WORKING GIRL (1988)

I love the scene where Melanie visits Sigourney’s classy apartment.

Could Melanie Griffith have had a better movie career? I could see her in the Geena Davis role in "Thelma & Louise."

OP, I LOVE this film. As a 12-year-old in the late '80s, I became a big fan of Melanie Griffith and couldn't wait to see this in the cinemas. I love it now as much as I did then, but I think I appreciate it more now.

I watched it earlier this year during the lockdown and it really is a terrific film that holds up. The script is brilliant. All three leads are outstanding and Joan Cusack is an absolute scene-stealer (and completely deserved that Oscar nomination). Let the River Run is probably my favourite movie song (and Best Song Oscar winner) ever.

However, watching it as an adult, I do sympathize with Katherine Parker a lot more than I did as a 12-year-old. There's no way she would be dismissed like that, and I still feel Weaver's performance suggests a woman who has had to really fight to get her way to the top and sacrificed a lot in the interim. Tess is not so innocent herself but Griffith is so likable you can't help but root for her. And Harrison Ford is at his sexiest and funniest here. I wish he did more films like this.

And I still quote the dialogue over 30 years later.

Griffith later said she hit on Alec Baldwin, who played her boyfriend, but he had a "no romance on the set" policy he wouldn't break.

R3, I totally agree about the Katherine Parker character. She is painted in shades of gray throughout the film but especially in the beginning, I don’t see her as a villain really. She’s a foil.

“Sometimes I sing a dance around my apartment in my underwear. Doesn’t make me Madonna. Never will.”

I enjoyed it too, OP.

Alec Baldwin must have nixed his own policy for Kim Basinger, because he met her on the set of The Marrying Man and they married soon after. And divorced soon after that.

Was she taking speech classes to get rid of her ridiculous baby voice? If so, it didn’t work. I was cringing when she explaining how she came up with the idea at the end with that silly voice of hers explaining the “fire” in her belly. And yeah, can someone be dismissed with the line “get your bony ass outta my sight” talk about workplace toxicity!

At the end when she is telling her new secretary that she doesn’t want her to bring her coffee and is making herself “likeable” I wonder how long that lasted for! Her secretary seemed gossipy. I’m sure it was only a matter of time before they’d butt heads.

I was reading OP’s thoughts on the song and laughing thinking of a former friend who said the song was the one thing that ruined the movie completely for her.

I get nostalgic watching the ending because my first job as a lawyer was in 1 Chase Plaza, the building you see when the camera pans out.

[quote] Griffith later said she hit on Alec Baldwin, who played her boyfriend, but he had a "no romance on the set" policy he wouldn't break.

Who died and made her Grace Kelly

Everything about this movies is so fake, just like the 1980s.

Love this post OP.

R3: totally agree on all of that.

‘Six thousand dollars?! It ain’t even leather!’

THR Oral History from the 30th Anniversary.

I watched the film last week...for the first time -waits for bricks-

I only remember the big Jersey hair, the really, really,, really big hair.

The ending is actually a little cynical in that the camera pulls out and you see all those other window offices.

R15 yeah. It’s like a careful what you wish for scene. She still seemed in the middle of the rat race most people can’t wait to be rid of.

[quote] I get nostalgic watching the ending because my first job as a lawyer was in 1 Chase Plaza, the building you see when the camera pans out.

The exact moment when LTRR comes into full bloom. This movie makes me so emotional. It’s a feel good movie that makes me cry without being sentimental whatsoever.

Was this nominated for best picture?

I don’t read the ending like that at all. Trust me, when you want that kind of job, that single window is your own little piece of the City.

Yes, it was nominated for Best Picture. It got a few nominations - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress (x 2), Best Song (winner).

I am surprised, though, it was not nominated for Screenplay.

I liked the Katherine Parker character too and agree with your reading, R3. I suspect she was made out to be a villain because many people implicitly assume that women are (or ought to be) supportive of each other in the workplace.

SPOILER AHEAD......

Bosses stealing their juniors' work and passing it off as their own are quite common and a man doing it wouldn't have resulted in him being regarded as a villain.

I thought Sigourney Weaver played it well although I did wonder what her character's actual background was. Was her patrician elegance something she had naturally or was she too a successful social climber who was a quick learner and had mastered the affectations of someone born into privilege?

I'm in the minority who didn't really care for the movie. And I'm a huge Mike Nichols fan. He's directed more of my all-time favorite films than any other director, (including Who's Afraid..., The Graduate, Postcards..., Wit). I wanted and expected to love the movie, but throughout, all I kept thinking was "doesn't anyone notice that Melanie Griffith is totally fucked up on drugs?" Turns out, she admitted it years later, (I think in a Charlie Rose interview). It was all Mike Nichols could do to get her thru the filming.

I read the entire Hollywood Reporter account to see if there'd be a mention of it. They all made it sound like it was an absolute dream of a production. I don't think it was!...

I haven't seen the movie since. I wonder if I'd be as distracted all these years later.

The movie worked on many levels while falling flat on others. I will not lie and say that I saw it when it came out (I was 8) or that I remember why Melanie Griffith became a huge star for a period of time in the late 80's to early 90's. IMO, her legacy was bringing quirky, "lovable", sexy and bizarre characters to life with varied success. Oddly, she played far better acted roles than this and she certainly looked far sexier in other parts (Body Double might be her best on both fronts). However I do remember that when I was a kid, Griffith was often mentioned as being one of the biggest stars of the era and seemed to be a hugely popular sex symbol with men. This film will forever be "her movie". In many ways, the screenplay is rather elementary - although no more than other 80's blockbuster hits. Weaver nailed her character as a polished, shrewd, rich-bitch, villainous manipulator and was really the brightest point of the film. Ford failed to impress me. That said, his character was written to be a passionate, feeble-minded lug so perhaps he did an OK acting job. Despite being a heart-warming David and Goliath tale that focused upon corporate class struggle, elitism, sexism and educationism (verses raw ability) - I never did find myself cheering Melanie's character much at all and was rather indifferent to her plight. I saw her as a trouble-maker and the sort of employee that would break anyone's back to get ahead - not at all unlike the "villain" role of her entitled boss. Still, it is an entertaining movie all in all and still stands up for the most part.

[quote]Everything about this movies is so fake, just like the 1980s.

this movie and Melanie appeal to trashy flyover gays of the 80s only.

R23 Funny you mention Body Double. I rushed opening day to see it. I had seen Carrie maybe 20 times, and Dressed to Kill maybe 5.

I hated it! I thought it was offensive and extremely misogynistic, (I'm a man, btw). BUT - I loved the soundtrack, and I agree it might have been MG's best performance.

When you see Tess McGill in the whore outfit her boyfriend gave her, it’s impossible to believe she could fit into Katherine Parkers clothes. They were not built alike at all.

Dim sum?

[quote]The ending is actually a little cynical in that the camera pulls out and you see all those other window offices.

Yes. I never realized that until I read it on DL years ago, now it really changes the whole film for me.

The huge townhouse where Katherine was staying belonged to her parents R20 and we learn that she went to Wellesley. Kind of explains her background.

Love this movie one of the best of the 80s.

Thanks, R29. I have forgotten those details. So I guess Ms Parker acquired her elegance and chic courtesy of her old money background.

I liked how vague the ending was. All we know is that Tess lands the job and gets out of the secretarial pool, but we never get to see if she is any good at her new job or whether the Trask idea was just a lucky one-off thing. I suppose the movie is ultimately a wish fulfilment fantasy and we are meant to buy the happily ever after ending.

