Working Girl

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

1988 1h 54m EN

👍

6.6

SOLID

★6.6TMDB · 1,102

ComedyRomanceDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

When a secretary's idea is stolen by her boss, she takes a risky chance to reclaim it by impersonating him and running the project from his position.

“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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Cast

Melanie Griffith
Tess McGill
Harrison Ford
Jack Trainer
Sigourney Weaver
Katharine Parker
Alec Baldwin
Mick Dugan
Joan Cusack
Cyn
Philip Bosco
Oren Trask
Nora Dunn
Ginny
Oliver Platt
Lutz

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Mike Nichols
Writers: Kevin Wade
Languages: German, English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 3.7× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

38 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: German, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Mike Nichols, shot by Michael Ballhaus. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Carly Simon. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Sam O'Steen shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Melanie Griffith and Harrison Ford and Sigourney Weaver carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

AWARDS

Did you know

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

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Mike Nichols directs. Michael Ballhaus behind the camera. Carly Simon scores. Sam O'Steen cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in German, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 3.7× over at the box office.
238 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: German, English.
4Directed by Mike Nichols, shot by Michael Ballhaus. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Carly Simon. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Sam O'Steen shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Melanie Griffith and Harrison Ford and Sigourney Weaver carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "For anyone who's ever won. For anyone who's ever lost. And for everyone who's still in there trying.".
9IMDB entry: tt0096463 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 18 themes, including "new york city", "strong woman", "love triangle", "clerk".

The technical file

Cinematography: Michael Ballhaus
Original score: Carly Simon
Editing: Sam O'Steen
Production design: Patrizia von Brandenstein
Costume design: Ann Roth
Makeup / hair: J. Roy Helland
Sound: Lee Dichter
Stunt coordinator: Jim Dunn
Runtime: 114 min · 1h 54m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $28,000,000
Box office: $103,173,635
Return: 368% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Working Girl (1988)

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Mike Nichols

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2022-06-09
★ 7/10
Right from the opening bars of Carly Simon's catchy theme tune and the young girls with huge hair on the ferry - I thought this was going to be entertaining. By and large, it is. "Tess" (Melanie Griffith) is fed up working for bosses who just want to sleep with her, so thinks perhaps things will change the she starts working for "Katherine" (Sigourney Weaver). Always open to ideas, this woman gets hold of one of her assistant's ideas and when she injures herself skiing, "Tess" discovers her boss's duplicity and decides to run with her idea herself - involving "Jack" (Harrison Ford) along the way. Turns out this idea has legs - and multi-million dollar ones at that - but as the two begin to mix business and pleasure - we discover that "Jack" has his secrets to keep too! The pace is generally quite good, the characters have plenty to like about them and the film builds nicely to an enjoyable and fitting conclusion. Griffith is on good form here, she has a spirit and charisma that can't help but raise a bit of a smile. Sarandon and Ford both support well, too with the latter content to take more of a charming but back seat role. Alec Baldwin features sparingly as her creep of a boyfriend, and I could have sworn I saw "Cyn" (Joan Cusack) in Culture Club or Dead or Alive! It's maybe a little bit long, but as feel-good films go, this has a decent script, plenty of chemistry and a vindication that worked for me.
kevin20192024-05-09
★ 8/10
"Working Girl" is a wonderful film and it achieves an admirable level of entertainment value. The romance truly works and the comedy is genuinely funny and it should come as no surprise to anyone it did incredibly healthy business at the global box office. One of the most memorable elements of this film is the unflinching way the character of Tess McGill has been deliberately used to make some valid and important comments about big business and how particular individuals might be perceived in relation to the way they dress or look or act. The so called elite in any walk of life will always look down on and summarily dismiss certain people regardless of their abilities or the contributions they might make in much the same way as some men look down on and belittle women. Anyway, it is refreshing to watch a film which tells us this doesn't necessarily have to be the case and no one should have to silently tolerate it either professionally or domestically.