"Tootsie"
Credits: Producer
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Terri Garr, Bill Murray, Geena Davis, Dabney Coleman
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Release: 1982
Dustin Hoffman stars as Michael, an unemployed actor struggling to find work, who disguises himself as a woman named Dorothy and lands a role on a popular soap opera. His strong-willed and outspoken character’s performance empowers those around him to assert their own feelings and take more control over their lives. Along the way, Michael falls in love with Julie (Lange), which creates confusion as his true identity is revealed.
Award-winning comedy celebrated by audiences and critics alike - "Tootsie" has heart
What do you get when you cross a hopelessly straight, starving actor with a dynamite red sequined dress?
Richards discovered, developed and produced Tootsie, which became Columbia Pictures’ highest-grossing film ever at the time — and the second highest-grossing of 1982 (surpassed only by ET). Richards and Director Sidney Pollack won the Golden Globe for Best Picture, and the film earned 10 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture of the Year. Tootsie is ranked on AFI’s List of 100 Greatest American Films of All Time.
Accolades:
10 Academy Award Nominations
5 Golden Globe Nominations
5 BAFTA Award Nominations
7 National Society of Film Critics Award Nominations
5 New York Film Critic Award Nominations
Golden Globe Winner - Best Motion Picture, Comedy
Academy Award Winner - Best Supporting Actress
BAFTA Winner - Best Actor
National Society of Film Critics Award Winner - Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress
New York Film Critic Award Winner - Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress,
César Award Winner (France) - Best Foreign Film
Golden Screen Winner (Germany)
About the Film
Filled with stellar performances by a top-notch cast, “Tootsie” was beloved by audiences and critics alike. Richards purchased the screenplay in 1977 and spent two years developing it before bringing it to Hoffman. After two rounds of studios passing on the movie, Frank Price at Columbia made the deal and gave production a green light. Shot in and around New York and New Jersey, the film has become an iconic cinematic representation of its time.
Reviews
Marvellous fun.
- Pauline Kael, The New Yorker
"Tootsie" restores the original meaning to the term “situation comedy.”
- The New York Times
"Tootsie" is the kind of Movie with a capital M that they used to make in the 1940s, when they weren't afraid to mix up absurdity with seriousness, social comment with farce, and a little heartfelt tenderness right in there with the laughs. This movie gets you coming and going...The movie also manages to make some lighthearted but well-aimed observations about sexism. It also pokes satirical fun at soap operas, New York show business agents and the Manhattan social pecking order.
- Roger Ebert
"Tootsie." the story of a man who liberates himself by masquerading as a woman, is the funniest, most revealing comedy since "Annie Hall."
- The Boston Globe
This movie gets you coming and going.
- Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
This year's miracle is called "Tootsie." It is not just the best comedy of the year; it is popular art on the way to becoming cultural artifact.
- Richard Schickel, Time
Remarkably funny and entirely convincing, film pulls off the rare accomplishment of being an in-drag comedy which also emerges with three-dimensional characters.
- Todd McCarthy, Variety
"Tootsie" is a remarkably gentle and human pop movie that informs the term “escapism” with an almost cleansing sense of decency.
- Chuck Bowen, Slant Magazine
“Tootsie” is a lulu. Remarkably funny and entirely convincing, film pulls off the rare accomplishment of being an in-drag comedy which also emerges with three-dimensional characters.
- Variety
"Tootsie" is the best thing that's yet happened at this year end. It's a toot, a lark, a month in the country.
- Vincent Canby, The New York Times
In pants or skirts, Hoffman remains true to character, and his perplexity is real, especially when one girlfriend (Teri Garr) suspects he is a gay male, while the other (Jessica Lange) believes he is a lesbian female. Both actresses are excellent, and Miss Lange continues her promise to become a superstar of the 1980s.
- Bob Thomas, Associated Press
Sometimes a movie’s turmoil isn’t a sign of impending doom so much as one of impending brilliance.
"Tootsie" works for three reasons: a sharp screenplay, good comic timing, and delightful performances.
- James Berardinelli, ReelViews
"Tootsie" is full of good movie writing, and such are its pleasures that you wonder early on why all comedies can't be this good. The problem is that it's hard to do; the trick is that "Tootsie" makes it look easy.
- Bill Cosford, Miami Herald
The year's best man is a lady
- Jay Scott, The Globe and Mail
What ultimately makes "Tootsie" linger past the giggles is its immense affection toward everyone on the screen.
- Tasha Robinson, The Dissolve
Dustin Hoffman's on a roll in "Tootsie," a role-reversal movie that plays like the flip side of "Victor/Victoria." Hoffman may be dressed as a woman, but this film is no drag.
