Working Girl (1988)

Director:

Mike Nichols

Writer (WGA):

Kevin Wade (written by)

Release Date:

21 December 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance | Drama

Tagline:

For anyone who's ever won. For anyone who's ever lost. And for everyone who's still in there trying.

Plot:

When a secretary's idea is stolen by her boss, she seizes an opportunity to steal it back by pretending she has her boss's job.

Plot Keywords:

Boss | Secretary | Pretending | Business | Career

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 6 wins & 13 nominations

Cast

Harrison Ford	...	Jack Trainer
Sigourney Weaver	...	Katharine Parker
Melanie Griffith	...	Tess McGill
Alec Baldwin	...	Mick Dugan
Joan Cusack	...	Cyn
Philip Bosco	...	Oren Trask
Nora Dunn	...	Ginny
Oliver Platt	...	Lutz
James Lally	...	Turkel
Kevin Spacey	...	Bob Speck
Robert Easton	...	Armbrister
Olympia Dukakis	...	Personnel Director
Amy Aquino	...	Tess' Secretary
Jeffrey Nordling	...	Tim Rourke
Elizabeth Whitcraft	...	Doreen DiMucci

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Portugal:M/12 | Canada:14+ (Ontario) | Iceland:L | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Finland:S | France:U | Peru:14 | Singapore:NC-16 | Sweden:Btl | UK:15 | USA:R (Certificate N° 29266) | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

7 World Trade Center, World Trade Center, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

When Katharine Parker (Sigourney Weaver) comes back to New York and gets out of the helicopter, she carries a big stuffed-toy gorilla. Weaver played the role of Dian Fossey in Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey (1988) just a few months before.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the opening shot, the Staten Island Ferry is clearly the "Gov. Herbert H. Lehman". When Tess and Cyn disembark from the same Ferry at the South Ferry Terminal it shows them getting off a different Staten Island Ferry, "The American Legion".

Quotes:

Tess McGill: I am not steak. You cant just order me.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Lizzie McGuire: Working Girl (#2.5)" (2002)

Soundtrack:

THE LADY IN RED

Brilliant, characterful romantic thriller

I'm not a notable Melanie Griffith fan by any means but it must be said that she is brilliantly cast in the role of the small time heroine in the Big Apple. Harrison Ford is surprisingly effective as the hunk-on-a-stick; it is not surprising in the slightest bit that Sigourney Weaver is an effectively insidious megalomaniac bitch. This is also the first in a slew of flicks for Joan Cusack's long line of effective supporting girlfriends.

Mike Nicholls is a sharp director and succeeds in not only capturing the look of the trapping and tawdriness of the free market explosion but also its unutterably tedious underbelly. Kevin Wade's script is the snappy dramatic and satirical motor at the film's heart to which Nicholls defers. A unimpeachable feelgood movie - although I can't help feeling a sorrow from Nicholls on behalf of his characters who, as in Billy Wilder's The Apartment remain trapped even after the happy ending. 7/10