Pretty Woman is a romantic comedy released in 1990 starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts.
Initially it was planned as a dark story of prostitution in Los Angeles, but as time passed it turned into a Romantic Comedy and was critically acclaimed as follows:
Roberts received a Golden Globe Award for her role, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. Screenwriter J. F. Lawton was nominated for a Writers Guild Award and a BAFTA Award.
The central characters are Gere as a ruthless corporate raider and Roberts as a down on her luck Los Angeles prostitute.
Basically Gere hires Roberts as a non complications companion whilst he is in Los Angeles to asset strip an industrial conglomerate.
The plot follows the developing realtionship between Gere and Roberts and the vital question is will he stay with her once he is finished in Los Angeles. The sub plot is whether or not he will continue as a ruthless asset stripper or will he start to try and build things , like his father did.
The scene is set at the start, there is a party with the usual wealthy people. This is not a place where the guests hide their cars behind secure roller garage doors. The cars are parked outside and there are so many that Gere's normal car is blocked so he takes a lotus esprit, which he has great difficulty in driving.
He stops to ask Roberts for directions and from this point onwards the memorable scenes just follow one after another.
The swanky hotel room, the stiff hotel manager who eventually melts in his attitude to Roberts and of course the Polo match! Through it all the smart corporate clothing and boutique culture ensure that the wardrobes always look good.
The film has a very good music score and to quote wikipedia:-
Pretty Woman is noted for its musical selections and launched a hugely successful soundtrack. The film features the song "Oh, Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison, the title of which inspired that of the movie. Roxette's "It Must Have Been Love" reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1990. The soundtrack also features "King of Wishful Thinking" by Go West, "Show Me Your Soul" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, "No Explanation" by Peter Cetera, "Wild Women Do" by Natalie Cole and "Fallen" by Lauren Wood.
Other interesting points are
The opera featured in the movie is La Traviata, which also served as inspiration for the plot of the movie.
and one that is not often known
The piano piece which Richard Gere's character plays in the hotel lobby was composed by and performed by Gere.
Gere was chosen after both Reeve and Pacino turned it down.Roberts was far behind many other choices who all turned it down.
In retrospect this extraordinarily successful film is really the redemption of Gordon Gecko from Wall Street fame.
No comments:
Post a Comment