I’d seen the movie when it originally played in theaters [1982] and I’d watched it several years ago on some streaming platform (probably Netflix). I watched it again last night [May 10, 2026] and laughed myself silly two or three times, including the ending, which surprised me, and I’d seen the movie at least twice before. Nor did I remember that Bill Murray was in it, nor Dabney Coleman and Charles Durning. Did I remember Jessica Lange or Teri Garr? Maybe a little. What I mostly remember is Dustin Hoffman as Michael Dorsey, a talented actor whose intrusive perfectionism (he actually went full-tilt “method” on a 30-second gig he had as a tomato in a TV commercial) has kept directors from hiring him. So, what does he do? Out of sheer orneriness he goes up for a part an actress friend of his (Terri Garr) failed to get in a soap opera, Southwest General. And wouldn’t you know, he gets it!
And now he’s stuck as Dorothy Michaels playing Emily Kimberly, hospital administrator. Yes, he’s got a gig, an income, but how he’s got to play Dorothy Michaels to the cast and staff of the TV program. His first test as Dorothy comes the first day on set when he plays a scene with the hospital’s Chief Surgeon, known as “the tongue” among the other actresses. When Kimberly sees him going in for the kiss Dorothy bashes him on the head with her clipboard and improvises her way through the scene. It works! Other things work as well. Before you know it Dorothy’s a hit and the show picks up her option for another year. Now Michael’s stuck. Another year? No!
At one point Dorothy is talking with another cast member, Julie Nichols (played by Jessica Lange) who’s complaining about men. She tells Dorothy:
“Hey, listen. You know I'm confused about this too. I could lay a big line on you, we could do a lot of role-playing, but the simple truth is I find you very interesting and I'd really like to make love to you.”
At this point we of course know that that line is going to come back a bit later in the film, this time going in the other direction. And it does. Michael Dorsey is at a party talking with Julie and he says, “Hey, listen. You know I'm confused about this too....” As soon as he opens his mouth we know what will happen. Sure enough, he gets a glass of wine tossed in his face.
THAT’s what I remember from the movie. Not the fact that Julie’s father (played by Charles Durning) decided to court Dorothy and has her to marry him, nor that Julie was having an affair with the director, Ron Carlisle (played by Dabney Coleman), and I’d completely forgotten that Sidney Pollack played Dorsey’s agent. So much forgetting, such a funny movie. And the movie’s title, Tootsie? That’s what Carlisle, an unrepentant sexist, called Dorothy, who didn’t like it, at all. But it stuck.
Here’s what Roger Ebert said (taken from the Wikipedia entry):
“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.”
Tootsie was nominated for nine academy awards and got one, Jessica Lange for Best Supporting Actress.
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