Go back and watch it again and count the number of times Melanie Griffith clears her throat while she's delivering her dialogue. It'll drive you nuts.

"Fabelhaft!"

It's the thing I renner most.

I've used the line, "I am, after all, me" many times. Go to 1:30.

"Katherine Parker a lot more than I did as a 12-year-old. There's no way she would be dismissed like that, and I still feel Weaver's performance suggests a woman who has had to really fight"

No, she's had it handed to her. She's staying in her parent's place, a good choice to show she comes from money. Knowing the conceirge in the skiing hotel was a similar touch. Yes, she's had to flirt with gross men, but she's also willing to quickly throw another woman under the bus. Plus she steals from Tess and treats her like shit.

[quote] I don’t read the ending like that at all. Trust me, when you want that kind of job, that single window is your own little piece of the City.

Exactly, and for every one person with a window office there are probably 5-10 working in the middle of the floor without one.

Great movie, totally describes how the 80s were. I can’t stand Melanie but this was one of her best movies.

R10. Actually,it was Grace Kelly who died.

I am after all....me

I'm notta steak ya just can't order me.

I can watch this movie over and over and over.

You might want to rethink the jewellery

"Get your boney ass out of my sight."

[quote] The exact moment when LTRR comes into full bloom. This movie makes me so emotional. It’s a feel good movie that makes me cry without being sentimental whatsoever

Yes! Me too!

I wanted to watch this as a gayling in the 80s (I was 8 when it came out) but my dad was adamant about not letting me (he was an abusive fuck who beat me for being too feminine). I still remember looking at the newspaper add for it over and over. My mother eventually took me to see it behind his back.

Anyway, I just [italic]knew[/italic] it would speak to me and it did. “Let the River Run” still gives me goosebumps. It’s the perfect pickmeuper.

And as everyone has pointed out, the “I am, after all, me” line is perfection and Weaver’s delivery is exquisite, as is her entire performance.

I like the part where Katharine comes back from her ski holiday and is all hopped up on pain killers.

Someone says, "She had a muscle relaxant."

Katharine says, "Let's all have one!"

Always makes me laugh.

This movie came out shortly after I had gotten my first corporate job and was just getting a taste of what corporate politics and backstabbing were all about.

The whole boss taking credit for her underling's ideas theme resonated with me, since I had a boss who never gave me credit for my contributions and always tried to make it appear like she did all the work.

It would take a couple more years for me to fully realize what a soul-crushing cesspool corporate America really is.

I remember seeing it in the '90s dubbed and still think no other movies summarizes so well the mood of the '80s. I'm born in that decade and understand that those of you who really lived through it will probably say otherwise: you have memories with wich to compare the fiction of the movie. But this is my point: it's not necessarily the reality it's the suggestons, the postulations, the ideology of those years wich are represented so well.

Melanie's baby voice always takes some getting used to for me. I loathe it. It didn't bother me in Body Double for some reason though.

I signed with it but it bears repeating:

“Coffee, tea, me?”

R27 I like Carly Simon's version but what you say about this one: how many of you queens are in this choir?

I can’t picture anyone else as Tess. Melanie’s vulnerability and genuine sweetness made the movie special. Interesting to read that Alec was originally cast in Ford’s role but the studio insisted on a name in the mail lead since Melanie (who has the lead but gets third billing) wasn’t well known.

I just threw it on on Prime. Thanks, op!

Alec Baldwin wouldn't hit on woman blah , blah, blah- Alec Baldwin is a GAY BOY.

Best lines in Working Girl- Hold AWL CAWLS Ms McGill

Can I get you anything MISTA TRAINA, CAWFEE, TEA, ME!

Movies like Working Girl, Baby Boom, Big Business are all great movies that came out around the same time. What else?

Lorraine Bracco wrote in her memoirs that she screen-tested for the part of Tess, feeling this was HER role as she knew this character inside and out

She was devastated when she didn't get the part

“Are ya decent?”

"Whaddya need speech class for, ya tawk fine?"

R57 She would’ve been interesting, but Griffith is magic in this. It’s her best performance.

Lorraine Bracco is wonderful but I gotta think she would have made Tess too tough. Melanie is a wide eyed innocent surrounded by wolves but makes it very clear she’s not to be fucked with.

R60 what of her role in Cecil B. Demented?!

R56 The secret of my success.

R62 I’ve never watched it!

R64 yes, it's a hilarious late John Waters film!

R65 Will definitely check it out.

[quote] any good at her new job or whether the Trask idea was just a lucky one-off thing.

I think Trask asks her that specifically. Something about fire in her belly.

Yeah r63 I watched The Secret of My Success earlier this year and manysimilarities to Working Girl. I like both but WG has the better script.

I never liked Michael J Fox, couldn't get through the Secret of My Success. Just didn't have the charm.

You think that's FUNNY?!

R68 I Agree.

Another favorite delivery:

[quote]I’m light. No sugar.

I love the seeing Manhattan in the 1980s in this movie. Such a great time capsule!

R68 The Secret of My Success is a cross between Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Working Girl. I used to love it as a kid. It’s still a guilty pleasure.

I love hate the movie. Something about Melanie Griffith just bothers the fuck out of me. Also I can't really believe her as a smart girl in a vixen's body.

r56, Moonstruck

It needs a bow oha somethin'

Fuck maybe, maybe means dick.

[quote]And oddly enough, the thing that pulls the whole movie together is Let the River Run. Such an off-color choice

"Off-color" usually means vulgar or obscene. Is that what you meant? Because it certainly doesn't seem to fit.

"It's not even leatha!"

My favorite. Love this movie.

It's like Moonstruck but it has the awesome song.

Just reaching the end of the movie. Weaver is so delicious in this. Her line readings are perfection. These two in particular- and mind you, they’re not great lines - have me rolling one minute and in reverent awe the next:

[quote]Good God, Tess, don’t you know when to stop?

[quote] My God, she'll stop at nothing.

😂

I also love Weaver's line readings in this. They really are perfection. Perfect casting.

I felt bad for Weaver that year - nominated for both Gorillas in the Mist and Working Girl and lost. Wasn't she the first double nominee to lose?

One thing about Weaver is she may have lost the Oscar but her performances are ones people still talk about years later (Alien, Aliens, Working Girl, The Ice Storm).

R72 accompanied by that exquisite nonchalant coat toss.

R82 I LOVE her in “A Map of the World.” She’s my win that year.

R83 Yes!

And I forgot: Nora Dunn.

Love her.

I’m sorry, but I simply won’t stand for that kind of talk.

What is it with her skin? It's like every 5 years she has to get extra skin removed and tightened-up.

I hope she donates the cast-offs to burn centers.

R87, that has always confirmed Katherine's patrician background -- no matter how badly she is caught out for her duplicitous behavior, no mere businessman is going to speak to a Parker that way.

Fresh off her success in "Moonstruck" (and winning the Oscar months before this came out), Olympia Dukakis had a cameo as "personnel director". Even with just two minutes, she's not someone to be messed with!

[quote] ‘Six thousand dollars?! It ain’t even leather!’

That's "leath-ah," R12.

Favorite lines by Katherine:

I am, after all, me.

Dress shabby they notice the dress. Dress impeccably they notice the girl. Coco Chanel.

"Cute bunny."

