Big Business is a 1988 American farcical comedy film starring Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin. Produced by Touchstone Pictures and loosely based on The Comedy of Errors (1589—1594) by William Shakespeare.
The movie revolves around two pairs of identical female twins who were mixed up as newborns, with one pair ending in a wealthy urban family (the Sheltons) and the other in a poor rural family (the Ratliffs).
Plot
Prologue: Mr. and Mrs. Shelton get lost in the middle of West Virginia looking for some friends' summer house but Mrs. Shelton begins having her baby and stop at the Ratliffs' asking for directions for the nearest hospital, they end up going to the Jupiter Hollow Hospital but the doctor will not check them in because it is for employees of Hollowmade only, so Mr. Shelton buys the company on the spot, the Ratliffs arrive at the same time also with Mrs. Ratliff in labor. The doctor tends both births at the same time and the elderly nurse gets confused and mixes the children.
Some 40 years later the Sheltons have reached the presidency of their family owned company Moramax but their personalities are quite different, while Sadie Shelton (Midler) is focused on her career and making profits, Rose Shelton (Tomlin) wishes for a simpler life in the country tending her family and a little farm, which caused a breakup with her boyfriend, Dr. Jay. One particular business scheme that Sadie passes on to the Board of Moramax for approval by stockholders is the off loading of Hollowmade, which still manufactures wood furniture.
Meanwhile Rose Ratliff (Tomlin) has reached the office of foreman at the Hollowmade Factory and her personality is also very career oriented, setting her personal life aside, while Sadie Ratliff (Midler) has always felt misplaced in rural life and wishes for a more sophisticated life in a big city. In her capacity as foreman, Rose finds out Moramax's plans and fears that the off loading of the company might bring a radical change of lifestyle for the people of Jupiter Hollow, so she makes plans to travel to New York City and stop the sale; with the prospect of traveling to (and probably staying in) New York, Sadie agrees to assist her sister.
In New York, Sadie Shelton is planning the shareholders' meeting and is trying to hide the fact that people in Jupiter Hollow actually oppose the sale of the company, her employee, Graham Sherbourne is reading a letter from Rose Ratliff, which she signs "R. Ratliff" about her plans of coming to New York and stop the sale; with these news Sadie orders him to locate the Ratliffs and stop them from appearing at the meeting.
At JFK Airport the Shelton sisters arrive in their limousine to pick up the prospective buyer, Mr. Fabio Alberici. The Ratliff sisters arrive at the same time at the airport and meet Mr. Alberici (who knows them from the Shelton's picture in the Moramax's Annual Report) and take a ride back into the city on the Shelton's limousine, leaving the Shelton sisters stranded at the airport.
Once at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan, the Ratliffs are checked-in in the Shelton's suite and the Sheltons are forced to take the subway to reach the hotel.
Mr. Alberici finally meets Sadie Shelton but she believes at the beginning that he was offering sex services when he said that the purpose of their business "was understood", once the faux pas has been averted they strike a mutual attraction. On the other side, Sadie Ratliff meets her twin's former husband and son; her more humble demeanor appeals to him and they also strike an attraction.
In the meantime Rose Ratliff has been trying to make Moramax's stockholders aware of Jupiter Hollow's opposition to the off loading of their company and meets Dr. Jay (Rose Shelton's former boyfriend), with whom she also strikes an attraction, while Rose Shelton meets Roone Dimmick, her twins' boyfriend, who came all the way from Jupiter Hollow to propose.
In the meantime Graham and his assistant (who is also his boyfriend) have managed to retain Roone in their own suite but early in the morning come to realize (inside a full elevator) that they have been looking for women.
The next day Sadie Shelton is having breakfast and meets with Rose Ratliff, assuming that Rose is her more humble sister she takes over the conversation and they prepare to go to the shareholders' meeting at one of the hotel's conference rooms. A little later Sadie Ratliff also meets with Rose Shelton at the same table in the same restaurant (in the meantime both Sadies have bought the same outfit and are virtually identical, except for a very similar haircut).
All sisters discover their mixup in the bathroom, the Ratliffs with the assistance of Rose Shelton trap Sadie Shelton in the broom closet. Rose Shelton and Sadie Ratliff attend the shareholders' meeting and succeed in stopping the sale of Jupiter Hollow.
Reception
Directed by Jim Abrahams, critical reaction to the film as a whole was generally lukewarm. It debuted within the three on the U.S. box-office chart and became a modest success, eventually grossing $40,150,000 during its domestic run.[1] Midler received an American Comedy Award in the category Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture for her performance in 1989.[2]
Production
The movie was originally written for Barbra Streisand (Midler's role) and Goldie Hawn (Tomlin's role). The plot is a coincidental and playful combination of two previously recognizable stories: Aesop's The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, and Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper; except in the 1988 film, the fictional protagonists are female, and actual twins instead of two look-alike characters.
The production company couldn't get the rights to film at the actual Plaza Hotel in New York City, so it had the hotel re-created on sound stages. To recoup construction costs, Disney built a sitcom called The Nutt House around it. It was an expensive flop. Jim Abrahams said he staged one of the boardroom scenes based on an experience he had when a large agency used many employees to get him to sign with them.
Cast
Soundtrack
Music from the Motion Picture album
Track Listing
- Steve Winwood — "Higher Love" (Steve Winwood, Will Jennings)
- “Little Ole Lady” (Richard Wilbur, Marc Shaiman)
- Benny Goodman — "Sing, Sing, Sing" (Louis Prima)
- “Pennies from Heaven" (Johnny Burke, Arthur Johnson)
- George Benson — “On Broadway" (Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil)
- The Trinidad Serenaders Steel Band — "Music Box Dancer" (Frank Mills)
- “Reilly Theme” (E. Shostakovich)
- "I'm in the Mood for Love" (Jimmy McHugh, Dorothy Fields)
References
External links
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