WORKING GIRL
US, 1988, 108 minutes, Colour.
Melanie Griffiths, Sigourney Weaver, Harrison Ford, Joan Cusack, Alec Baldwin, Oliver Platt, Kevin Spacey, Olympia Dukakis.
Directed by Mike Nichols.
Working Girl is a bright New York comedy of the late '80s. It was nominated for Oscars for Best Film, Best Director, as well as screenplay and acting performances by Melanie Griffith, Sigourney Weaver. It is a variation on the Cinderella story with a benign touch of the famous Joseph Mankiewicz film All About Eve.
The film is set in the working district of New York, finances and deals. Melanie Griffith is the ambitious Staten Island girl who is able to take advantage of her boss's absence and create a deal, fall in love with hero, Harrison Ford.
While the material is familiar, it is played with deft style by the cast and has a witty and intelligent dialogue. (Joan Cusack (Broadcast News) was also nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role as the heroine's friend.) Another nomination was the theme song sung by Carly Simon.
1. A popular film of the late '80s? Career, business, men and women?
2. The credentials of the film: stars, director Mike Nicholls and his films, award nominations?
3. The New York background, the city skyline with the credits, the Statue of Liberty, Staten Island, the ferry, the contrast of the two worlds of Manhattan and Staten Island? Offices, big business and style, the business society? The musical score, the use of songs, the theme: 'Let the Rivers Run?'
4. The title, the focus on women, the workforce, struggle, success?
5. Melanie Griffith as Tess: the ordinary girl, life in Staten Island, lifestyle, friendship and travel with Cyn, their talk, work, ambitions, the stock market, her being set up with the executive and his wanting sex, her violent reaction? Her revenge against her two colleagues? Going to the employment agency? Going to Katherine? Change of style, dress, hairdo? The interview and Katherine inviting her to collaborate? Preparing for the social? Tess's reading, getting ideas about Trask? The idea to Katherine, Katherine's refusal? The irony of Katherine's accident, the commission to Tess, at her apartment, using her clothes? Discovering the tape? Making a decision about Trask? Going to see Jack at the social, at the bar, drinking, knocked out, the night? The irony of the meeting with Jack? Sharing ideas and plans? Covering Katherine's absence, the office,. using Cyn? The setting up with the meeting and Trask? The wedding and Jack and Tess crashing it, her ingratiating herself with the family, with Trask? Personal life: Mike, relationship, sex, his betrayal of her, the clash, Cyn's engagement party, his performance and proposal, her refusal? Jack and the deal, falling in love with him? The irony of Katherine's sudden arrival? Her discovery of the notebook? Tess being exposed, confessing honestly,? leaving? The popularity with the women in the office? Her ideas, the radio information, the information to Trask? Katherine's making a fool of herself? Tess getting the job, communicating it to Cyn? The new secretary in her office and phoning? Her repeating Katherine's words ? but meaning them? A Cinderella future?
6. Katherine and the style, Sigourney Weaver's presence? Sweeping into the office, the superficial charm, the talk about two-way communication? Her social, social style? Her attitude towards the Trask deal? The hoped-for proposal? The accident, in hospital, Jack and the proposal, the tape about the Trask deal, her recuperation, absence, return and the infatuation with Jack and his resistance? Tess and the question of Jack's ethics? The truth? The takeover and her arrival on crutches, her bitchiness, shown up and humiliated in front of Trask, ousted?
7. Jack as a pleasant hero, good at his job, the relationship with Katherine, at the bar, his encounter with Tess, the drinks, the night, looking after her? The irony of the meeting? The plan, working together, sharing, falling in love? The deal, the interviews, the crashing of the wedding? The truth, his going on with the deal, rejection of Katherine, love for Tess?
8. Trask and his business sense, the wedding and the crash, his listening in to the meetings, the deal, his admiration of Tess, exposing Katherine, with the radio owner, the end and her new job?
9. Mike, at home on Staten Island, in love with Tess, dominating her, sex, the birthday gift and the kinky clothes for himself, the fight, his proposal, her not accepting, the girlfriend?
10. Cyn and her friendship, gaudy style, secretarial, jokey, engagement, standing in for Tess?
11. The world of American business, New York, offices, style, plans, deals, money?making2 Trask and his entourage? The radio owner and his money sense?
12. A Cinderella with ingenuity story?
