Tootsie – 1982 Romantic Comedy Movie

Director: Sydney Pollack
Producers: Sydney Pollack and Dick Richards
Writers: Larry Gelbart, Barry Levinson, Elaine May and Murray Schisgal
Music: Dave Grusin
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Release Date: December 17, 1982
Tootsie is a 1982 comedy film that tells the story of a talented but volatile actor whose reputation for being difficult makes it hard for him to find work. In desperation, he goes to extraordinary lengths to land a job.

Michael Dorsey is a respected but perfectionist actor on the verge of turning forty. Nobody in New York wants to hire him anymore because he is so difficult to work with. Not having worked in four months, he eventually hears of an opening in a soap opera set in "Southwest General Hospital" from his friend Sandy Lester, who initially tries out for the role but doesn't get it. In desperation, he cross-dresses, auditions as 'Dorothy Michaels' and eventually wins the part.

Michael thinks it is just a temporary job to pay the bills, but he proves to be so popular as a feisty hospital administrator that, to his dismay, the producers sign him to a long-term contract. Dorothy is such a hit that she is even featured on the covers of a number of well-known magazines.

Complicating things even further, he is strongly attracted to one of his co-stars, Julie Nichols. She is already in an unhealthy relationship with the amoral, sexist director, Ron Carlisle. When Michael approaches Julie with a line that she had previously told Dorothy she'd be receptive to, she instead throws a drink in his face. Yet when he makes tentative advances (as Dorothy), Julie is shocked to think Dorothy might be a lesbian and later tells "her" that she likes her, but not in a romantic way.

Meanwhile, Dorothy has her own admirers to contend with, an older male cast member, John Van Horn and Julie's widowed father, Les. Michael's roommate, writer Jeff Slater, and his agent, George Fields, are in on the masquerade and watch in amazement as the situation barrels out of control.

Michael finds a clever way to extricate himself. When the cast is forced to perform a scene live, he improvises and reveals that he is actually the character's twin brother who took her place to avenge her, just the sort of weird plot twist for which soaps are. This gives everybody a more-or-less graceful way out. Julie is so shocked and outraged, she slugs him in the stomach.

Some weeks later, Michael waits for her outside the studio and touchingly confesses that "... I was a better man with you as a woman than I ever was with a woman as a man." and she forgives him.

Tootsie Casts:

• Dustin Hoffman as Michael Dorsey / Dorothy Michaels
• Jessica Lange as Julie Nichols
• Teri Garr as Sandy Lester
• Dabney Coleman as Ron Carlisle
• Charles Durning as Leslie 'Les' Nichols
• Bill Murray as Jeff Slater
• Sydney Pollack as George Fields
• George Gaynes as John Van Horn
• Geena Davis as April Page
• Doris Belack as Rita Marshall
• Ellen Foley as Jacqui
• Peter Gatto as Rick
• Lynne Thigpen as Jo
• Ronald L. Schwary as Phil Weintraub
• Debra Mooney as Mrs. Mallory

Tootsie Original SoundTracks:

• It Might Be You by Stephen Bishop
• An Actor's Life (Main Title)
• Metamorphosis Blues (It Might Be You) - Instrumental
• Don't Let It Get You Down
• Montage Pastorale (It Might Be You) by Stephen Bishop
• Tootsie by Stephen Bishop
• Working Girl March
• Sandy's Song
• Out of the Rain
• Media Zap by Stephen Bishop