Pretty Woman
Prostitution in Hollywood cinema has always been portrayed in a problematic way, with beautiful (not usually true), scantily clad young women strutting on camera while being looked after by a zoot suited pimp or Harvey Keitel. When budding screenwriter extraordinaire J.F. Lawton put together his own script on the perils of prostitution, he did his homework, interviewing real sex workers about the nature of their trade and then penning a tragicomic screenplay about a drug addicted streetwalker whom (Rocky Balboa style) gets a once in a lifetime shot at matching up with a billionaire prince who could take care of her forever. Lawton succeeded in selling his spec script to Disney who then handed it over to 70s sitcom king Garry Marshall, who would eschew the more depressing elements and then still managed to produce what remains one of the most iconic romantic comedies of all time, a career benchmark for stars Richard Gere and Julia Roberts which made truckloads of money at the box office. The contrasting styles of the main characters in how they are presented is maybe the most fascinating aspects in play, with Roberts (who snagged a Best Actress Oscar Nomination here for a role that was deemed too inappropriate by other considered actresses including Molly Ringwald) as the hooker bringing full life to the otherwise imaginary concept of someone like her having a heart of gold, a genuinely nice girl just struggling to get by without any kinds of demons plaguing her psyche. Instead, Roberts approaches her lifestyle in a happy go lucky manner, loudly proclaiming her presence wherever she is at all while turning heads everywhere with her charismatic beauty (keep in mind that the movie is not called Toothless Woman) and basically coming across as being so refreshing and appealing that a male viewer might just decide to call in an escort hoping to find their Cinderella and wind up being robbed as a result. Gere as the billionaire is a fascinating case study in being enigmatic, a nasty corporate raider (i.e. he shuts down companies and sells off their assets) who seems aloof and uncaring to most people (a perfect fit for Gere’s acting style) but in reality is starting to exhibit some unstable behavior brought on by his estranged father’s recent death with whom he had never reconciled with (at least not after he had shut his father’s company down and put him out of business after the old man had cheated on and left his mom, a fine backstory in itself), so he steals a friend’s car and cruises on into Hollywood Boulevard, encountering Roberts whom he beseeches for “directions”, eventually letting his reckless side go wild and allowing Roberts into the car (and the driver’s seat), finally bringing her back to his hotel suite for a round of sex and strawberries. Roberts’ overly exuberant behavior upon entering the swanky hotel gets noticed by the people across the street, so the hotel manager (Hector Elizondo saving this movie in more ways than one) takes Roberts aside and instead of being a prick, takes her under his wing instead, setting her up with dress designers and a Cliffs Notes lesson in having proper manners, all in a non judgmental fashion as Elizondo is very well aware of who and what she is but still treats her with respect and dignity nonetheless. Under his tutelage and training, Roberts starts raising her social value while leaving her drug addicted best friend and roommate (Laura San Giacomo, too hot to be either a drug addict or a hooker) in the lurch, with the poor stupid girl spending her nights running from an evil pimp until Roberts calls and tells her she’ll be home with rent money. But Gere isn’t quite the easy sell, as it’s established early on that he’s been treating his own socialite girlfriends like whores anyway, so now he’s just gravitating to the next level, bringing Roberts upstairs so that he can act like he’s observing her, a proposition which she doesn’t mind since she still gets paid. The sex that follows is the most mind blowing of Gere’s life, throwing his head so out of whack that he starts slacking off at work, conceding inexplicably to an old company owner whom he was about to bury (Ralph Bellamy, sadly looking like he was about to die which was indeed the case) and leading the film to its comedic highlight, with Gere’s weakened, surrendering attitude being so disturbing to his lawyer and business partner (Jason Alexander doing an evil George Constanza) that the slimy bastard takes it upon himself to pay a call on Roberts, correctly deducting that Robert’s exuberant style of sex and living life has destroyed his friend’s mind, prompting him to beat and then attempt to rape Roberts in one of the most hilarious scenes of all time, as Constanza’s rotund, midget like countenance tries to make forced sexy time with Julia Roberts who can’t stop laughing the whole time. After Roberts has easily fended him off, Alexander is then subject to an assbeating from Gere before being chucked into the street like an old silent movie drunk. With the audience laughing hard enough to maintain their good cheer for the rest of the movie, Marshall finishes things strong, pissing all over Lawton’s “kick her to the curb” concept in favor of the mega happy ending, where Gere offers to take care of her and set her up in a beachfront condo, but Roberts pouts instead and risks losing everything (never would happen in real life), prompting Gere to give in and go for the marriage thing instead (also would never happen) as best friend San Giacomo is warned to stay away and not to bring any influence from the streets into their new life. In the end, as much as Gere’s limitations were successfully negated here, it is Roberts who dominates the screen mostly due to her spontaneity (Marshall opened the floodgate for improv on the set early and often) and her genuinely charming presence, selling us completely on the Nice Girl Hooker conceit and more importantly, successfully getting the viewer to emotionally invest in her as we are constantly compelled to root for her and cheer her on to victory against the snobs, pricks, assholes and perverts whom she encounters, a one in a million quality for most actresses but done here perhaps more succinctly than at any other time in movie history…
8/10