I have used this movie many times to provoke discussions of socio-economic class in education and the workplace, sexism in the workplace, and corporate and finance culture, with European business students. It's a bit long in tooth now, sadly. Much of it's portrayal of class politics is lost on Europeans however Middle Eastern, African, and Indian students could identify pretty quickly what is going on. I never used it with Brits but they would probably pick up quickly.

"You read Interview?"

R52 I love the was she says “Coco Chanel.” Her inflections in this movie are incredible. Ever so subtle but impactful.

Typical Katherine: Well, I’ve indicated that I’m receptive to an offer, I’ve cleared the month of June and I am after all…me

I felt bad for Tess when she had to push around the dim sum cart (twice around the room), steam in her face and in her hair. However, the dim sum cart was her idea.

More from the pivotal dim sum scene.

R94 Ms. Parker, is that you?

R95 thats W

Joan Cusack as "Cyn." I remembered the hair but forgot about the rainbow-colored eyeshadows.

Oh yes, oops "You read W?"

and is this correct: "Well if you can consider Dim Sum as the next great idea."

What a cunt, that Nora. I knew her type well.

Did this and Wall Street pretty much sum up that period in the 80s in New York? Both iconic in their own right.

I felt bad for Tess as Mick is a stone cold Fox but yeah, wrong for her. Fortunately Jack is a hot stud too, with injured masculinity.

Tess is not a realistic character she's a borderline but we buy into her motivations and Cinderella/Horatio Alger story.

After almost “fainting” and taking a drink of water...

[quote]Thank you all so much. The upside is that I have found out in time to control the damage. We have containment and we have a deal on the table. I say -

(Flings her crutches to the side)

[quote]Pass me a set of papers and let’s get on with it.

::chef’s kiss::

R104. No there were other movies. Liquid Sky. After Hours. The Hunger, Times Square. Paris is Burning (91 but really the 80s ball scene). When Harry Met Sally. Desperately Seeking Susan. Splash. Moonstruck.

Working Girl is a movie I've watched dozens of times. Not sure if I'd still like it. However:

Melanie Griffith: Perfect for the role. Can't imagine anyone else. I though the throat-clearing was something she did on purpose. She really made me empathize with her (older than her boss, starting a new job, wanting more out of life than hanging around with high school friends).

Harrison Ford: Not a fan, but he was perfect as the handsome, one-dimensional "Jack Trainer" character, object of affection.

Sigourney Weaver: Perfect also. I almost believe this is her real personality. Is it?

Alec Baldwin: perfect. He has really fallen apart, not just because he's older.

Joan Cusack: say no more.

She's Gotta Have It.

I enjoy the costumes, make-up and one-liners in this movie but have to follow Pauline Kael in recognizing that its premise is fundamentally flawed.

Katherine is a great foil, but Nichols doesn't know what to do with her in the second half of the movie. So he puts her in a hospital (where the doctor looks up her fucking gown, talk about demeaning) turns her into a manic shrew who can't keep a job or a man.

The ending especially rings false -- this avuncular old Mr. Trask accuses Siggy W of not giving proper credit to her secretary by quizzing her on the origin of the idea and just like that she's cast aside? As if any corporate merger or buyout would hinge upon such a thing; it's such a bizarre throwback to Daddy Warbucks-style characters from the 1930s and '40s who were on hand to make sure everything was fair.

Tess's victory -- getting the guy and the corporate job--isn't just a function of her ingenuity or talent but the fact that she's a dippy blonde who talks like a baby, one who learned how to remove any part of her working class/ethnic background. As Kael says, "Another director might have shown us how pretty [the secretaries] are in their purple and green and blue eyeshadow and dishevelled Marie-Antoinette hairdos, but Nichols has them looking like procuresses. The discrimination against them should be by the blind Ivy League bosses; here it's by the blind director."

[quote] Thank you all so much. The upside is that I have found out in time to control the damage. We have containment and we have a deal on the table. I say ... Pass me a set of papers and let’s get on with it.

Mommie Dearest would be proud!

[quote] Nichols doesn't know what to do with her in the second half of the movie.

Yeah, that whole thing about Tess & Jack now living together and having coffee b/f heading out to work was kind of abrupt.

I avoid rewatching it because I think I'll hate it upon rewatch.

OP Thanks for the reminder to see the movie again.

Given that Melanie's character was from Staten Island, does that mean that 28 years later, she voted for Trump?

Perhaps Jennifer Tilly would have also made a good Tess with the funny voice and all...

R110 God, I love Kaelbut also love this movie.

That brilliant deceased bitch can’t make me hate it!

I have never had a day that was so bad that the long helicopter shot used as the opening credits combined with the music couldn’t improve.

Sigourney Weaver did such a good job in her role as Katherine.

Not one of you whores have used the best line: Caroline Aaron as Secretary #2:

#2: We took up a little collection --

Tess: No, you guys

#2: It's just enough to go out and get good and toasted some night you need it. We wanted to, so don't say no. And no paying the Con Ed with it.

One of the best movies to capture NYC in the 80s.

I also think, with all seriousness, that "Let the River Run" is one of the most deserving Best Original Song winners ever.

It's one of the very few non-musical soundtracks I purchased, r120. Mainly for that song.

I started in the corporate law world the year this movie came out. I really hated Katherine because there were lots of people who acted and talked like she did and actually ascribed to her philosophy of lie. The ending also horrified me because at that time some major law firms were headquartered at Chase Manhattan Plaza and the lives of the associates who worked were dreary.

It needs BOWS or sumthin’!

r48 that's exactly how I feel about this movie. I was also a kid at the time.

For those of you who weren't around back then or too young: The big frizzy hair and heavy makeup weren't exaggerated for dramatic purposes. That is exactly how women of Tess and Cyn's socioeconomic class looked in the late 80s. I remember visiting NYC with my parents (I was in elementary school/middle school at the time) and seeing many women from the outer boroughs who looked exactly like that. Working Girl can take me back to those times like not other movie, it is such a perfect time capsule of NYC back then.

It's a time capsule from the 80s, a Cinderella story where, instead of a longing to go to a sumptuous ball, Cinderella is a spunky, sneaky, underhanded secretary who wants a high paying job in some cutthroat mercenary corporation and her Prince is an executive at a cutthroat, mercenary corporation. That was the dream of many back then: to get big bucks for working for a cutthroat, mercenary corporation. The movie hasn't aged well.

Melanie Griffith was a drunk/cokehead during the making of this film. Although she's shot through a filter it's obvious she has a puffy, unfocused look to her face. She was overpraised for this role. She was even getting compared to Marilyn Monroe! But Melanie Griffith was just a flash in the pan piece of ass. She had none of Monroe's vulnerability and appeal.

[quote]Sigourney Weaver: Perfect also. I almost believe this is her real personality. Is it?

A good friend of mine worked with Sigourney Weaver on a project about 20 or so years ago and he said she was lovely, gracious and very down to earth. A genuinely sweet person.

[quote]Melanie Griffith was a drunk/cokehead during the making of this film.

Who the hell wasn't in the 80s?

Melanie Griffith went straight to rehab after filming wrapped.

R125 I can attest to that. I used to travel to New Jersey for my work, and all the women I worked with in our Jersey offices had hair to the ceiling and wore the entire contents of their jewelry boxes on their bodies. You could hear them clanking and clunking for miles.

The M character in "The Devil Wears Prada" movie should have been named Katherine Parker and Sigourney Weaver should have been cast to play the middle-aged Katherine in that.

