Working Girl (1988)

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.

Director:

Mike Nichols

Writer:

Kevin Wade

Stars:

Harrison Ford, Sigourney Weaver, Melanie Griffith

Won 1 Oscar. Another 9 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

Tess McGill is a frustrated secretary, struggling to forge ahead in the world of big business in New York. She gets her chance when her boss breaks her leg on a skiing holiday. McGill takes advantage of her absence to push ahead with her career. She teams up with investment broker Jack Trainer to work on a big deal. The situation is complicated after the return of her boss.

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Plot Keywords:

boss | secretary | career | pretending | business | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 December 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

Secretaria ejecutiva

Filming Locations:

Vernon Valley Great Gorge Ski Resort, New Jersey, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$28,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$64,000,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Michelle Pfeiffer and Meryl Streep were considered for the roles of Tess and Katharine, respectively. Brooke Shields wanted badly the role of Tess, after she graduated from Princeton, she wanted to play a serious movie role. Geena Davis and Carrie Fisher were the other choices to play Tess. Robin Duke, Ellen Barkin, Kim Basinger, Catherine O'Hara, Kathleen Turner, Cher, Goldie Hawn, Whoopi Goldberg, Debra Winger, and especially Shelley Long were also considered to play Katharine. Diane Lane and Sarah Jessica Parker were also in talks to play Tess. Lorraine Bracco wrote in her memoir that she gave a first-rate audition as Tess and was devastated when she wasn't picked for the role.

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Goofs

Cyn's eyeshadow when she's visiting Tess at the office and pretending to be her secretary: the middle stripe of gold-ish color changes size.

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Quotes

Mick: Tess, will you marry me?
Tess McGill: Maybe.
Mick: Ya call that an answer?
Tess McGill: You want another answer, ask another girl.

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Connections

Referenced in Jersey Girl (2004)

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Soundtracks

"The Lady in Red"
Written and Performed by Chris De Burgh (as Chris DeBurgh)
Courtesy of A&M Records

User Reviews

Career Women with Big Ideas and Even Bigger Hair

A pure fantasy served up by Mike Nichols, but a vastly entertaining one.

Melanie Griffith is the secretary with massive hair who pretends to be a corporate business woman when her boss is layed up with a broken leg. The catch is, she finds out she's pretty good at it, and things get complicated when she ends up spearheading a business deal and falling in love with her key partner (Harrison Ford), all the while trying to keep what she's doing from her boss (Sigourney Weaver). It's the kind of movie that could just as easily have been made as a screwball comedy in the 1940s, perhaps with Barbara Stanwyck in the lead role.

The film is a classic in its own small way, one of the best comedies to emerge from the 1980s. Griffith is matched well with her role, so her limitations as an actress don't draw too much attention to themselves. But it's Weaver who steals the show as Griffith's imperious boss. She's a riot as a confident and powerful career woman from hell. And Joan Cusack steals a few scenes of her own as Griffith's best friend and fellow secretary, who sports hair as big as Griffith's and a Joisy accent to boot.

Nichols knows how to direct a comedy so that the funny bits speak for themselves.

Grade: A