Director Garry Marshall makes no big secret of the fact that he’s a pretty, old fashioned guy. Marshall likes his ladies pretty, his dialogue clean and his sex to be sexy, but not in any way gratuitous. So in 1990 when he teamed up with Disney’s grown up oriented production arm Touchstone for a romantic comedy about a prostitute and her wealthy suitor, the result was never likely to be Taxi Driver. A quick glance at the one sheet tells you pretty much everything you need to know; Richard Gere & Julia Roberts, legs all the way to heaven (not hers, incidentally), set against a pristine white, almost virginal backdrop under a title lettered in gold. This, ladies and gentleman, is the sex industry according to the folks at the Mouse House.
On the surface it’s a perfectly inoffensive fantasy. A candy crusted wish fulfillment fable that takes lonely billionaire Edward, sets him up with down on her luck Vivian, and espouses that all you need is luurve. But there is something quite insidious about the path to this preposterous couple’s bliss that at times borders on downright distasteful.
Yes, our plucky prostitute, soon to be princess, Vivian does start off on the streets of Beverly Hills. Yes, there are drugs, and yes, people get hurt, but only people who deserve it. The girl pulled out of the dumpster, Skinny Marie (what, was “Skanky Marie” too on the nose?) is immediately identified as a “flake” and a “crack head.” Not Vivian, she’s better than that – she’s “new,” she “cried the whole time,” and she is whisked away from all that nasty business quicker than you can say sexually transmitted disease.
Starting out as a simple business arrangement – Edward pays $3,000 for Vivian to spend the week in his Penthouse Suite and be his date at some business functions – Edward is quite prepared to take what he’s paid for, but can’t fall in love with her until she has undergone a glamorous makeover and learned to correctly identify a shrimp fork. Similarly the stiffs of high society that are horrified at the sight of Vivian warm to her not because she’s actually altered in some way but because she’s now decked out in Louis Vuitton and putting on the airs and graces that all proper young ladies rightly should.
Being 1990 wealthy black people hadn’t quite been invented yet, so this top tier echelon of private jets to the opera is devoid of any color. In fact there are two black faces in the entire movie – one a mad street prophet, the other a limo driver. Of course by the end of it all Edward has come to realize that money isn’t everything and there is greater value to be found in doing the right thing. Noble as that is the fact that he’s already a billionaire industrialist probably softens the blow somewhat.
So why then with all its glaring faults is it still such an enduring classic that almost twenty years later remains so disarming and so immensely watchable? Because like so many genre classics (Chinatown, Die Hard, Unforgiven) as a story it is structurally perfect. A flawless example of escalating beats, subtle set-up and tantalizing pay-off. Looking at it again its surprising how much exposition there is in the dialogue and how many scenes are simply two people in a room talking. Yet even at what by today’s standards is far from a lean runtime for a rom-com, there is not an ounce of waste in the movie. It also boasts a soundtrack packed to the rafters with guilty pleasure eighties pop songs that you’ll find yourself unable to quit humming for several days after.
But the undoubted ace up Marshall’s sleeve is the uniformly superb cast, littered with veteran character players that from top to bottom make this plastic palace resonate with crucial twinges of authenticity. Standouts include Hector Elizondo as the kindly hotel manager and Jason Alexander as the villainous yuppie lawyer, Stucky (as anyone who has seen Duckman can ably attest to, no one does sweaty misogyny better). At the center of course are the two unsurpassed leads and their now legendary chemistry. Gere the effortlessly classy prince charming and Roberts the supremely talented Cinderella, then on the verge of mega stardom.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
Extras on this Blu-ray edition are pretty much identical to what was found on the 2005 Fifteenth Anniversary Edition. Director Marshall positively talks your ear off on the commentary track, delivering an encyclopedia of production information. Even now the man remembers the name of every actor, no matter how minor the part (that skateboarding drug dealer – that’s his son). There’s also some camcorder footage of the wrap party where Julia and Richard indulge in a little karaoke, but the mix is quite terrible. There’s also an interactive location map, again hosted by a chatty Marshall, a small blooper reel and a terrible hokey TV spot courtesy of Touchstone that sadly has not aged nearly as well as the film has.
"Pretty Woman" is on sale February 10, 2009 and is rated R. Romance. Directed by Garry Marshall. Written by J. F. Lawton. Starring Julia Roberts, Richard Gere.
