Last night, with the snow still falling, I settled down to watch a real "blast from the past" movie from 25 years ago. Working Girl (1988), is a sweet natured , typically American, Cinderella Rom Com that clearly underlines the boom and boom era of the mid eighties. In it we meet Tess McGill a poor but bright secretary (Melanie Griffith) who turns the tables on her wicked boss (Sigourney Weaver) and makes a success out of herself in business and in her romantic life.
Ok the plot isn't perhaps that original and nor is the dialogue (the famous line "I have a head for Business and a bod for sin" sounds incredibly cheesy when heard in the "more sophisticated" noughties.) but the film works incredibly well as a rags to riches parable thanks primarily to some very winning performances .
Melanie Griffith is charming and likable as the whispering heroine ( though she does not look that great in a set of black bra and panties). Harrison Ford does his usual charm offensive as the wall street boyfriend but it is Sigourney Weaver's performance as bitch boss Katherine Parker that almost steals the film.
She obviously had the time of her life taking her first evil steps away from the virtuous alien ass kicker Ellen Ripley.
Joan Cusack ( with some massive hair) turns in a few nice moments as Tess' rough as a bear's bum best mate and I had great fun picking out the before- they-were-famous likes of Kevin Spacey,Alec Baldwin, Rikki Lake, Olympia Dukakis and Oliver Platt in all the minor roles.
In the cynical 80's Working Girl , recalled a little of that wisecracking banter of the romantic comedies of the 1940s and by doing so , it made a star out of Melanie Griffith
it is the only movie that I've liked Melanie Griffith in. She played the cheap blonde perfectly.
ReplyDeletethat sounded a little back handed...tee hee
ReplyDeleteThis was a fun movie, but I like Nine To Five even better.
ReplyDeleteI'm feeling majorly unAmerican not having seen either this movie or Alien. But then, I can live vicariously through you John!!
ReplyDeleteOh, yes, the era of big hair. There is probably a hole in the ozone especially dedicated to that time period... I must say, this is one I've heard of, but don't recall seeing.
ReplyDeleteCat
Sigourney Weaver has always played the bad girlnot necessarily as "bad" but more along the lines of a rouge. It's funny to see her as an Alien ass-kicker in one film and an animal-loving tree-hugger type as in Gorillas in the Mist and AVATAR. But who can forget her strange role in Ghost Busters! Sorry, I've completely digressed. Harrison Ford is not that great of an actor to me, but has landed great roles in great movies. Lucky, I guess? Never been a Melanie Griffith fan. She's just not that memorable. I'd give Working Girl 7 out of 10.
ReplyDelete~Randy