The Hudsucker Proxy
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The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) is a screwball comedy film about the invention of the hula hoop. It starred Tim Robbins, Paul Newman, and Jennifer Jason Leigh, and was directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. The score was composed by Carter Burwell and sampled many themes from Aram Khachaturian's Sabre Dance. The film is not an accurate portrayal of the hula hoop's creation. At $40,000,000 (USD), Hudsucker had the largest budget of any Coen film until Intolerable Cruelty, but it was a box office flop, grossing less than $3,000,000 in the US.
One of the film's narrative devices is repeated reference to the wheel of fortune.
Plot
Following the suicide of the company's founder, the board of directors of a major company mount a scheme to buy up a controlling interest in the company's stock before the founder's shares are made available for sale to the public. The directors install a naïve business school graduate as the company's new head, hoping to temporarily depress the stock price. A newspaper reporter sent to learn about the previously-unknown newcomer hides her identity in order to win his confidence. To the great chagrin of the board, the company becomes more successful when the proxy's new invention, the hula hoop, becomes a hit.