It's nice to see all the praise for Weaver's performance. I've heard nothing but good things about her as a person and as a professional. Her performance has aged so well because she doesn't play the role like a villain but as a foil. And even in her last scene, Weaver retains a sense of dignity. She is elegant in this; her wardrobe is tailored perfectly.

I've always adored Weaver's Golden Globe award acceptance speech. You can tell she enjoyed making this movie and has a particular fondness for Katherine.

Also, I watched the Blu-Ray earlier this year and it looks great. However, I really hope Criterion reissues it one day and they can find the deleted scenes. If you watch the trailer, you'll see some clips that are not in the film. There's a scene between Tess and Cyn before Cyn's wedding where Tess is crying.

R132 Great speech. Horrible outfit.

Let’s not forget Miss Kevin Spacey sexually harassing Tess 🙄

^I guess he had her confused with Dianne

Poor Sigourney. She once said that no one would speak to her at the post-awards parties after the Oscars because they were embarrassed for her double loss and didn't know what to say to her.

I think Julianne Moore and Cate Blanchett are the only others to be nominated in both categories in the same year and lose both. At least Moore and Blanchett have both won at least once. I wish Weaver would too.

Speaking of Kevin Spacey, this was around the same time he tried to force himself on a VERY underage Anthony Rapp.

The soundtrack is terrific. I love all the instrumental stuff by Carly Simon and Rob Mounsey. I could do without the endless Lady in Red though...

Jodie Foster won Best Actress for the Accused that year, and Geena Davis won Best Supporting Actress for The Accidental Tourist.

‘Good God, Tess, don’t you know when to stop?'

I can still hear it. Sigourney Weaver has given the most iconic performances in living memory and she's the only reason I could watch that film again.

R140 that was a great line

'You've got a fire in your belly", has got to be one of the most gross lines in movie history. I guess back then having a "fire" in your "belly" meant you had ambition and drive (and the ability to lie and manipulate, which is supposedly essential for business success). But it sounds just awful, ugh.

R134 such a surreal scene. She doesn't even look like a teenage boy!

"Watch me, Tess. Learn from me."

Native NY'er who worked downtown on Wall Street during 1980's and thought "Working Girl" was a blast. It captured on many levels what things were like in Wall Street banking even year after "Black Monday".

Olympia Dukakis as the "Personnel Director) was spot on! A woman (ethic Italian or Irish American usually) who worked herself up from the secretarial pool into human resources..... Scores of these women from Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island were all over Smith Barney, Lehman Bros, etc..

Secretaries/administrative assistants were just like Tess, girls from Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, Jersey, etc.. most with either just a high school diploma or maybe college (community or four year), who worked any of the various "pink ghetto" jobs until they married and had kids, sometimes even after.

What is amazing now is besides Twin Towers now long gone, Wall Street (or FiDi as many now call it) is largely residential. Buildings like 40 Wall long have been converted into apartments or condos, and more are coming. Investment banks are now largely all gone as well.

Thing was while it was possible for working or middle class guys to break into trader or whatever jobs on Wall Street back then (Lehman and few other firms were famous for this), girls or women from same backgrounds along with most minorities (or either sex) just never got a shot usually. Sigourney Weaver (Katherine Parker) types were more common. Females who went to right colleges for undergrad and perhaps MBA stood a much better chance.

I didn't like this movie (I didn't give a shit about spunky Tess) but I thought Sigourney Weaver was great in it. She should have won the Oscar that year.

Young and pretty New York City girl. (Twenty-five, thirty-five)

Hello baby!

New York City GIRL!

[quote] Nichols doesn't know what to do with her in the second half of the movie.

She is barely even in the second half of the movie.

Sigourney Weaver is one of those people you just know will win an Oscar someday. Eventually, the right movie will come along that allows the Academy to nominate her as lead actress, and it won’t even need to be that great a performance, she will lead the field the entire season and win by a country mile. And it won’t be a sympathy Oscar. It will be one of those Oscars you get for being THE BEST ACTRESS period.

I ain’t worried about S.W. getting her Oscar.

I thought that about Albert Finney and Peter O'Toole too, then they died.

Melanie and Don Johnson presented Geena with her award. I’m guessing the academy thought Sig or Joan would win. Awkward.

Sigourney did really great work in Map of the World with Julianne Moore in a supporting role. Sigourney doesn’t act. She just is whoever she’s playing. Very underrated.

It works

I think Weaver will get an honorary Oscar.

Harrison Ford at his most charming

[quote]Melanie and Don Johnson presented Geena with her award. I’m guessing the academy thought Sig or Joan would win. Awkward.

Similarly awkward: Shelley Long (who was the first choice for Tess) presenting the Globe to Sigourney.

Shelley Long as Bridge & Tunnell?

*Tunnel

As a teenager I saw 'Shining Through' and 'A Stranger Among Us' and loved Melanie in them. Not until years later when I watched them again that I saw that those films weren't that great.

And that's "star quality."

I have loved this movie since I saw it during its initial run in theaters. And I decided it was so good, I went again a few weeks later. I laugh now at the shoulder pads and hair teased like cotton candy, but the performances still seem lived in, especially Weaver's.

One scene I return to again and again is the one where Tess walks in on her BF, played by the young and then-aggressively sexy Alec Baldwin on his back and being ridden hard by someone who isn't Tess. He looks up and says, almost nonchalantly, "What, no class?" He, of course, is referring to a junior exec training program she's in.

She responds, "No class." Meaning he has no scruples, as well as no shame, being seen bare-assed with one of Tess's Staten Island girlfriends. The exchange is succinct, almost brutally so, but sums up the state of their deteriorating relationship in just two lines. Brilliant writing and acting.

I do have one problem with director Mike Nichols, though. I always have wondered why, in a movie that's ostensibly about female empowerment, he asked Griffith to vacuum Katharine Parker's apartment nude and in high heels? It seemed unnecessarily demeaning for Griffith to have to do the scene that way.

The female body is demeaning?

Today’s junior prick is tomorrow’s senior partner

Shelley Long was a hot property back then and was considered for everything. But no no no. Shelly Winters would have made a better Tess.

Favorite line by my favorite character: “Sometimes I sing and dance around the house in my underwear. Doesn't make me Madonna. Never will.”

Apparently, according to the oral history posted in a link above, the idea to do the scene topless came from Melanie Griffith herself. It was originally supposed to be bra and panties.

When I watched it yesterday on Amazon Prime I barely even noticed that she was topless, as the scene is shot wide, through a door and from down the hall. Or that was my recollection anyhow.

R110, I've always thought that Kael's take on WORKING GIRL was willful misreading in a number of respects.

Nichols doesn't know what to do with Katharine Parker? Um, (1) he didn't write it, (2) she's not the main character, (3) the plot depends on her being away for a long stretch,, and (4) the doctors' looking up her gown quite arguably fits neatly with the movie's larger theme of women demeaned by men -- even Katharine has to deal with it, but because of her social station she can and does slap the hand of the man who tries.

As for Mr. Trask's believing Tess, it's not just because of that moment. He believed in her (and Jack) for a while before that. When Katharine upset the apple cart, and Tess didn't protest but fled, he changed course. But when she can tell very precisely how the idea came to her, and Katharine can't, he gladly reverts to his previous view.

I wouldn't say WORKING GIRL is flawless by any means. But for some reason Kael seemed constitutionally unable to look favorably at any Nichols film: she was similarly perverse when writing about THE GRADUATE, CARNAL KNOWLEDGE, SILKWOOD and POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE (all wonderful movies in ways she failed -- or refused -- to see).

