Film Review

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Working Girl
Directed by Mike Nichols
20th Century Fox 12/88 DVD/VHS Feature Film
R - language, adult situations

"If you can dream it," said Walt Disney, "you can do it." That's the theme of Working Girl. Tess McGill is a hard-working secretary who lives in Staten Island. After several bad experiences with male chauvinist bosses who don't take her aspirations for self-improvement very seriously, she lands a secretarial position with Katharine Parker, a driven executive in the mergers and acquisitions division of a top brokerage firm.

Impressed with her new employee's skills and ambition, Katharine listens carefully when Tess explains her idea for how Trask Industries can ward off a takeover bid by purchasing radio stations. Later, when Katharine is injured in a ski accident, Tess learns that her boss has stolen her idea and set it in motion with Jack Trainer, an investment banker. Realizing that it is now or never for her dream of corporate advancement, Tess seizes the moment and decides to handle the deal herself.

Kevin Wade's lively and funny screenplay gives Melanie Griffith the best role of her career as the irrepressible Tess. Harrison Ford is endearing as Jack Trainer, a white collar Prince Charming, and Sigourney Weaver hits the spot as the unethical career woman Katharine Parker. Mike Nichols' direction of <>I>Working Girl conveys the snap and crackle of the Wall Street milieu where ego clashes are the stock and trade of the day and projecting an aura of success is an essential element in winning the game.

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by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat