#Brewster's Millions

[80smovies]

[youkorayah]

this mad me laugh so hard i was crying!

mad me think of that movie from 1985 "Brewster's Millions"

Plot armor but it’s Bruce Wayne’s wealth.

Bruce is one of the richest men in the world. Bruce does not want to be one of the richest men in world.

He starts by implementing high starting salaries and full health care coverages for all levels at Wayne Enterprises. This in vastly improves retention and worker productivity, and WE profits soar. He increases PTO, grants generous parental and family leave, funds diversity initiatives, boosts salaries again. WE is ranked “#1 worker-friendly corporation”, and productively and profits soar again.

Ok, so clearly investing his workers isn’t the profit-destroying doomed strategy his peers claim it is. Bruce is going to keep doing it obviously (his next initiative is to ensure all part-time and contractors get the same benefits and pay as full time employees), but he is going to have to find a different way to dump his money.

But you know what else is supposed to be prohibitively expensive? Green and ethical initiatives. Yes, Bruce can do that. He creates and fund a 10 year plan to covert all Wayne facilities to renewable energy. He overhauls all factories to employ the best environmentally friendly practices and technologies. He cuts contracts with all suppliers that engage in unethical employment practices and pays for other to upgrade their equipment and facilities to meet WE’s new environmental and safety requirements. He spares no expense.

Yeah, Wayne Enterprises is so successful that they spin off an entire new business arm focused on helping other companies convert to environmentally friendly and safe practices like they did in an efficient, cost effective, successful way.

Admittedly, investing in his own company was probably never going to be the best way to get rid of his wealth. He slashes his own salary to a pittance (god knows he has more money than he could possibly know what to do with already) and keeps investing the profits back into the workers, and WE keeps responding with nearly terrifying success.

So WE is a no-go, and Bruce now has numerous angry billionaires on his back because they’ve been claiming all these measures he’s implementing are too expensive to justify for decades and they’re finding it a little hard to keep the wool over everyone’s eyes when Idiot Softheart Bruice Wayne has money spilling out his ears. BUT Bruce can invest in Gotham. That’ll go well, right?

Gotham’s infrastructure is the OSHA anti-Christ and even what little is up to code is constantly getting destroyed by Rogue attacks. Surely THAT will be a money sink.

Except the only non-corrupt employer in Gotham city is….Wayne Enterprises. Or contractors or companies or businesses that somehow, in some way or other, feed back to WE. Paying wholesale for improvement to Gotham’s infrastructure somehow increases WE’s profits.

Bruce funds a full system overhaul of Gotham hospital (it’s not his fault the best administrative system software is WE—he looked), he sets up foundations and trusts for shelters, free clinics, schools, meal plans, day care, literally anything he can think of.

Gotham continues to be a shithole. Bruce Wayne continues to be richer than god against his Batman-ingrained will.

Oh, and Bruice Wayne is no longer viewed as solely a spoiled idiot nepo baby. The public responds by investing in WE and anything else he owns, and stop doing this, please.

Bruce sets up a foundation to pay the college tuition of every Gotham citizen who applies. It’s so successful that within 10 years, donations from previous recipients more than cover incoming need, and Bruce can’t even donate to his own charity.

But by this time, Bruce has children. If he can’t get rid of his wealth, he can at least distribute it, right?

Except Dick Grayson absolutely refuses to receive any of his money, won’t touch his trust fund, and in fact has never been so successful and creative with his hacking skills as he is in dumping the money BACK on Bruce. Jason died and won’t legally resurrect to take his trust fund. Tim has his own inherited wealth, refuses to inherit more, and in fact happily joins forces with Dick to hack accounts and return whatever money he tries to give them. Cass has no concept of monetary wealth and gives him panicked, overwhelmed eyes whenever he so much as implies offering more than $100 at once. Damian is showing worrying signs of following in his precious Richard’s footsteps, and Babs barely allows him to fund tech for the Clocktower. At least Steph lets him pay for her tuition and uses his credit card to buy unholy amounts of Batburger. But that is hardly a drop in the ocean of Bruce’s wealth. And she won’t even accept a trust fund of only one million.

Jason wins for best-worst child though because he currently runs a very lucrative crime empire. And although he pours the vast, vast majority of his profits back into Crime Alley, whenever he gets a little too rich for his tastes, he dumps the money on Bruce. At this point, Bruce almost wishes he was being used for money laundering because then he’s at least not have the money.

So children—generous, kindhearted, stubborn till the day they die the little shits, children—are also out.

