A Shock to the System

1990 "Climbing the corporate ladder can be murder."
6.6| 1h31m| R| en| More Info
Released: 23 March 1990 Released
Producted By: Brigand Films
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Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Madison Avenue executive Graham Marshall has paid his dues. A talented and devoted worker, he has suffered through mounting bills and a nagging wife with one thing to look forward to: a well-deserved promotion. But when the promotion is given to a loud-mouthed yuppie associate, Graham unleashes his rage on an overly aggressive panhandler, who he accidently kills by pushing him into the path of an oncoming subway train. He re-thinks his problems with an entirely new solution. First, he arranges an "accident" for his annoying wife. Then he creates another "mishap" for his boss. It seems like the world is once more Graham's oyster…but a missing cigarette lighter and a prying police detective may change all that.

Genre

Comedy, Crime

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Director

Jan Egleson

Production Companies

Brigand Films

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A Shock to the System Audience Reviews

SunnyHello Nice effects though.
Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!
Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.
Spikeopath 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 through the emotional gears. From beat down Milquetoast to ruthless killer with a glint in his eye, Caine plays it to perfection. There's stabs of humour along the way, Caine a natural at this of course, and he even gets a young love interest in the form of the unbelievably cute Lizzie McGovern. Interesting to note that Graham's sex life improves greatly once the killing begins!Driven by an antagonist who toys with the audiences sympathies and moral repulsions, this is a film that's deserving of greater exposure and is ripe for re-evaluation. Great film, great Caine. 9/10
projectmogul Almost effortlessly accomplished, A Shock to the System absolutely exudes confidence and remains a minor - if largely still unknown - classic. Caine is on real form as the tale's moral black hole, conjuring a performance of occasionally genuine surprise (witness Caine's hilarious reaction to his wife's death, or his utter bewilderment/rage over being passed over for promotion).With Gary Chang's dexterous score and the production's nimble, well-framed cinematography, it's one of those rare films that allows you to absolutely relax, confident that you are in good hands. A similar case could be made for Liliana Cavani's superb Ripley's Game which is charted by an equally immoral (but again highly satisfying) compass.
bob_meg I'd love to know if the part of Graham, the droll-voiced, rage-repressed Brit, confined to a suburban Connecticut prison and a Madison Avenue job he secretly loathes, was written especially for Michael Caine. It really could have been, and not because he does such a fine job with it.No, "A Shock To The System" is really a much more British-type thriller than an American one. It is extremely dark, remorseless in its cold-hearted execution of moral-less morals and it laughs in our face at every confounding expectation.Graham is all about pent-up anger and we love him for that. When the promotion he has been banking on for several years falls through the cracks to land in the lap of a sycophantic, smarmy Yuppie (played smoothly by the effortless Peter Riegert, looking very young here), he decides he's had enough, and concocts a fiendish scheme that's so brilliant and manipulative, it just might work.Another reason why this film strikes me as so un-American is that it is really all about the suspense, not the pay-offs. It keeps a deliciously taut tension throughout that's so well executed, you really forget there are few really jarring moments (save one, that makes the entire picture worth watching).And not just Caine is well cast. Liz McGovern has her long-overdue leading-lady performance and bags it effortlessly. Similar strong support to Swoosie Kurtz who plays Graham's ditsy but demanding wife with such bubble-headed ease that its difficult to hate her; Jenny Wright, who always brings a nicely fresh ingénue quality to whatever role she plays; Will Patton, whose stern, no-BS attitude makes him a formidable adversary to Graham's misdeeds; but most of all to John McMartin, whose portrait of a virtuous but increasingly apathetic executive will ring bells in many people's heads and hearts.The ending is a bit of a cheat, but you'll live. The movie as a whole will resonate as clearly as Gary Chang's wonderfully pensive score, rendered flawlessly by the Turtle Island String Quartet.
Norman_Castle A fairly mediocre movie. Only Michael Caine's performance rescues it from being truly awful. The original novel by Simon Brett is 100 times superior. I recommend you read it, and you'll see how far the film version falls short of the mark.The original novel was an entertaining crime thriller. The movie strives to be a black comedy, but misses. The real problem is the ending, or rather the lack of one. In the original novel,I won't spoil it for you, but Graham Marshall gets his well-deserved comeuppance in a supremely ironic fashion. The film version just stops abruptly, with no real denouement or climax. So, we don't get to enjoy seeing his destruction, and because he's such an unsympathetic character, we also don't enjoy seeing him get away with it.And that "bippity-boppity-boo" stuff is just annoying.