Let me see if I can get this straight. First, Shepherd Mead wrote a novel, and it was transformed into a Broadway musical comedy by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock, and Willie Gilbert. Then David Swift adapted it into a screenplay and directed this feature film. Whew.

It's a good one. It stars Robert Morse, who is great at playing spirited, opportunistic everymen who have a knack for manipulating social and corporate systems to advantage. Here, he starts out as a window washer, and the title gives away more or less where he ends up. Of course there's a love interest and a rival and a buddy at the bottom; these aren't cliches so much as staples of the genre.

It's a funny screenplay made funnier by Morse's lovable demeanor. He's easy to root for, and easy, too, to have fun doing so.