Monday, October 05, 2009

Move review - “The Working Girls” (1974) **1/2

Silly, very cheap but fun “three girls” film, a sort of throwback by Stephanie Rothman to her biggest success, The Student Nurses. It lacks the dramatic unity of that film - here the girls just sort of know each other and don’t have that much in common apart from being young, single and struggling (they should have all been from the same town or work at the same place, or something). But it has a similar sort of theme - three different girls having adventures with their career and romance in the big city; a bit of social commentary, some sex, a lot of comedy.

One girl is a sort of Marilyn Monroe ditz who is actually a genius, another is an artist who pinches Marilyn's casual root (a muso), a third goes to work as a stripper but because this is a Rothman film she winds up managing the place and standing up to (then romancing) a low level mafioso - but breaks up with him because she wants to be a judge! It's a sort of insane film, lots of fun. There is as much if not more male nudity (i.e. bare arses) on display than female (there are two strip tease routines), and it's the girls who run the show and make the decision. On the down side it's a bit ramshackle; there's even a boom in shot. The acting is a bit iffy but the three leads are very attractive. Stephanie Rothman’s last film (to date) as director.

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