The Associates (1979)

Eliot and William Simmons meet Tucker at Harvard, and welcome him into the firm. Back in New York, William waits for Tucker and the other new associates to arrive, while Johnny talks with him about the possibility of being made partner. After Tucker and nervous Leslie, who's been escorted by her overprotective mother, get there, William introduces them, and says they and the third newcomer will have to share two offices. Leslie reminds Tucker that they previously met at a party while she was hammered. They both meet Sara, who's already claimed her office, and demands they share the other one -- which is fine with Tucker, since he's infatuated with her. During their indoctrination, Mr. Marshall pops in, and tells Eliot and William he wants to talk about making them partner, prompting them to call a hasty end to things. Mr. Marshall's got bad news; due to finances, he can only appoint one junior partner. Since he hasn't yet decided which, Eliot sucks up. Tucker feels guilty that his firs

Johnny laughs when Tucker admits to him that he has a crush on Sara, who is not only out of Tucker's league, she's out of Johnny's league, too. Mr. Marshall announces that the firm will represent best-selling author/professor Julius Barnes, who's being sued for plagiarism by a former student. Tucker says he's offended when Sara changes clothes in front of him and parades around in her lingerie like he's not even there. Barnes shows up to begin his deposition, but Tucker is too flustered over Sara to concentrate. Tucker and Barnes have a private meeting later, where Barnes figures out what's up when he sees Sara's name all over Tucker's pad. Since romance is what his book is all about, he offers to coach Tucker on what to say to woo her. Tucker attempts to try out his newfound knowledge on Leslie, but even though he says he's just testing her before he uses the words on another woman, he's so convincing she's fooled into thinking they're not for another woman. The case hits a bump in th

The firm handles the case of Louis Forrestal, who's being sued for support by a former live-in love, Camille. Though Eliot doesn't want to represent him, he can't say no; Forrestal pays the firm a huge yearly retainer. Mr. Marshall tells Eliot to try for a settlement. Forrestal says he agreed to provide for her when they were in the relationship, not after it. Eliot tries unsuccessfully to talk Forrestal into settling, and panicks when he says no. So Tucker, Leslie and Sara have their first day in court, and Mr. Marshall has his first in years when he comes by to give support. Eliot shows Forrestal pictures from a P.I. that show Camille cheating on him over and over. When it looks like he's going to lose, Eliot takes the pictures and tries to smear Camille's name, but the judge puts a stop to it and Tucker convinces Eliot to let him take over. Since Camille is suing over a lost singing career she claims she gave up because of her devotion to Forrestal, Tucker makes her sing in court to

Mr. Marshall returns from a trip to Palm Beach, and brings back the ninth wealthiest woman in the world, Mary Nicholson, so he can ask for her hand in marriage. It's good news for Eliot too, since Mr. Marshall wants to relocate him to Palm Beach to handle all the other rich folks' estates there. Eliot, who thinks he'll be meeting all these hot babes in Florida, is allowed to take one of the new associates with him, and chooses hot babe Sara. But first he'll have to handle the will of the very old and tan Mrs. Nicholson, which proves a daunting task after she unwillingly jumps his bones. Eliot turns down her advances because Mr. Marshall has designs on her, but Mrs. Nicholson sets the record straight -- Mr. Marshall doesn't anymore since she told him about her new love affair! After trying to hide from his boss, Eliot eventually goes to talk with him, but Mr. Marshall makes him wait for hours until his anger passes. Then he cancels the assignment to Palm Beach. Mr. Marshall has a partin

Mr. Marshall announces that Bass and Marshall will soon become Bass, Marshall and Milestone, as they're getting a new senior partner, former Secretary of Treasury Thomas Milestone. At a welcoming party, Eliot tries to flatter Milestone by impressing him with his knowledge about the man's life, only to come off like a stalker. Milestone lights up when Eliot mentions squash, which they both like to play, but Milestone's the only one who likes to be both a sore loser and someone who has no respect for those who play badly. So Eliot decides to let him win, albeit by a narrow margin so he'll still look like a worthy opponent. Eliot changes his tune when Tucker tells him he overheard Milestone saying he's a despicable toadie who would lose on purpose to advance his own career. After the game, Eliot says he killed Milestone. In more ways than one. When Eliot can't work, he confesses to the others what he did on the court that made it a real deathmatch. He didn't care about Milestone, only how