She was similarly dismissive of virtually every Sidney Lumet film she reviewed. I found it very believable -- and quite hilarious -- when I learned that her very lengthy assault on THE GROUP when it was in production looked pretty dumb when the movie came out and was actually pretty good. No wonder she wouldn't give the time of day to THE VERDICT, PRINCE OF THE CITY, DANIEL or many other strong Lumet films.

I love Kael's prose and biting wit, but more and more I find that I respect her critical faculties less and less. I read her the same way I read John Simon on theater.

Funny that there are threads on Working Girl and Mr. Ripley today. I think they're both the same kind of movies in a way. Characters are pretending to be someone else. And someone mentioned Desperately Seeking Susan, that is kind of in the same group. I'm fascinated by this kind of plot.

Does anybody remember when MTV had that contest called "I hate my miserable life!"?? I don't know how it ended up but they were going to give some bucks and a new house to the winner, to start a new life. That was so appealing to me when I was a teen and in my 20's.

I slept with the extra (brown overcoat red tie) that gives Melanie the once over when she arrives at the Christmas Party. at 78:18. His name is/was Michael.

Did he row your boat ashore, r169?

R168 it is a classic narrative in American literature and cinema, and perhaps culture. "Passing" and "Masquerade". For example Gatsby. It comes from America being a "new land" were people can create themselves to be who they dream being. But its also long associated with the REAL story that for some, America is NOT the land of opportunity, and these people will have to fake who they are in order to break through obstacles. For example Imitation of Life. Or Mildred Pierce. Or Dreiser's American Tragedy and the film a Place in the Sun. These are the dark sides. The cinderella versions are movies like Pretty Woman. Working Girl is a Cinderella version but if you scratch it a little bit, it shows some real ugliness and darkness. See also, Six Degrees. And yes Ripley. Stella Dallas having to give up her daughter so the daughter can rise in station. Etc etc etc.

See also the themes of Horatio Alger novels.

Sigourney Weaver in that movie with Ben Kingsley (Death And The Maiden) was fantastic.

Horatio Alger was a kiddie diddler.

I really disliked this film, it's yet another 80s film about an ambitious backstabber being presented as sympathetic, even admirable. I HATE ALL OF THOSE MOVIES!!! HATED THEM AT THE TIME, HATE THEM NOW!!!

Plus, I can't stand Melanie Griffith, who can't act at all and whom I find irritating in every single role she plays. I don't dislike her because of this film, I dislike her because she's Melanie Griffith.

What do you expect us to do with that information, R169? Rewind the tape and look for him?

Tape? Are you typing from the time of "Working Girl"?

Death and the Maiden is also on Amazon Prime.

i thought it's a movie about a prostitution whore.

R161, agree with all your points except Tess vacuuming in the nude. I thought it was a brilliant way to get the job done without sweating into her clothes. Time was of the essense! And, that body in high heels!

[quote]Tape? Are you typing from the time of "Working Girl"?

This is DL. Do you even have to ask?

Is that what got it the R rating? I wish Baldwin had done some nude vacuuming too...

Was Michelle Pfeiffer up for Tess? I guess she'd already covered similar territory with "Married to the Mob."

I was having a shitty day, so I came home and pulled it up on Amazon.

Now my day is less shitty.

I'm about to watch it too R184.

[quote] She responds, "No class." Meaning he has no scruples, as well as no shame, being seen bare-assed with one of Tess's Staten Island girlfriends. The exchange is succinct, almost brutally so, but sums up the state of their deteriorating relationship in just two lines. Brilliant writing and acting.

IMO, the "no class" comment wasn't "brilliant writing." She caught him naked in bed, boning one of her female friends. The comment made sense. That's about it.

R173 She should’ve been nominated in ‘94. Although they rightfully gave the award to Lange for her stunning work in [italic]Blue Sky[/italic] (the sex - in her mid-forties, too - the emotional, and the star POWAH; a signature Best Actress win), everyone else they nominated was unmemorable. I always include Siggy in my short list (ranked):

[bold]Jessica Lange, “Blue Sky”[/bold]

Crissy Rock, “Ladybird, Ladybird”

Sigourney Weaver, “Death and the Maiden”

Linda Fiorentino, “The Last Seduction”

Irene Jacobs, Three Colours: Red

These five bitches threw it down that year. Honorable mentions: Julianne Moore, “Vanya on 42nd Street,” Juliette Lewis, “Natural Born Killers,” Kathleen Turner, “Serial Mom.”

It was a strong year for actresses, but my top 3 were [bold]ferocious[/bold]. Siggy was sublime.

It's a mark of how good Sigourney is when you realize that as large as she looms in the movie, she has very little screen time. She makes every frame of it count.

Tasteful friends, a story about Jack's townhouse selling a few years ago.

Sigourney was what the typical DLer would like to be when she was partying it up with the doctors and staff

R161 agree about the vacuuming in lingerie! It's gratuitous.

Chrissie Rock should have been nominated in 1994 and she should have won.

Actually, she was only in pants.

R167 of course Nichols didn't write it but as the director Kael felt that Nichols abandoned Katherine toward the end of the movie through his slack pacing and dull staging. The fact that she is not the main character is irrelevant; a role or actor can be poorly served by a director or script irrespective of screen time. The doctor looking up Katherine's nighty was played for laughs, there was no comeuppance à la Alec Baldwin or Kevin Spacey's lecherous ways. It had the same effect as showing Tess in her lingerie vacuuming Katherine's apartment, pure T&A; the title is supposed to be a kind of trashy double entendre, a nod to Melanie's more revealing roles in Body Double and Something Wild, but the movie doesn't really want to be trashy, it always wants to be tasteful and classy. Sure Mr. Trask was favorably disposed to Tess and Jack after they crashed his daughter's wedding (this kind of dishonesty he was okay with?) but that gossip blind item about the DJ at the last minute? Talk about lazy plotting.

I agree that one reads Kael for her fun, pseudo-intellectual Joan Rivers prose and not for the elaboration of a sound critical worldview, and certainly by 1988 she was deteriorating mentally, but I think she made some perceptive observations here that needn't detract from one's enjoyment or nostalgia. I don't think, however, any serious critic has much to say about the thoroughly middlebrow Sidney Lumet, and I also don't disagree with her takes on other Mike Nichols movies that I still enjoy: Meryl was miscast in Postcards from the Edge, a movie that purports to be about drug addiction/recovery but is really just a silly, insidery ode to showbiz, and Silkwood is often unfocused with poorly-written roles for Cher and Kurt Russell and a weird, abrupt ending.

[quote]Did he row your boat ashore, [R169]?

On and off for about eight months.

It wasn't titled "Working Girl" before Melanie got the role?

Kael loved Lumet's "Long Day's Journey into Night", "Serpico", and "Dog Day Afternoon"; and praised aspects of "The Pawnbroker", "The Sea Gull", "Murder on the Orient Express", and "Just Tell Me What You Want".

R193, the weird abrupt ending of Silkwood was true to life. That’s how Karen Silkwood died.

I always wondered how Katharine was already enough of a big shot to rate a corner office. I know she was well connected and ambitious, but assuming she has an MBA, she'd only have been working for 5-6 years.

