Bloomberg BusinessWeek
"Top 30 Must-See Movies for Business Students"
July 29, 2011

BusinessWeek asked deans from the country's top 30 business schools to share their favorite movies with a business theme or lesson. Below, picks from Dean Tom Gilligan and Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business Dean Paul Danos, Ph.D. '74, with their explanations as to why these movies matter.

Dean Tom Gilligan, UT Austin McCombs School of Business

Everyone's favorite classic business film, Repo Man."Repo Man" (1984), starring Harry Dean Stanton, Emilio Estevez, and Tracey Walter
Determined professionals relentlessly pursue legitimate commercial objectives in a morally and technologically ambiguous world.

"Animal House" (1978), starring John Belushi, Karen Allen, and Tom Hulce
One of the best documentaries ever made on how to structure management training and leadership-immersion programs.

"Risky Business" (1983), starring Tom Cruise, Rebecca De Mornay, and Joe Pantoliano
An innovative young entrepreneur discovers the profits and pitfalls of business development.

"Other People's Money" (1991), starring Danny DeVito, Gregory Peck, and Penelope Ann Miller
Madcap romantic comedy illustrating the finer points of the market for corporate control.

"Too Big to Fail" (2011), starring James Woods, John Heard, and William Hurt
A fictional account of the perils of corporate capitalism.

Dean Paul Danos, Ph.D. '74, Dartmouth College Tuck School of Business

"Moonstruck" (1987), starring Cher, Nicolas Cage, and Olympia Dukakis
The character Cosmo Castorini, played by Vincent Gardenia, has the "hard sell" down pat, saying to a naive young couple: "There are three kinds of pipe. There's what you have, which is garbage—and you can see where that's gotten you. There's bronze, which is pretty good, unless something goes wrong. And something always goes wrong. Then there's copper, which is the only pipe I use. It costs money. It costs money because it saves money."

When he says, "I'll make him an offer he can't refuse," he's not talking about stock options."House of Strangers" (1949), starring Edward G. Robinson, Susan Hayward, and Richard Conte
House of Strangers shows how microfinance worked in the ghettos of New York in the 1920s and '30s. The Gino Monetti character's banking success is based on lending money to neighborhood people with just a handshake, but that kind of "collateral" does not pass muster with the new breed of bank regulators.

"The Godfather" (1970), starring Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan
The Michael Corleone character, in ordering execution for a top lieutenant's switching loyalty to another family, says, "Tessio was smarter," indicating that it did not surprise him that Tessio would be the first to switch allegiance to a new leader when the old leader was past his prime.

"Citizen Kane" (1941), starring Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, and Dorothy Comingore
The office party scene has dancing girls and bands and ends with "The Charlie Kane Song," where the new leader is not only lampooned, but CEO Kane himself joins in the chorus and shows a different side of himself to the troops.

"It's a Wonderful Life" (1946), starring James Stewart, Donna Reed, and Lionel Barrymore
The small Savings and Loan officer, George Bailey, lambastes the money bags character, Mr. Potter, with "… my father didn't think so. People were human beings to him. But to you—a warped, frustrated old man—they're cattle. Well in my book, my father died a much richer man than you'll ever be!"