The classic American screwball comedies of the late 30s and 40s are revered for their sparkling dialogue, their intricate plotting and their mixing-and-matching of glamorous, witty Golden Age icons like Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart, Barbara Stanwyck and Claudette Colbert. But one of the important, under-appreciated qualities of those movies – what made Adam’s Rib, Bringing Up Baby, The Lady Eve, His Girl Friday, and others really pop – is there was something serious at stake. These romcoms were not all meet-cutes and gimmicks, but cultural arenas for a battle of the sexes that was being waged off screen, too. Happy endings were achieved through intense negotiations.
There was something in the water 40 years ago when Tootsie, a self-conscious and ingenious throwback to the screwball era, was released to great acclaim and huge box office takings. It seems no mistake that two of its stars, Dustin Hoffman and Dabney Coleman, had appeared in a couple of the most talked-about films of recent vintage, Kramer vs Kramer and 9 to 5, both about men and women renegotiating the terms of their relationships at home and in the workplace. Hoffman’s career-driven character in Kramer vs Kramer learns that fatherhood isn’t a ceremonial role after his wife leaves him and he figures out how to make French toast for his son. Coleman’s boss in 9 to 5 serves as the ultimate example of women having to navigate a hostile, sexist workplace.