I realize that, R193, but even still the movie stops short in an awkward fashion. Kael noted that this was likely due to the fact that the China Syndrome "borrowed what is widely believed to have been Silkwood's murder for its highway-chase sequence."

r198 Sigourney Weaver was almost 40 years old at the time, so she would've been working professionally a lot longer than that. She was at the right age to have a corner office.

R200 Katherine was 30 years old in the movie, not 40

There’s dialogue when Katherine and Tess first meet and it’s Tess’ birthday

In the movie, though, Weaver’s character was supposed to be a bit younger than Griffith’s character. I think they were both around 30.

Weaver’s character fucked her way to the top, is the vibe I got. So, possibly she had that corner office.

When I was 30 I won my first Oscar!

If you look closely you'll see a bruise on Kevin Spacey's face in this movie. An injury from an unwilling teenage boy, perhaps?

I never caught that. I love Sigourney, but no way in hell did she look late 20s.

I loved Mel in this. My favorite performance of hers. And I agree with a poster above, I also did notice the clearing of the throat and know she openly admits to being coked out of her mind through filming but I also thought it was effective for an insecure character a fish out of water in her dream world but not really ready to be in the room yet. Always preparing yourself to speak where you're not comfortable even unintentional as self protection is an interesting character choice. Now whether she meant it as a character choice that it is arguable. But it did work for the character.

Melanie showed up late and stoned for the Staten Island wedding scene. They went into OT trying to sober her up. Nichols docked her pay for the cast/crew OT costs.

Is Map of the World the one where the child dies under someone's care? I believe i remember the movie vividly and remember Sigourney being marvelous in this. Julianne too

Katherine was a decent banker - she simply arrived at her position, lock step. I was an Ivy Grad Jr. Associate in investment banking. It wasn't for the sharpest minds - that was trading. It was more - "this is what you do, because of who you are, and this is how you will be rewarded." I bailed before 2 years.

Kiki had family connections. Mumsy and Dada bought her that corner office.

R211 I don't think that is Katherine's story. She is a type. Not a loser. But lightly dishonest and a real classist bitch.

Interesting that Griffith was late/high for the Staten Island wedding scene. Maybe that explains why the scene with Cyn before the wedding was cut out.

"And call me Katherine."

She just did you dumb bitch.

R209 Yes. She’s my win that year (they gave it to Goop) for Best Actress.

[quote]She responds, "No class." Meaning he has no scruples, as well as no shame, being seen bare-assed with one of Tess's Staten Island girlfriends. The exchange is succinct, almost brutally so, but sums up the state of their deteriorating relationship in just two lines. Brilliant writing and acting.

Something about this post triggered a memory about Griffith being high during the shoot and I found this article. There's a scene where she's walking down the stairs with Baldwin and she was so drunk they couldn't shoot it and Mike Nichols fined her $80k.

I think Melanie is wonderful in the film. I would never have known she had so many issues behind the scenes. She's lit beautifully and she works so well with Ford, Weaver, Cusack and Baldwin.

Speaking of Pauline Kael and Lumet, I remember vaguely her review of The Verdict, and she was pretty much dissing Lumet for showing too many close ups of Paul Newman’s face - it was really ridiculous. Newman was a subtle but devastatingly good actor, and so much of the power of that movie was in his reactions, eyes especially, body language, etc. The close ups were needed and it was one of her critiques that just came off as really petty overall.

Paul Newman became a MUCH better actor after the tragic death of his adult son. The Verdict blew me away after years of thinking Newman was just a sexy guy with charm but no real acting skills. Speaking of drinking, he used to go through cases of Coors, so I think he had a bit of a problem, too.

Newman was a heavy smoker and drinker, which is what got him in the end.

Remember Katharine Parker was a Wharton grad from Boston who was hired into that NYC investment bank. She likely negotiated her terms which probably included that corner office. That the firm bought her down from MA likely means she was *good*, not some no name talent.

As for rest this quote from article in Guardian pretty much sums things up:

"Kevin Wade’s script is aware that workers like Tess have to overcome what Donald Rumsfeld would later call the Unknown Unknowns. For every get-ahead skill Tess can pick up, studying night classes and elocution – the film came out the first year female undergraduates outnumbered men on campuses – there’s a lot she can’t master because she can’t even articulate what it is. Especially the buddy-buddy breeziness Katharine absorbed at Wharton that allows her to, say, peel a man’s paw from her neck while cheerily suggesting they split a bottle of Cristal, if he brings her on to a lucrative deal. (Tess would simply spray champagne in the lech’s face, as she does in an early scene with a coke-snorting Kevin Spacey.) To become Katharine, Tess will literally have to become Katharine: move into her townhouse, imitate her accent and borrow her couture. By the end of the film, she’ll have Katharine’s success, and, in a somewhat cruel capper, her boss’s business associate and boyfriend Jack Trainer (Harrison Ford), too."

R166 I hadn't heard that vacuuming topless was Griffith's idea. Live and learn.

Are there any Christmas scenes in this movie? I vaguely remember someone (maybe Baldwin?) wearing a Santa hat at some point. Was there a Christmas party at the bar?

Just wondering if this might be a good one to put in my annual Christmas movie rotation.

If anyone deserved an Oscar for this, it's Kevin Spacey for so convincingly playing a heterosexual man.

All this time I've interpreted the "looking up the hospital gown" scene a completely different way. I always assumed the doctor/intern/whatever is checking on her cast and she just assumes, because of who she is, that he's making moves on her and slaps his hand away. I never thought he was a perv, just that she is so self-absorbed.

Joan Cusack at her best

R225 that’s how I interpreted it too. He was just trying to do her job and she slaps him because of course she thinks he’s in awe of her.

His job*

I always confuse it with this film

I used to work with a bitchy New Yorker who hated this film. She claimed that each borough had a unique, identifiable accent and that Griffith and Cusack performed a horrible mish mash of Staten Island, Queens and Brooklyn accents.

What do the NYC natives on this thread think? Was my former coworker just pulling stuff out of her ass and complaining for the sake of it?

Hey, I dance around the house in my underwear, it don't make me madonna! or a NYer!!

Its true, r230, but every decade these distinctions diminish even more. Also she is showing off and probably couldn't identify them, despite knowing that they existed. Your friend was just finding a way to be a bitch. It's not that important to most movies if the borough accents are mangled.

If It's on, I always watch it. Love Melanie, but never bought her whole "Trask, radio" "Trask radio" bit.

If It's on, I always watch it. Love Melanie, but never bought her whole "Trask, radio" "Trask radio" bit.

Trask, radio! Trask... Radio!!!

R229, that was a great indie movie. I guess no one went on to better things from it though. I thought at least the director would, but she’s done very little.

I’m a native New Yorker and thought the accents were spot on.

"I've got a head for business and a body for sin".

I love this movie.

[quote] Speaking of Kevin Spacey, this was around the same time he tried to force himself on a VERY underage Anthony Rapp.

Kevin didn't really have to "force himself on" anyone considering the "victim" had been lying in wait in his bed all night.

That's not how it went down r239.

And even if Rapp had been "lying in wait" he was 13/14 years old FFS!

Boring. It should have given the film to the Sigourney character not to Melanie's. Then maybe of I'd like it better.

R241 A 14 year old whore is still a whore. I'm not into kids and Rapp was fugly anyway but let's not pretend that he didn't know what he was doing lying in a man's bed for hours waiting for the other guests to finally go home.

Rapp told a very different version of the story years ago. In fact, he dined out on it for years. He fancied himself quite the Lolita.

No matter what Rapp's intentions were, Spacey was a sick fuck for assaulting him.