Bass and Marshall's new case has them representing a newspaper that wants to print information about the defense department, but can't because the government got a restraining order. Eliot's uneasy about the case, since the government's attorney is his tyrannical Harvard law professor, Charles W. Kingsfield. Eliot was so afraid of him that he developed a stutter -- which the professor made light of in front of the class, and which caused Eliot to earn the nickname ""Porky."" Old colleagues Mr. Marshall and Kingsfield come to blows when Marshall accuses Kingsfield of being a senile teacher and Kingsfield accuses Marshall of being a greedy pig surrounded by toadies. Eliot plans to ask Mr. Marshall to take him off, until Kingsfield sees him again and calls him by his old class nickname. In court, Kingsfield tries to break Eliot down by reminding him of his stuttering. The others help him press on when his voice falters, but before Eliot can finish his motion, the case ends abruptly when the

Johnny comes to Mr. Marshall for help, as he needs a lawyer but is poor. Mr. Marshall says they can handle his case pro bono, until Johnny says he needs one because he just found out he's a father -- which Mr. Marshall thinks will bring negative publicity. But Johnny doesn't want a lawyer to avoid responsibility, he wants a lawyer to accept responsibility. He can't, because Susan, the mother, won't let him. Eliot talks with Tucker, Leslie and Sara about Johnny's paternity case that Mr. Marshall stuck him with, hoping to pass it on to one of them. Leslie jumps at the opportunity as it'll be her first human interest suit, meets with Johnny, and says Susan's defense is that the baby's not his. Susan, and her lawyer, Mr. Simms, arrive, and Simms says they know who the father is, but won't share the wealth as the burden of proof is on Johnny -- especially so since they're going to claim the pair were nothing more than friends. Leslie refuses settlement and threatens a messy court battle, ca

A network is having censorship issues with a new sitcom, Me and Stevie, whose producer is threatening to sue if forced to cut things requested by S&P. Since the firm represents the network, one of the associates will handle it. After testing the group with off-color ethnic jokes, Mr. Marshall selects Tucker -- who didn't laugh -- and sends him to Hollywood to meet Gerald McMartin, the network chief, and Phil Kramer, the inflexible producer. Kramer says he'll only cut the scene in question if Tucker tells him it isn't funny, so it's performed live for him to judge. In it, a father has to explain to his young Boy Scout son Stevie about the airhead, Vera, that he just caught his dad in bed with. But Stevie locked himself in the bathroom and won't come out. During the course of the scene, Chick appears in his underwear, while Vera says she has to go tinkle, uses a slur for gays and gets her hair caught in Chick's zipper. S&P sends over gay group rep Adamson, who convinces Kramer the gay ja

Leslie is chipper when she starts seeing a political high-school teacher, Jerry Davis. Eliot plans his first party since being made partner, and Leslie plans to bring Jerry as her date, against Sara's whim. Leslie has second thoughts herself when she learns Jerry's got a big mouth with which he dubs the associates ""exploiters."" Fearful that Jerry not minding his manners around her peers will make it harder on the new girl in the future, Leslie convinces him to play nice there, and then asks Tucker, who shows up dateless, if he could help Jerry feel comfortable. Tucker agrees to do so with his Judy Garland impression. Eliot worries the party might stink until Johnny introduces him to the sexy rent-a-girl he asked to be fixed up with, Yvonne Winslow. Leslie worries Jerry will stick out like a sore thumb when Sara arrives with her date, Greek shipping magnate Thearkis Popodopolos. Her fears come to pass when Jerry and Elliot get into an angry political argument regarding the soon-to-be-ho