Bruce was funding the Justice League. But then finances were leaked, and the public had an outcry over one man holding so much sway over the world’s superheroes (nevermind Bruce is one of those superheroes—but the public can’t know that). So Bruce had to do some fancy PR trickery, concede to a policy of not receiving a majority of funds from one individual, and significantly decrease his contributions because no one could match his donations.

At his wits end, Bruce hires a team of accounts to search through every crinkle and crevice of tax law to find what loopholes or shortcuts can be avoided in order to pay his damn taxes to the MAX.

The results are horrifying. According to the strictest definition of the law, the government owes him money.

Bruce burns the report, buries any evidence as deeply as he can, and organizes a foundation to lobby for FAR higher taxation of the upper class.

All this, and Wayne Enterprises is happily chugging along, churning profit, expanding into new markets, growing in the stock market, and trying to force the credit and proportionate compensation on their increasingly horrified CEO.

Bruce Wayne is one of the richest men in the world. Bruce Wayne will never not be one of the richest men in the world.

But by GOD is he trying.

[ozdeg]

[thejonymyster]

i am obsessed with moments of pause like the scene in brewster's millions when they show him the room they designed for him in all reds and greys

[jenniferslightning]

China stars in Brewsters Millions: Christmas now streaming on BET+

[crusheswhimsandfancies]

This comment cracks me up. So true

[angelamontoo]

A lot of my lorre related opinions have changed since I've had this blog

The biggest one I can think of rn is that Polo and 'I was an Adventuress' >>>>>>> Louie and 'I'll give a million'

[tou-dai]

Love this movie.

For many reasons

So many 😂😂😂

[lifetimemoviereview]

Brewster’s Millions: Christmas (BET+ 2024)

Brewster’s Millions: Christmas (2024 BET+) 📺.  Stream/Watch the Movie (Ad): Watch this movie on demand now with BET+ Cast: Sierra Aylina McClain, China Anne McClain, Ralphy Lopez, Telma Hopkins and Romeo Miller Director: Patricia Cuffie-Jones Writer(s): Patricia Cuffie-Jones, George Barr McCutcheon, Joseph Nasser ➡️    Check out our Youtube Channel: Lifetime Uncorked: Lifetime Movie…

[thegeekiary]

Jingle Bell time will definitely be a swell time for holiday movies this year. In the past, networks such as Hallmark and Lifetime, have boasted their many holiday movie offerings. The movies all seemed to have much of one particular theme…..the casting choices. The majority of the lead actors for these films were white. Every now and again you would get a side or background character that was another race, but not a meaningful storyline. In the past two years, Netflix has joined the holiday movie fest with their own original films. This year, many Black actors have been added to lead roles and original films that have a majority Black cast.

READ MORE: Black Excellence Sleighs This Holiday Season

[my-self-reflections]

[ilovehugslikealotalot]

THIS IS SO GOOD.

salt and pepper

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Jessie Matthews (Evergreen, First a Girl, It's Love Again, Gangway)—known as “the dancing divinity”, jessie matthews was a british musical star of stage and screen in the 20s and 30s - if you're an enjoyer of lavish art deco musicals of the likes of fred and ginger, busby berkeley etc, definitely give her movies a try they are delightful! (tantalizingly there were multiple attempts made to pair her and fred together that never came to fruition - gaumont-british tried to get fred for evergreen and mgm wanted jessie for a damsel in distress.) and for the women in tuxedos enjoyers, her 1935 movie first a girl was the first english language remake of viktor und viktoria, famously later remade with julie andrews.

Lili Damita (Brewster's Millions, Goldie Gets Along, Fighting Caravans)—no propaganda submitted

This is round 1 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut—there is one NSFW photo]

Jessie Matthews:

Star of British 1930s stage and screen, she introduced classic songs by Noel Coward and Rogers and Hart to English audiences, and then played perky heroines, but today it’s her genderswapping role in First A Girl that probably gets most attention.

Lili Damita:

[imahumashipper]

Why is China so fucking pretty!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited to see this movie because Brewster’s millions is one of my favorite movies

[silverspleen]

After watching the first four the Fast & the Furious movies (and ok... Dom was only in 2 of them) you would think The Authorities (the cops/FBI) would learn to keep Brian (Paul Walker) away from any Torettos. You would think they would keep him far, far away from Dom (Vin Diesel) and Mia (Jordana Brewster). Being around a Toretto makes Brian act out against The Law.

