GSA Daily Staff Report
Published Sept. 17, 2010

Fifty-three years separate the release of the films “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Office Space,” but the two business-related flicks are top of mind when GSA Daily readers are asked to name the top business-related movie ever made.

The 1999 comedy film “Office Space” is a tale of computer programmers fed up with their mundane jobs. One scene depicts the trio of characters not only smashing computers with a bat, but also physically assaulting them. Also, a worker ignored by his boss finally snaps when his favorite red Swingline stapler is taken from him.

In a GSA Daily list of 27 business-related films, “Office Space” starring Ron Livingston, Jennifer Aniston and David Herman received 13.6% of the vote.

Most people associate “It’s a Wonderful Life” with the holiday season, but the classic film depicts a suicidal businessman visited by an angel who shows him what life would be like if he never existed. The 1946 film starring James Stewart received 10.2% of the vote.

GSA Daily’s sister publication in Charleston, the Daily Journal, also ran the survey. “Office Space,” was the No. 1 film in their survey with 19.2% of the vote, followed by “Wall Street” with 17.2%.

Other favorite films of GSA Daily readers were: “The Godfather (I, II and/or III),” 8%; “Glengarry Glenross,” “Jerry Maguire” and “Wall Street” (original), 6.8%; “Barbarians at the Gate,” 5.7%; “Boiler Room” and “Trading Places,” 4.5%; “Citizen Kane,” “Erin Brockovich” and “Working Girl, 3.4%; “The Aviator,” “The Insider,” and “The Verdict,” 2.3%; and “Baby Boom,” “Clerks,” and “Who Killed the Electric Car?,” 1.1%.

Another 12.5% of the total 88 responses to the survey added their favorite to the list of top business-related movies. Added were: “The Pirates of Silicon Valley,” “Nine to Five,” “Roger & Me,” “The Secret of My Success,” “A Flash of Genius,” “The Informant,” “Being There,” “The Fountainhead,” “Blood Diamond,” “The Smartest Guys in the Room,” and “Boogie Nights.”