You know, some of these years are much harder to do than others. Apparently in 1988, there was Big, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Coming to America and the film that I've selected. It was difficult. Anyway, this movie stars Melanie Griffith and may surprise you in that it doesn't suck. I think the problem is that Melanie Griffith has been trying to play this same role every other time in her career and it doesn't work. Case in point: Shining Through. Take her character in this movie add Nazis and you've got Shining Through. Speaking of which, why is Liam Neeson a Nazi in that movie? I know that Schindler's List was after that, so they couldn't have seen it coming but it's still disturbing. I just don't want to see Liam Neeson as a Nazi, I watched that whole movie bothered that I still liked him.
Okay, on to the task at hand. Working Girl, directed by Mike Nichols, is the story of Tess McGill, a working class girl from Long Island with aspirations in finance. She finds these ambitions to be stifled by the lack of an Ivy League/blue blood pedigree. She feels like her life is turning around when she becomes the secretary to Katherine Parker. I love this part of the film because it plays on knowing someone who you hate/want to be. Tess brings her an idea for a deal and Katherine promises to use it to help her. Then Katherine gets in a ski accident and things change. Tess finds out Katherine intended to steal her idea, so Tess decides to take matters into her own hands and sets up a meeting with Jack Traynor played by Harrison Ford. Before that, she has an unfortunate incident with prescription meds and Tequila, which makes the business part of this awkward. So, Tess starts moving in business circles and pursuing a relationship with Jack, because you know, he's Harrison Ford before he started dating Calista Flockhart. Oh, also, Katherine thinks she's pretty much engaged to Jack. There are issues, which all come together nicely upon Katherine's return where Tess is able to show her for the fraud she is. The important part is really the ride along the way as Tess struggles with her identity: that of a secretary or a serious business lady. That theme is summed up in this one clip from Tess' best friend.
Okay, the best parts of this movie: the stellar cast, containing basically everyone. You've got Joan Cusack as Tess' best friend, Alec Baldwin as her boyfriend, an Irish guy from Long Island (Hey, wait a minute...), Olympia Dukakis, Oliver Platt and even Kevin Spacey in a memorable appearance. I love the way it captures the divide between blue and white collar, evidenced through the fantastic cityscape of Manhattan in the film, giving you the full gusto of New York in the 1980s. You know, at least h Also, there's a Carly Simon song in this film, evoked throughout the score. Another win. Carly Simon should write more songs in movies that we can sing driving to work.
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