But no! Inevitably they are like "in order to prove your loyalty to The Law you must arrest Dom" and every fucking time he's like "instructions unclear!- I fucked Dom's sister Mia, got into a homoerotic friendship-rivalry with Dom, and am now eating dinner at their house. Would you like us to include you in our grace over dinner? Also I got back into street racing broke One Million Driving Laws and blew up three cars."

And the authorities are like "egads O'Conner! We knew you were a roguish devil with crimes in your soul." Like c'mon now you could have kept him entertained with some gentle chases this is your own fault for expecting him to be normal around a Toretto, a thing which is physically impossibly for Brian to do. He goes within one mile of a Toretto and he starts being like "I could really use a found family of car misfits right now. I think I'm craving found family. I think they could fix me."

[letters-to-gene-roe]

Hi! I am so excited for y'all to meet Corrie Brewster, my Band of Brothers OC, and entry in this year's @blind-dates-fest 🩷

Snip, snip, snip.

Corrie closed her eyes and let Momma cut her hair, bit by bit, into a soldier's close crop, not wanting to watch the long hanks of shiny brown hair float to the kitchen floor. She had to do this, sure, her plan would never work without it, but it still hurt her heart to see years of memories hit the ground, destined for the trash. Instead, she forced herself to listen - to her mother's shallow breathing and the wind chimes faintly ringing on the back porch, to the dog snoring in the other room and the kettle bubbling just behind her, to Johnny Mack and Russ whispering upstairs and to her own heartbeat, thumping away behind her ribs.

Snip, snip, snip.

“I used to despair over those broad shoulders of yours, but now it seems they will be your saving grace. Nothing to do about that jawline of yours, though. It's positively girlish.”

“If you're trying to discourage me, it's not working. I'm sure there will be other privates with equally ‘girlish’ jawlines, as you say.”

Snip, snip, snip.

“Yes, but none of them are named Corina Judee Brewster, are they?”

Corrie stayed silent at that, and her mother did not speak again. Eventually, she finished her daughter's hair, and while she swept, Corrie reached into the cabinet and grabbed the tin of loose tea, measuring out enough for two cups (they may live in Texas, but Elsa Brewster is a born and bred Michigander, and as such, took her tea hot with milk and sugar).

“Are you going to say goodbye to your brothers?”

She wasn't planning on it. “You know I can't do that.” Please don't make this harder on me, she thought.

“It wasn't a question.” Momma was suddenly so much heavier, her blonde hair greyer, her furrows deeper. It hit Corrie, in a lightning strike sort of way, that she did this - made her mother so old before she should have been. She's only forty-three, but tonight has put ten years on her face in a way that losing two husbands and the Depression didn't. “When we're done here, you're going to go upstairs and tell them goodbye. You're gonna get up there and tell them exactly where you're going, too.”

“Can't I-”

“No, you can't just tell them you're off with the WAC. You can lie to everyone else, lie to the government, I don't care - but you can't lie to me and you can't lie to your brothers. Especially not Johnny Mack.”

Corrie smiled. “He'd see right through me anyway.”

“Always could.” Momma did not smile, but her lips lifted a little, and her crow's feet tightened up around her grey eyes. “When you're done with them, I've got something for you.” She patted the table and got up, signaling to Corrie that it was time to get going, now that the tea was drunk. Corrie lingered in her chair, though, dreading all the possibilities of what might happen after she opened that bedroom door.

Russ will almost certainly cry. He was gentle like that, and she was glad he was too young to fight this war, at least for the moment. His eyes - grey, like their mother’s, but wide and still full of boyish wonder - will well up with hot, salty tears, and he won't fight the urge to let them flow freely like an older, tougher boy might. Johnny Mack, though, will act mad. His face, already naturally rosy in the cheeks, will flush a dark red. He'll demand she give up, and when that doesn't work (because it won't work, not in a million years), he'll demand to come with. But that's just it - it's an act. He knows there's nothing he can do about this and he hates it. He'll act mad when all he is is hurt.

After one last sip, Corrie stood. The steps creaked in a familiar cadence that almost stopped her in her tracks, but she pushed forward anyway, stopping to gather her thoughts just a moment before she, inevitably, tore their relationships apart.

She opened the door. They were both stifling laughter as she came in, but when they saw her serious expression, their faces fell. Breathe, she told herself, just… breathe. Closing the door behind her, Corrie's feet felt like lead weights, and she stayed where she was as she delivered the news before it could choke her. Between sobs, Russ begged to know why. Every answer she gave set off a new rush of tears, and so she stopped trying to explain and pulled him into her side, like they were kids again and this was all just a bad dream she could soothe away.

