'm studying to be an actress. I'm a much better actress than I am a waitress. Concentration, that's my big problem. I'll be right back.

  Brantley Foster : Well, Sheila's in favor of expansion.

  Christy Wills : We should bring her to our next executive meeting. I think Art Thomas would like her a lot.

  Brantley Foster : Sheila is also in favor of us seeing each other.

  Christy Wills : Yes, well, Sheila is clearly a nut.

  Sheila : [from across the room]  I heard that! You should try to be more positive with your life, or you're gonna wind up miserable.

  Christy Wills : [hiding behind her hand]  She heard me!

• Howard Prescott : Let me get this straight - Brantley is Whitfield?

  Brantley Foster : That's right. Brantley is Whitfield; Whitfield is Brantley.

  Vera Prescott : And Christy is the bimbo! Well, now that we've all had Mouseketeer roll call, I'm just going to go call my lawyer.

  Howard Prescott : [lying]  No, wait a minute. Christy is not the bimbo I was screwing around with at the office.

  Christy Wills : People better stop calling me bimbo!

  Howard Prescott : It was an entirely different bimbo altogether.

  Vera Prescott : That's fine; how many bimbos would you say there were?

  Howard Prescott : I misspoke myself. There weren't any bimbos at all.

  Brantley Foster : Except Christy.

  Howard Prescott : Right. No!

• Brantley Foster : No, the question is how many people *did* you sleep with in order to get to the top?

  [Christy throws a vase at Brantley, smashing it] 

  Vera Prescott : That was a very expensive vase, you BITCH!

  Christy Wills : *SHUT UP*! What I did was my business, not yours!

  Brantley Foster : No, you mean it was *company business*!

  Christy Wills : [snarkily]  That's right! And that's all it was. Business!

  Brantley Foster : I'll tell you something, sweetheart. You're very good at your job.

  [Brantley leaves, Christy starts crying] 

• Brantley Foster : What's up? You seem kind of upset.

  Christy Wills : I hate men.

  Brantley Foster : Well! Glad I'm not one of 'em.

• Brantley Foster aka Carlton Whitfield : Okay, so you don't eat lunch. Do you eat dinner?

  Christy Wills : Occasionally.

  Brantley Foster aka Carlton Whitfield : Tonight?

  Christy Wills : Booked.

  Brantley Foster aka Carlton Whitfield : Tomorrow night?

  Christy Wills : Booked.

  Brantley Foster aka Carlton Whitfield : All right, but don't beg, okay? It's embarrassing.

• Christy Wills : You want me to spy on him?

  Howard Prescott : No, I don't want you to spy on him. I want you to get to be friends with him, and then rifle through his papers and tell me what you find.

• Brantley Foster : At least I didn't sleep with the boss.

  Christy Wills : No, you slept with the boss's wife!

  Brantley Foster : She seduced me!

  Christy Wills : He seduced ME! What's the difference?

  Brantley Foster : I couldn't help it. You went willingly.

  Christy Wills : I suppose *you* were tied up in chains.

• Brantley Foster : Davidson, tell him! You wrote a memo to Mr. Thomas here explaining exactly what I'm talking about.

  Davidson : [embarrassed]  Well, h-how did you know I wrote that memo?

  [all the executives look at Brantley] 

  Brantley Foster : How did I know you wrote that memo? Who else could write that memo, Davidson? That memo was famous. That memo was a masterpiece. Clear, concise, to the point. That was the best damn memo I ever read! In fact, that memo wasn't even a memo. That memo was literature.

  Davidson : Well, thank you.

  Brantley Foster : You're welcome.

  Christy Wills : [dryly]  If you have finished your book report, I wonder, could you explain what your point is?

  Brantley Foster : All right. Look, the point is, we gotta be bold.

  Davidson : That's my point.

  Brantley Foster : We gotta build!

  [other executives agree] 

  Brantley Foster : We gotta expand!

  Davidson : Expanding is the only way to help the situation.

  Brantley Foster : We gotta make this company so damn strong, Davenport won't be able to find anyone willing to give up Pemrose stock. It'll be too damn valuable. Then we'll buy his ass out!

• Christy Wills : I am not a bimbo!