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| caption =
| caption =
| director = [[Stephanie Rothman]]
| director = [[Stephanie Rothman]]
| producer = {{Plain list |
| producer = [[Charles S. Swartz]]<br>'''Executive'''<br>[[Lawrence Woolner]]
* [[Charles S. Swartz]]
* [[Lawrence Woolner]]
}}
| writer = Stephanie Rothman
| writer = Stephanie Rothman
| starring = {{Plain list |
| starring = {{Plain list |
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| distributor = [[Dimension Pictures (1970s company)|Dimension Pictures]]
| distributor = [[Dimension Pictures (1970s company)|Dimension Pictures]]
| released = {{Film date|1974}}
| released = {{Film date|1974}}
| runtime =
| runtime = 80 mins
| country =
| country =USA
| language = English
| language = English
| budget =
| budget = $100,000<ref name="screen"/>
| gross =
| gross =
}}
}}
'''''The Working Girls''''' is a 1974 [[sexploitation film]] written and directed by [[Stephanie Rothman]] and starring [[Sarah Kennedy (actor)|Sarah Kennedy]], Laurie Rose and [[Cassandra Peterson]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/402011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090529015907/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/402011|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 29, 2009|title=The Working Girls|work=[[BFI National Archive]]|publisher=[[British Film Institute]]|location=[[United Kingdom]]|accessdate=April 19, 2017}}</ref><ref name="The Working Girls">{{cite web|url=http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/96260/Working-Girls-The/|title=The Working Girls|work=[[Turner Classic Movies]]|publisher=[[Turner Broadcasting System]] ([[Time Warner]])|location=[[Atlanta]]|accessdate=April 19, 2017}}</ref>
'''''The Working Girls''''' is a 1974 [[sexploitation film]] written and directed by [[Stephanie Rothman]] and starring [[Sarah Kennedy (actor)|Sarah Kennedy]], Laurie Rose and [[Cassandra Peterson]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/402011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090529015907/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/402011|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 29, 2009|title=The Working Girls|work=[[BFI National Archive]]|publisher=[[British Film Institute]]|location=[[United Kingdom]]|accessdate=April 19, 2017}}</ref><ref name="The Working Girls">{{cite web|url=http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/96260/Working-Girls-The/|title=The Working Girls|work=[[Turner Classic Movies]]|publisher=[[Turner Broadcasting System]] ([[Time Warner]])|location=[[Atlanta]]|accessdate=April 19, 2017}}</ref>

⚫
It is about three women sharing an apartment in [[Los Angeles]] - Honey, Jill and Denise - who are all endangered by the men in their lives.


The film has attracted academic interest because of its feminist themes.<ref name="henry">{{cite web|url=https://web.mit.edu/~21fms/People/henry3/rothman.html#30|website=Henry Jenkins|first=Henry|last=Jenkins|title=Exploring feminism in Stephanie Rothman's Terminal Island}}</ref>
The film has attracted academic interest because of its feminist themes.<ref name="henry">{{cite web|url=https://web.mit.edu/~21fms/People/henry3/rothman.html#30|website=Henry Jenkins|first=Henry|last=Jenkins|title=Exploring feminism in Stephanie Rothman's Terminal Island}}</ref>
==Plot==
==Plot==
A blonde, Honey, arrives in Los Angeles and is given a place to stay by a sign painter Denise whose roommate Jill works as a waitress in a strip club.
⚫
Three women sharing an apartment in [[Los Angeles]] are all endangered by the men in their lives.

Honey gets upset when Denise hooks up with Honey's man, Mike.

Honey is hired by Mrs Borden to kill the latter's husband. Then she goes to work for a businessman Vernin to be his conversation-partner.