If he even did.

R244 uh, Spacey actually rejected him, that's part of why Rapp is so pissy about it. There was no "assault".

R236- It was NOT an INDEPENDENT- INDIE- movie. At the beginning of the movie it shows 20th Century Fox.

R247, what are you talking about? On IMBD it says: "Funded in part by grants from: New York State Council on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and the Jerome Foundation."

Btw we’re talking about Working Girls, not Working Girl.

R196, you're right that Kael raved about Lumet's LONG DAY'S JOURNEY and DOG DAY AFTERNOON. (And rightly so!) It's fascinating that she liked JUST TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT so much. I like it a lot too, but it doesn't seem at all her speed to me. Oddly enough, I reread her SERPICO review the other day for the first time in ages. I too remembered her having really liked it, but while she certainly says a number of good things about it, she's not entirely on board, and she makes a point of slamming Lumet. Her PAWNBROKER, SEA GULL and ORIENT EXPRESS reviews all diss Lumet specifically. So when I said she was averse to liking Lumet films, maybe I spoke too broadly. But she certainly didn't care for him, even with some of his best work: NETWORK, THE VERDICT, PRINCE OF THE CITY and DANIEL.

As for [R192] . . . dismissing Lumet's entire œuvre as "middlebrow" and claiming that no "serious critic has much to say about" it is ludicrous on its face (and suggests that you need to expand your critical reading). I don't see a point in your comments on this thread that isn't pretty much lifted straight from Kael. The Paulettes live, I guess!

R34, I love Griffith's reading of the line at 0:07, "[grunt] Yeah, those were the days." Perfect.

[quote] Are there any Christmas scenes in this movie? I vaguely remember someone (maybe Baldwin?) wearing a Santa hat at some point. Was there a Christmas party at the bar? Just wondering if this might be a good one to put in my annual Christmas movie rotation.

R223, no, it's not a Christmas-y movie.

I agree it's not a Christmas movie, but I love watching it around this time of year. This reminds me of the times when movies that came out in December were an EVENT.

R230

It's true, though over decades the distinction has been declining Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island all had different "New York accents".

For instance the Manhattan NYC accent was largely influenced by German and Yiddish. Then came the Irish and Italian influences.

Clip from Funny Girl "If A Girl Isn't Pretty) captures those differences.

Pat Lynch, old school Irish (usually Catholic) NYC while common enough in city, largely moved out to Brooklyn, Queens and part of Staten Island as Irish moved out of Manhattan.

My Irish-American friends from Staten Island all pronounce words and otherwise speak like Pat Lynch. Way they say "huh" (hah..) is dead giveaway.

Listen to these old Staten Island accents; you start to hear influence of Italians from Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan.

The one line from the song sort of amuses me: Come run with me know the sky is the color of blue you've never even seen in the eyes of your lover.

It is like the words barely fit into the music. I wonder if Carly can sing it live without getting out of breath or tongue tied.

Wonder no more, little homosexual boy.

Yeah, it holds up. I always enjoy it when I see it.

She doesn't say it in that version r257. And it is slowed down a lot. Poor Carly is singing on cruise ships? I knew she needed money but....

(and who is Dorothy F?)

Speaking of Cyn's, apparently Cyndi Lauper is writing the score for a Broadway version.

In theory, I don't hate that idea.

They'd best back a dumptruck full of money into Carly's driveway, because while I'm sure Cyndi's music will be great, the show cannot possibly work without LtRR.

Sierra Boggess should be in the running for Tess. Maybe Laura Benanti for Signourney.

I just hope they do it as a period piece, and don't try to figure out how to update the story so that Tess is having to hide her Facebook history or anything.

It's hard to imagine that they originally wanted Baldwin as Jack, but the studio got cold feet at the idea of two leads who were relatively unknown at the time.

R259 the Queen Mary 2 is an ocean liner, not a cruise ship. World of difference.

Their enrichment programs attract big names.

Enrichment Programs? Is that like Jackie On Assistance?

Carly’s version of LtRR doesn’t appear to be available on any of the streaming services. Pity.

Aren’t we already getting a musical version of Devil Wears Prada?

Baldwin might have made a great Jack if he could have managed the wounded machismo. And I would have enjoyed Baldwin in his prime in such a meaty role. I'm more than happy with Ford as Jack. It's great just looking at him! He brought everything necessary.

R90, Dukakis isn’t the only Moonstruck overlap: Amy Aquino, who plays Tess’ “assistant” at the end, was the hairdresser who took out “those ugly greys” in Moonstruck.

Amy Aquino was wonderful as the mother on CBS’s Brooklyn Bridge which should have run much longer than one season.

I do remember that this was the first season that every film nominated for best picture was released in December. After that, studios REALLY pushed the trend of releasing movies later and later, often just a limited release on Christmas Day.

I also loved her as Felicity’s no-nonsense therapist R269

Amy Aquino is also in one of my favorite shows, Bosch.

Alec Baldwin was wasted in this. He was really sexy in Married to the Mob, but in this one in that blue wedding get up he looked like nothing special.

R273 he was a working actor, happy to get a job

I thought Alec was great in this. With this film, Married to the Mob and Beetlejuice, like Michelle Pfeiffer, he had a great year. You just knew he was going to go on to great things when he was on Knots Landing.

He was sexy in this, even though his character was a cheater.

Amy Aquino was also great as Ray's nemesis on "Everybody Loves Raymond."

R271 Yes!

What do we think happened to Katharine after the events of the film? She probably just moved on to another job and didn't change at all.

She ended up in the Trump administration.

If you think the characters and their actions have verisimilitude, Tess and Katharine both have borderline personality disorder, though Tess's is more frightening. They will both be fine in M&As to the extent they keep producing deals.

Bain Capital's Romney is a Katherine.

I loved the movie but I didn't think Joan Cusack's performance was worthy of a best supporting actress nomination. So glad she didn't win like Marisa Tomei did for her one funny moment in "My Cousin Vinny."

I wonder if she and jack had mutual friends. It was never established how long they’d been seeing each other, right?

I've watched the video of LTRR about 15 times since I found this thread and Melanie's I don't give a fuck expression in the video makes me crack up

Probably the only time Carly Simon stepped foot on the Staten Island Ferry.

R282 I didn’t either. But she should have WON for In & Out (that would have been a much better “comedic win” than Tomei’s).

I just never bought Melanie’s Tess to have the brains and be shrewd enough to do what she did.

[quote] I just never bought Melanie’s Tess to have the brains and be shrewd enough to do what she did.

Yep. I think she would have ended up being fired from her Trask job in six months or less and have ended up back in the secretarial pool. Or as some Trask executive's mistress.

Tess had the brains. That is the entire logic of the character. You people seem to think it takes great brains to do investment banking. It's really about balls and shrewdness. She won't be a number cruncher. And she isn't training as an analyst.

A Working Girl sequel would be great where Tess gets the same treatment that she gave Sigourney Weaver's character. Melanie's botched plastic surgery would give us more reason to dislike her in the sequel.

Money can't buy you class Money can't buy you class Elegance is learned my friends Elegance is learned oh yeah

I work my BODY

R289 what’s that weird thing on the tip of her nose now; it looks like a syphilis nose. Seriously I know she had some hard living (as did many) but what the hell did she do to herself to get to that point?

If only there was a way to know that Melanie had skin cancer and probably many cartilage issues from years of snorting. If only there was a way to know she lost part of her nose, R292.