“Johnny Mack?” She looked over to her oddly silent brother. This was not what she had expected at all.

“I can't ask you to be safe, but I can ask you not to be stupid. Don't forget to write, Judee.” There is not a single ounce of anger in his voice, not even a drop of hurt or a dash of surprise, but there is a glint in his eye that says he - somehow! - knew she was going to do this. You can't lie to Johnny Mack, her mother had said. He'd see right through me. “Gonna tell momma?”

“She cut my hair.” Johnny Mack nodded and in an act of brotherly affection, ruffled her hair, the short, slightly damp strands going every which way. It got Russ’ attention and made him chuckle wetly.

“Yeah,” her youngest brother said, “I wanna hear all about it.”

When she leaves the room, she's calm, calmer than she was before she told her mother, even. Now, everyone who needs to know - everyone who matters - knows. Corrie feels a bit boneless now; she kind of doesn't want to go back downstairs to where her mother has settled in the living room. She's spilled herself out to her family, and it's left her feeling like a wrung-out towel left hanging on the clothesline. That's just how it goes, sometimes, she thinks. The man she needs to be cannot exist alongside the woman she already is, and so Corina must be poured out to make way for Private Brewster.

Momma was sitting in her chair, eyes fixed on a point far in the distance when Corrie made her way back to the living room. She stirred as Corrie settled on the couch. “I was thinking,” she began, “when the war's over, and when you've come back-’

“If-”

“When.” Momma’s voice was firm, final. “When you've come home, will you come back to me as my daughter or… or would you like to be my son from now on?”

Corrie thinks on it for a moment. It's a hard question to give a simple yes or no to, even if the possibility had crossed her mind before, which it hadn't. “I think- I think you'll have to ask me again when the time comes.” She can't quite make herself say when I come home.

Her mother nods. “And what name should I call you in the meantime, darlin’?”

“James. James Conrad Brewster.”

“Well, then. Goodnight.” Corrie can hear the creaks of her mother's bones as she stands to kiss her on the forehead, her shaking hands caressing gently her now-dry hair. “Goodnight, Jamie. Write soon.”

—☆—

Louella insisted on walking with her down to the station. Despite the early hour, she was dressed up in her second best set of clothes - stockings, makeup, and all. The streets were busy, but not bustling, and Lou had her arm threaded through Corrie's as they slowly made their way from Lou's family home to the train station.

“You didn't have to get all dolled up just for me, ‘specially since I know you'll have to go right back home to change for work.”

“It was worth it to give you a good and proper send off,” Lou purred.

“Know what would make it even better?”

“What?”

A giddy grin tugged at Corrie's mouth. “A kiissss,” she sing-songed, and dove for Lou's lips. Pink Champagne, her mind supplied. She had bought the tube while they were out running errands together, and Corrie had a matching one in Red Raspberry. Bet most GIs don't have that in their bedside drawers, Corrie thought.

“Oh!” She ducked, putting a hand on Corrie's chest to keep her away. “You are not getting on a troop train covered in my makeup!”

“Aww, why not? It'll make all the other fellas jealous.” She still said no, but compromised on letting Corrie kiss her on the cheek. Her face powder was sweetly bitter on her lips, and she savored the uniquely ‘Lou’ scent of garden dirt, cooking oil, and a spritz of rosy perfume - not an ideal smell, but a human one, and it made Corrie feel stronger at heart. She lingered there, not letting a single second be wasted. “Can I expect a letter or two?”

“Of course not.” Corrie pauses, her heart in her throat. “You can expect a great many letters, every week if I can manage it. Can't let you forget me in favor of some Georgia peach, can I?”

“Good God, woman, don't scare me like that!”

The station clock ticked nearer to her departure time. Neither of them wanted this to become a tearful goodbye, but they were beginning to feel their remaining time together slip away. Her heart raced as she pulled out of Lou's embrace, half-inch by half-inch. She wants - needs! - to impress every detail into her mind before she goes, but it seems they have wasted their chance, they've only got a minute or so, no time at all. “Goodb-”

“This is not goodbye. I will not tolerate such finality.” There was not a single tear escaping her eyes, but her voice was thick with the strain of keeping it that way.

Corrie shook her head. “Please, let me say it. For myself.”

“Go ahead, then.”

“Goodbye, Lou.”

Lou's soft blonde curls trembled as she replied, “Goodbye, Corrie,” and yanked her down onto her lips. “Goodbye.”

Toccoa, Georgia - here she comes.