==Cast==
==Cast==
Line 47: Line 50:
* Bob Schott - Roger
* Bob Schott - Roger
==Production==
==Production==
The finance came from an investory who who wanted a film along the lines of ''The Student Nurses'', Rothman's biggest hit. The $100,000 budget was the smallest she had to work with as a director.<ref name="screen"/>

Rothman said "I was hired to do as a pretty, sexy, graphically strong (I hope), comic film... For me it has always been a film about the quest for identity that we are all on when we are young. It is a serious film about three underemployed young women who no one takes seriously enough. By the film’s end, they have learned such life lessons as an open heart can lead to the warmth of friendship, the impermanence of love and the pain of loss; desire for the wrong man is not good for one’s ethics or ambitions; and most surprising of all, learning how to be a capitalist can lead to becoming a utopian socialist."<ref>{{cite web|title=The Working Girls|url=https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2023/venice-classics/working-girls|website=Biennale Cinema}}</ref>

The film was one of Rothman's most personal works. She said "I am particularly drawn to the problem that the three main characters face, a problem shared by most young people: how to find work that will support them and provide satisfaction at the same time.”<ref>Peary p 190-191</ref>
The film was one of Rothman's most personal works. She said "I am particularly drawn to the problem that the three main characters face, a problem shared by most young people: how to find work that will support them and provide satisfaction at the same time.”<ref>Peary p 190-191</ref>
==Receptin==
''Film Fanatic'' said "While its weak ensemble storyline ultimately makes this one of Rothman’s lesser efforts, it’s certainly worth a look by followers of slyly subversive feminist cinema."<ref>[https://filmfanatic.org/?p=31384 Working Girl] at Film Fanatic</ref>

''Screen Slate'' said Rotham "crafted an apparently playful but deeply personal statement about the importance of autonomy in both the bedroom and the workplace."<ref name="screen">{{cite web|url=https://www.screenslate.com/articles/working-girls-0|website=Screen Slate|title=Working Girls|first=Madelyn|last=Sutton}}</ref>

The ''Chicago Reader'' felt the film "finds Rothman plainly fed up with the limitations of the exploitation genre, and the wit, stylistic assurance, and feminist subtexts she was able to insert in her earlier work in the field... are largely lacking here."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://chicagoreader.com/film/the-working-girls/|newspaper=Chicago Reader|title=The Working Girls|first= Dave|last= Kehr|date=22 November 1985}}</ref>

''Mondo Digital'' called the film "a surprisingly benign and sunny film... While it doesn't have quite the same satirical snap as her [Rothman's] finest work, there's plenty to enjoy here as the plot careens from one absurd situation to another, and even better, it provides a great snapshot of '70s SoCal... Rothman's gift for swerving dialogue in unpredictable directions is still present here in abundance as even the most disreputable characters display a verbal flair and generous disposition."<ref>[https://www.mondo-digital.com/workinggirls.html Review of film] at Mondo Digital</ref>

A retrospective of Rothman's work said the film "may just be her masterpiece... the political subtext that had colored her earlier works had become the outright text, with sex work, equity in the workplace, and abuse becoming the focal points to each of her characters’ conflicts. What the film may lack in production values compared to her New World productions, it more than makes up for in the sophistication of Rothman’s compositions."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.spectacletheater.com/the-films-of-stephanie-rothman/|website=Spectacle theatre|title=The Films of Stephanie Rothman}}</ref>
==See also==
==See also==
* [[List of American films of 1974]]
* [[List of American films of 1974]]
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==External links==
==External links==
*{{IMDb title|0070927}}
*{{IMDb title|0070927}}
*[https://letterboxd.com/film/the-working-girls/ ''The Working Girls''] at Letterbox DVD

{{Stephanie Rothman}}
{{Stephanie Rothman}}


Revision as of 14:01, 28 April 2024

This article is about the 1974 film. For similar uses, see Working Girl (disambiguation).
The Working Girls
Directed byStephanie Rothman
Written byStephanie Rothman
Produced byCharles S. Swartz
Executive
Lawrence Woolner
Starring
CinematographyDaniel Lacambre
Edited byJohn A. O'Connor
Music byMichael Andres
Distributed byDimension Pictures
Release date
  • 1974 (1974)
Running time
80 mins
CountryUSA
LanguageEnglish
Budget$100,000[1]

The Working Girls is a 1974 sexploitation film written and directed by Stephanie Rothman and starring Sarah Kennedy, Laurie Rose and Cassandra Peterson.[2][3]

It is about three women sharing an apartment in Los Angeles - Honey, Jill and Denise - who are all endangered by the men in their lives.