How does Melanie Griffith pay her bills? She hardly ever works and I don't recall seeing her in anything in over a decade and a half. Does she get a lot of alimony from Don Johnson and Antonio Banderas?

She had some good earning years. It’s possible she invested well.

R293 if only there was a way to know this is a forum/message board (one of the last of its kind left), and sometimes, just sometimes it’s more fun to learn from and bounce things off of each other. Not from a pill like you, of course.

Have a Merry Christmas!

I follow Melanie in Instagram. She seems to have a modest lifestyle and works occasionally. She also seems very happy and sweet.

R296 Xennial, you snark Melanie has "a syphilis nose" and "what the hell did she do to herself to get to that point?" and the answer is cancer, which I provided along with a SHAME on you, nasty cunt. But what fun you're having!!! Carry on being a cunt, you fun & delightful bavardeuse!

R294 She offloaded some real estate ($20 million worth) after her divorce from Antonio.

The other house she offloaded.

And here's the new place she bought last year.

Baldwin looked sweaty, unshaven and like he smelled in this flick. He must have been desperate to be the spider on the wedding cake in this one.

Better view of the Aspen house here. Gorgeous. But I doubt if it's at 10,000 ft. That's pretty damn high, even for Colorado.

In any case, I'd love to live there for stretches.

R303 I believe I read that one of the reasons it took a while to sell is because it was difficult to get to (not so close to the trendy area) so the altitude could well be correct.

It seems miraculous to me that Melanie and Banderas lasted as long as they did.

There are not trees like that at 3000 meters in the alps. This is the structure at Gornegrat in Zermatt at 3000 meters. Barren.

I know, R305, I was looking at the house, drooling, but wondering what the family life was like. Apparently Don Johnson lived in Aspen a lot. Supposedly there was a glass jar at J-Bar in the Jerome Hotel with a sign on it saying, "For Don Johnson's alimony payments." I think Banderas is a nice person and Melanie found some peace and stability with him.

R307 I love Antonio but I don't think he's quite as nice as he claims. There's an interview Melanie and Antonio did for AARP (I was reading it in the doctor's office) a number of years ago in which they talked about her issues including rehab. They were not in the same room at the time of the interview so it was interesting to see how their narratives didn't always match. Antonio claimed he and the family were always there for her in her hours of need (regarding her addictions), a claim she flat out denied in her part of the interview.

While I do believe Antonio brought a certain amount of peace and stability to Melanie's life, I also believe that him being younger than her and his career skyrocketing while hers fizzled and him being cast alongside an assortment of beautiful women and him simply being a heartthrob with women throwing themselves at him fueled a lot of insecurity and jealousy in her. Plus I think he stuck it out as long as he did because he'd left his first wife for Melanie and they had a kid so he felt like he had to make it work. Notice they didn't get divorced until just before Stella turned 18.

It says a lot about Melanie how well she gets along with her ex Don to the point she often spends time with his new family including on holidays. If I was Don's current wife, I'd find that a bit awkward that my husband's ex was tagging along but they seem to have a cool relationship that seems to be more than just keep up appearances for the kids. I've never heard her say a bad word about her other ex Steven either.

From the AARP interview:

[quote] Q: He said that you all participated in your rehab a few years ago, and it welded you.

[quote] A: I'm sorry to say, that's in his mind. I started on pain pills when I hurt my knee skiing and just kept taking them. The kids knew; Dakota and Stella called me on it. Antonio was in London at the time. I went away to rehab for three months; it took 10 days just to detox. We had two family weeks there, but we didn't follow through. Antonio was supportive to the extent that he can be, but if you're not an alcoholic or drug addict, and you find out that your wife is a bad one, it's hard to deal with. As long as I'm okay, he's okay. I wish he would go to a meeting with me or to Al-Anon, but it's very foreign to him. Addiction runs in my family but not in his.

[quote] Q: So it's been your journey alone.

[quote] A: Yes. And I don't mean that against him. I would like him to do more, but it's a difficult thing to have happen in any family, and in that way he has been totally by my side. He really is the greatest guy.

I hated the ending. Panning out from her matchbox window office gave the effect of "Look at you, you're nothing special" and not the you're-at-one-with-the-world-in-the-throbbing-metropolis-of-Manhattan! vibe they were aiming for.

[Quote] Panning out from her matchbox window office gave the effect of "Look at you, you're nothing special" and not the you're-at-one-with-the-world-i - n-the-throbbing-metropolis-of- - Manhattan! vibe they were aiming for.

Bless your heart. Mike Nichols knew exactly what he was doing with that shot.

True. Then I hate his cynicism.

Cynic or realist?

Most people act like what's going on in their life is a life and death situation and oh so important. Take a look at a photo of the earth from outer space. You'll realize how unimportant you and everything else is.

Was Working Girl filmed after Gorillas in the Mist? If so, was Katherine’s gorilla suit a meta reference?

Yes.

Mike Nichols captured the 80s perfectly, just as he captured the 60s perfectly in The Graduate.

R308, I think that interview (thanks, btw) points out what seems to be Melanie's saving grace--she's so honest! It is endearing and surprising given how "practiced" most actors/actresses are at throwing the bull. I think she and Don must be soulmates on some level and respect each other's lives, if you know what I mean. When that is the case as you age, you don't hate the person or lust after them, either, you just enjoy them.

[quote]Cynic or realist? Most people act like what's going on in their life is a life and death situation and oh so important. Take a look at a photo of the earth from outer space. You'll realize how unimportant you and everything else is.

That's exactly my point, using that shot of "realism" at the end of this particular movie *is* cynical. It's not like "a similar story is taking place in the office 4 windows across" is a "there are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them" moment.

Nichols is saying her secretary is going to knife her at some point.

It's a Dog Eat Dog world, r317.

Y’all are overthinking the ending. There is no cynicism in the closing shot, it should be taken at face value. Everything we need to know about it plays out in the scene preceding the shot. Tess shows up for her first day at work and goes about setting up shop at the assistant desk. The actual assistant then clarifies that she works for Tess, and that Tess sits in the office. Her office. Having an office is an aspirational thing for people just starting out in their careers. We are seeing Tess’ wish fulfillment playing out in real time. Yes, she is one of thousands with an office, but the point is, she has an office. The real rat race is in the office interior, completely hidden from view.

To accept the darker interpretation would be to ignore the entire tone and structure of the story that played out over the previous two hours?

Why would Mike Nichols go from the Facts of Life to the Sopranos in the span of one cut scene?

Stop overthinking it. It’s a great film with a straightforward narrative and that’s okay.

I've a head for overthinking and body for sin.

I watched this today and it was a lovely movie.

How long would it have been before Jack dumped Tess? I give them six weeks tops.

R322, I actually tend to agree with you. If he didn't dump her, I would have expected her to move on to a taller rung up that ladder anyway. She came across as a very ambitious woman IMO. Nothing wrong with that at all - but at the same time let's not pretend that she would be happy with stagnation either (professionally or personally). I love Melanie as an actress, but Tess was far from my favorite Griffith performance - Sigourney stole this show.

The last shot reminds me of the end of "Pretty Woman", where the camera pulls back from Roberts and Gere kissing on the fire escape to a guy walking on the street outside the fleabag hotel saying "This is Hollywood. Some dreams come true, some don't. But keep on dreaming." A small reality check for the audience after the fairytale. For me it didn't necessarily undercut the movie's story, it just put it in a broader perspective.