(Bobby Deerfield, Absence of Malice, The Electric Horseman, The Firm, Havana, The Interpreter, Jeremiah Johnson, Out of Africa, Random Hearts, Sabrina (1995), Sketches of Frank Gehry, They Shoot Horses Don't They?, Three Days of the Condor, Tootsie, The Way We Were, The Yakuza)
Producers:
Sydney Pollack & Dick Richards
Screenplay:
Larry Gelbart & Murray Schisgal
Music:
Dave Grusin
Cast:
Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels: Dustin Hoffman
Julie Nichols: Jessica Lange
George Fields: Sydney Pollack
Sandy Lester: Teri Garr
Ron Carlisle: Dabney Coleman
Leslie Nichols: Charles Durning
Jeff Slater: Bill Murray
Men dressing up as women in film is certainly something that has been done time and time again,
but the one film in which it has been done so well and parts of which, so many
later films have tried to reproduce, is Tootsie.
Directed by Sydney Pollack in 1982, it is the tale of ‘Michael Dorsey’
(Dustin Hoffman) an actor who is having a spot of trouble finding work,
which is mainly due to the fact that he has problems getting on with the various
producers he auditions for.
As well as directing, Sydney Pollack stars in the film as George,
Michael’s agent who is losing his faith in him. He tells Michael that no-one
in New York will hire him because he’s just too difficult and that he should
sort himself out and get some therapy. So you can imagine George’s surprise
and horror when he discovers what Michael has done. So very desperate for work,
he disguises himself as a woman ‘Dorothy Michaels’ to audition for a role in a
hit soap opera and surprisingly, bags the part - and so the fun begins.
Soon ‘Dorothy’ becomes a much-loved household name across America but things
get increasingly complicated for Michael as he falls more and more in love
with his co-star Julie Nichols (Jessica Lange), a single parent who is
in a non-fulfilling relationship with the director of the soap, Ron Carlisle
(Dabney Coleman).
It gets worse still for Michael when he realises that Julie’s father, Les
(Charles Durning) is falling for 'Dorothy' and so he has to decide if
he should come clean and let the nation in on ‘Dorothy’s’ secret and risk
letting down not just those close to him, but a nation too.
The film was nominated for ten Academy awards and its clear why - Dustin
Hoffman is brilliant, he plays Dorothy so well, it’s scary and nearly every
scene he/she is in is hilarious! It was so funny watching Michael as Dorothy
trying to squirm his way out of kissing a male co-star who is nicknamed ‘the
tongue’.
There's also a great scene where a very young Geena Davis stands around
in her underwear talking to ‘Dorothy’, making Michael incredibly uncomfortable!
I have to say, it is a little creepy watching a man shave his legs,
pluck his eyebrows, don a wig and plaster his face in make-up, but somehow
Dustin Hoffman pulls it off.
Everything about this film is great, right from Pollack’s directing, the
strong and amusing cast (which even includes Bill Murray who is in and
out of the film as Michael’s roommate), down to all those terrible '80s
hair-cuts and very bizarre outfits!
When I’d finished watching Tootsie I had a nice warm feeling inside and
at the end of the film when Julie tells Michael she misses ‘Dorothy’ I found
myself feeling the same and I’m sure you will too.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
