Needing A Woman's Touch

I had never seen Tootsie until a few days ago.  Of course, I had heard great things about it beforehand so I was very much looking forward to watching it.  I must say that I thought it was a very good movie that deals with some very important issues.

Tootsie is the story of a struggling actor who disguises himself as a woman so that he can get work.  Even though this movie does have some funny moments, I do not think of it as comedy.  This movie deals with some very important issues that are still relevant today, even though it has been almost 35 years since it was released.  One of the things that I found quite interesting about this movie is that once Michael Dorsey (Dustin Hoffman) starts dressing up as Dorothy Michaels, he starts to see things from a woman's perspective.  He mentions how hard it must be for a woman to keep herself attractive while not starving to death at the same time.  The issue of women being successful in Hollywood has always been a controversial one.  There is even a point in the movie where Michael, dressed up as Dorothy, goes off on a television director over his reasons why certain women are not hired ("power makes women masculine" and "masculine women are ugly").  The director also continues to call her "tootsie" and "baby" until she yells at him that she actually has a name and he needs to refer to her as such. Needless to say, it is harder for women to get certain roles and be successful.  I do not personally know why that is, as there are several actresses whose work I follow.  The equality of women in the movie business is an issue that continues to be addressed, and quite honestly it needs to be solved.  

Dustin Hoffman plays Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels.  Hoffman brilliantly plays a man who knows how good he is.  However, Michael Dorsey is also a man who is struggling to find work, and there are many instances where you can see that desperate look in Hoffman's eyes.  Michael Dorsey is an actor who is hard to work with, but he is in complete denial about it, which Hoffman also plays to a "T."  When Michael is playing Dorothy Michaels, you can really see the spark within Michael and his light truly shines, much like Hoffman in this role.  This is a character of many layers, and Dustin Hoffman is perfect at playing the role.

Sydney Pollack is the director of Tootsie.  I love the way he directed this film because it really is a character piece about what Michael Dorsey is going through throughout the movie.  The focus is entirely on him, as it should be.  There are also several moments where Pollack shows us how brutal the business can be and what it is like to work behind-the-scenes on set, all of which I love.  He is also in the movie as Michael Dorsey's agent and he is great in the role!

Although I would have liked to see the movie end with Michael Dorsey acting in his roommates play, I will say that Tootsie is a classic, plain and simple.  It is also wonderful to watch Dustin Hoffman, an actor who I greatly respect and admire, in such an iconic role.  This is a great movie and if you have not seen it, do yourself a favor and go watch it.