Working Girl

Working Girl Movie Poster

"For anyone who's ever won.  For anyone who's ever lost.  And for everyone who's still in there trying".  Working Girl, starring Harrison Ford as Jack Trainer, Melanie Griffith as Tess McGill, and Sigourney Weaver as Katherine Parker, was released in 1988.  The film was well received by critics, and ultimately went on to turn a huge profit.  The film won a number of Golden Globes and received several Academy Award nominations.  Some of you may even remember the 1990 short-lived (12 episodes) NBC TV series that starred Sandra Bullock as Tess McGill.

In this movie, Tess McGill (Griffith) is a working class secretary with a B.A. in Business and aspirations for a better job.  Tess gets assigned to be the secretary for executive Katherine Parker (Weaver) after issues with her previous boss, and Katherine apparently encourages Tess’ input on various issues relating to business, that Katherine ultimately passes on as her own ideas.  After Katherine is injured in a skiing accident, she asks Tess to house sit.  After Tess finds out that Katherine planned to pass her idea on as her own, Tess uses Katherine’s credentials to set up meetings with execs to discuss her ideas.  She sets up a meeting with an executive named Jack Trainer (Ford), but ends up sleeping with him the night before, after a party, not realizing who he was.  Thinking that Tess is an executive herself, Jack runs with her idea and they begin a relationship.

Eventually, Katherine returns, finds out what Tess has been up to, and attempts to thwart the entire deal, again claiming the idea as her own and Tess the thief.  In the end, Tess is vindicated, Katherine is fired, and Tess and Jack continue their relationship.  In addition, Tess is offered a job with a new company, with her own secretary, which is what she wanted all along.