The film has attracted academic interest because of its feminist themes.[4]

Plot

A blonde, Honey, arrives in Los Angeles and is given a place to stay by a sign painter Denise whose roommate Jill works as a waitress in a strip club.

Honey gets upset when Denise hooks up with Honey's man, Mike.

Honey is hired by Mrs Borden to kill the latter's husband. Then she goes to work for a businessman Vernin to be his conversation-partner.

Cast

  • Sarah Kennedy - Honey
  • Laurie Rose - Denise
  • Mark Thomas - Nick
  • Lynne Guthrie - Jill
  • Ken Del Conte - Mike
  • Solomon Sturges - Vernon
  • Gene Elman - Sidney
  • Mary Beth Hughes - Mrs. Borden
  • Lou Tiano - Lou
  • Cassandra Peterson - Katya
  • Bob Schott - Roger

Production

The finance came from an investory who who wanted a film along the lines of The Student Nurses, Rothman's biggest hit. The $100,000 budget was the smallest she had to work with as a director.[1]

Rothman said "I was hired to do as a pretty, sexy, graphically strong (I hope), comic film... For me it has always been a film about the quest for identity that we are all on when we are young. It is a serious film about three underemployed young women who no one takes seriously enough. By the film’s end, they have learned such life lessons as an open heart can lead to the warmth of friendship, the impermanence of love and the pain of loss; desire for the wrong man is not good for one’s ethics or ambitions; and most surprising of all, learning how to be a capitalist can lead to becoming a utopian socialist."[5]

The film was one of Rothman's most personal works. She said "I am particularly drawn to the problem that the three main characters face, a problem shared by most young people: how to find work that will support them and provide satisfaction at the same time.”[6]

Receptin

Film Fanatic said "While its weak ensemble storyline ultimately makes this one of Rothman’s lesser efforts, it’s certainly worth a look by followers of slyly subversive feminist cinema."[7]

Screen Slate said Rotham "crafted an apparently playful but deeply personal statement about the importance of autonomy in both the bedroom and the workplace."[1]

The Chicago Reader felt the film "finds Rothman plainly fed up with the limitations of the exploitation genre, and the wit, stylistic assurance, and feminist subtexts she was able to insert in her earlier work in the field... are largely lacking here."[8]

Mondo Digital called the film "a surprisingly benign and sunny film... While it doesn't have quite the same satirical snap as her [Rothman's] finest work, there's plenty to enjoy here as the plot careens from one absurd situation to another, and even better, it provides a great snapshot of '70s SoCal... Rothman's gift for swerving dialogue in unpredictable directions is still present here in abundance as even the most disreputable characters display a verbal flair and generous disposition."[9]

A retrospective of Rothman's work said the film "may just be her masterpiece... the political subtext that had colored her earlier works had become the outright text, with sex work, equity in the workplace, and abuse becoming the focal points to each of her characters’ conflicts. What the film may lack in production values compared to her New World productions, it more than makes up for in the sophistication of Rothman’s compositions."[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Sutton, Madelyn. "Working Girls". Screen Slate.
  2. ^ "The Working Girls". BFI National Archive. United Kingdom: British Film Institute. Archived from the original on May 29, 2009. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
  3. ^ "The Working Girls". Turner Classic Movies. Atlanta: Turner Broadcasting System (Time Warner). Retrieved April 19, 2017.
  4. ^ Jenkins, Henry. "Exploring feminism in Stephanie Rothman's Terminal Island". Henry Jenkins.
  5. ^ "The Working Girls". Biennale Cinema.
  6. ^ Peary p 190-191
  7. ^ Working Girl at Film Fanatic
  8. ^ Kehr, Dave (22 November 1985). "The Working Girls". Chicago Reader.
  9. ^ Review of film at Mondo Digital
  10. ^ "The Films of Stephanie Rothman". Spectacle theatre.

Notes

External links

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