Ellipsis Movie Of The Week... Working Girl

 

"Sometimes I sing and dance around in my underwear,

 doesn't make me Madonna... never will."

~Cyn (Joan Cusack)

Working Girl

"Let the river run, let all the dreamers wake the nation,

come the new Jerusalem."

The opening credits to, Working Girl, was filmed on a clear morning, in the city of Manhattan, as the sun rose above the Statue of Liberty, and the World Trade Center. Carly Simon sings it's theme, Let The River Run, and we see all those folks arriving to work in lower Manhattan. Wall Street, The World Trade Center stick in my mind, and give me chills when I think about how that must have been like on 9/11. Folks arriving at work to face another day of challenges. It's a strangely beautiful opening, but there is that bit of surreal that definitely reminds you about how life can change in the blink of an eye.

That aside, Working Girl, is a terrific movie, that reminds you that hard work, being able to adapt and take chances can pay off. Whether you are one of those folks who gets up early, heads to work at the crack of dawn, or an old lady like me, who is still finding ways to face every day, that lesson still applies. Hard work pays. Going out on that limb pays. I love Tess McGill's tenacity. I love her wit. And I love that she can stand up for herself, and that when she sets boundaries, she means it! Tess paid her dues, she endures one "sleazoid" boss after another, and being looked down on as a secretary, as she works her way up the ladder in the world of corporations and finance. 

Sigourney Weaver is delightfully nasty as, Katherine Parker, and Harrison Ford is the too good to be true, Jack Trainer. Joan Cusack is fantastic as Cyn, Tess's best friend, who gives Tess the best advice she'll ever get, and Alec Baldwin is perfect as Tess's one thought boyfriend, Mick. This is another  movie with a superior cast including, Olympia Dukakis, Oliver Platt, Nora Dunn, and Kevin Spacey as a sleazoid friend of her sleazoid boss, Lutz, and yet another potentially new sleazoid boss, which is perfect casting because, you know, doing sleazoid is what Spacey does best! If you look close, during Tess's birthday party scenes, you will spot David Duchovny in his first movie!

This film came out in 1988, so I can't believe you haven't seen it, but if you haven't I don't want to give to much of the story away. Watch it. You'll enjoy it. 

RIP Mike Nichols

"There's nothing better than discovering, to your own astonishment, what you're meant to do. 

It's like falling in love."

~Mike Nichols

Vanity Fair, 2008

I was very sad to learn yesterday, of the passing of the amazing Mike Nichols. Mr. Nichols directed some of my very favorite movies, among them, The Birdcage, Working Girl, and the classic, The Graduate. While it bothered me a bit, to different degrees over the years, that there was a glaring flaw in The Graduate. You know, the scene where Benjamin Braddock was supposed to be on his way to Berkeley to see Elaine Robinson, and then it happens. Benjamin is seen heading to Berkeley, by way of San Francisco! Which would be fine, had be been heading up the San Mateo Peninsula, and then heading east with the skyline of the city behind him, but no, Mr. Nichols showed Benjamin heading into San Francisco instead. Berkeley is in the East Bay, so that was a geographical impossibility. Sigh. 

That tiny bit of silliness had never kept me from enjoying The Graduate, indeed I have had many great discussions over the year about why I consider it one of the top ten films of all time, but that trip across the Oakland/San Francisco Bay bridge has made me grimace once or twice. LOL. I guess, deep down, I thought maybe one day I might be able to ask the man himself why he made that directorial decision, just to be able to hear it from the master himself. Alas, one more celebrity that I admire, and who has made my life better is now gone yet again. I will never have that conversation, and that mystery won't be solved. And I guess I will never learn that, unfortunately, our idols aren't immortal, but when you see talent like his, or Robin Williams, or John Hughes, or any one of the amazing talents lost to the world this year, doesn't it seem like they should have been?

RIP Mike Nichols

And Thank you, Sir!

The Final Scene From The Graduate

Leaf Of The Day

Mood: Quiet

~Me :)