Straight Talk
Encyclopedia
Straight Talk is an 1992
American
comedy
-film
distributed by Hollywood Pictures
, directed by Barnet Kellman
and starring Dolly Parton
and James Woods
. Parton did not receive star-billing in any other theatrically-released films until the 2012 film Joyful Noise
, alongside Queen Latifah
. Her previous starring films were 9 to 5 (1980
), The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
(1982
), Rhinestone
(1984
), and Steel Magnolias
(1989
).
talk show host. Her show is wildly successful but her success is based on the lie that she is actually a clinical psychologist. She has to learn that giving advice and following it can be harder than she thought.
Shirlee starts off in the film as a dance instructor living in Arkansas. After she is fired for giving advice to her clients rather than teaching them dance, she attempts to convince her boyfriend to move to Chicago
with her. After he declines and then belittles her, she decides to move there herself.
Once she arrives, she is standing on a bridge enjoying the view of the city when she accidentally drops a twenty-dollar bill. As she climbs over the rail in an attempt to retrieve the money, Jack (played by James Woods) sees her from his office window. He is a reporter for a Chicago newspaper. He thinks she is trying to commit suicide
, so he runs out to rescue her. As he attempts to grab her and save her, Shirlee almost falls and drops the money she was trying to recover. After they recover, she complains that he caused her to lose the twenty dollars. Jack tries to give her money, saying she needs it more than he if she is willing to risk her life to retrieve it. She refuses and the two part.
Shirlee goes on many different job interviews, and finally lands a job as a switchboard operator. After a few hours on the job, she inadvertently walks into a recording office, and the manager mistakes her as the new radio therapist. He puts her on the air and she completes a show before being fired by the producer once he comes into the office. However, once the radio station boss demands that Shirlee be the new radio personality, then Alan is forced to find Shirlee and convince her to do the show. Shirlee accepts the position, but there is one condition: she must agree to pretend to be a real clinical doctor. She reluctantly accepts and becomes a popular radio figure as "Doctor Shirlee."
Jack, the newspaper reporter, suspects something when he realizes the woman ready to risk her life for twenty dollars is a doctor. Although his boss doesn't agree, he pursues the story. He begins to date her. They begin to fall for one another when Shirlee's boyfriend from Arkansas comes and tries to get her back. His attempts fall short, and Shirlee and Jack wind up making love. Afterwards, Jack develops true feelings for her and refuses to publish a story about her. Shirlee finds out that he was trying to write a story, and although she is angry, the two eventually wind up together. Shirlee finally confesses to everyone on air that she is not a real doctor and leaves the show. All of her viewers call in and want her back. Someone calls the show and tells everyone listening to honk their horns if they want Doctor Shirlee back. Jack shows up on the same bridge where they met and convinces her to take him back. When she hears the horns, Jack tells them that they are for her. She eventually goes back to the radio show, but wants to be called just "Shirlee."
. The "Flank Center" building was used to house the dance sequence scenes in the beginning of the film. Both Dolly Parton and James Woods ate at local establishments during filming off times. Most filming occurred in the early hours of the morning with the usage of high intensity floodlights to depict daytime. This was done to reduce interference with the general public who crowded the streets throughout the weeks of filming. The bar in the raining scene, Tom's Place, and the Barber Shop are still open with some small movie memorabilia.
1992 in film
The year 1992 in film involved many significant films. -Top grossing films:-Awards:Academy AwardsGolden Globe AwardsNational Film Awards...
American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
-film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
distributed by Hollywood Pictures
Hollywood Pictures
Hollywood Pictures is one of The Walt Disney Company's several alternate movie divisions. Like Disney's Touchstone Pictures brand, it produces films for a more mature adult audience than Walt Disney Pictures.-History:...
, directed by Barnet Kellman
Barnet Kellman
Barnet Kellman is a television and film director, television producer and film actor.- Director:* Samantha Who?* Notes from the Underbelly* Four Kings* Living with Fran* George Lopez* Alias* Mary and Rhoda* Felicity...
and starring Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
and James Woods
James Woods
James Howard Woods is an American film, stage and television actor. Woods is known for starring in critically acclaimed films such as Once Upon a Time in America, Salvador, Nixon, Ghosts of Mississippi, Casino, and in the television legal drama Shark. He has won three Emmy Awards, and has gained...
. Parton did not receive star-billing in any other theatrically-released films until the 2012 film Joyful Noise
Joyful Noise (film)
Joyful Noise is an upcoming musical film, starring Queen Latifah, Dolly Parton, Keke Palmer, Courtney B. Vance, Francis Jue and introducing Jeremy Jordan. It was written and directed by Todd Graff, with gospel-infused music by Mervyn Warren. The film is set to be released in theaters on January 13,...
, alongside Queen Latifah
Queen Latifah
Dana Elaine Owens , better known by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American singer, rapper, and actress. Her work in music, film and television has earned her a Golden Globe award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Image Awards, a Grammy Award, six additional Grammy nominations, an Emmy...
. Her previous starring films were 9 to 5 (1980
1980 in film
- Events :* May 21 - Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is released and is the biggest grosser of the year ....
), The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (film)
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas is a 1982 film adaptation of the musical of the same name released by Universal Pictures, which was co-written and directed by Colin Higgins...
(1982
1982 in film
-Events:* March 26 = I Ought to Be in Pictures, starring Walter Matthau, Ann-Margret and Dinah Manoff is released. Manoff would not appear in another movie until 1987's Backfire.* June = PG-rated film E.T...
), Rhinestone
Rhinestone (film)
Rhinestone is a 1984 comedy film directed by Bob Clark with a screenplay by Sylvester Stallone and Phil Alden Robinson; the film stars Stallone and Dolly Parton.-Plot:...
(1984
1984 in film
-Events:* The Walt Disney Company founds Touchstone Pictures to release movies with subject matter deemed inappropriate for the Disney name.* Tri-Star Pictures, a joint venture of Columbia Pictures, HBO, and CBS, releases its first film....
), and Steel Magnolias
Steel Magnolias
Steel Magnolias is a 1989 American comedy-drama film directed by Herbert Ross that stars Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, Dolly Parton, Daryl Hannah and Julia Roberts....
(1989
1989 in film
-Events:* Batman is released on June 23, and goes on to gross over $410 million worldwide.* Actress Kim Basinger and her brother Mick purchase Braselton, Georgia, for $20 million...
).
Plot summary
Shirlee Kenyon, a down-home country girl who, through a series of mistakes, is hired as a radioRadio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
talk show host. Her show is wildly successful but her success is based on the lie that she is actually a clinical psychologist. She has to learn that giving advice and following it can be harder than she thought.
Shirlee starts off in the film as a dance instructor living in Arkansas. After she is fired for giving advice to her clients rather than teaching them dance, she attempts to convince her boyfriend to move to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
with her. After he declines and then belittles her, she decides to move there herself.
Once she arrives, she is standing on a bridge enjoying the view of the city when she accidentally drops a twenty-dollar bill. As she climbs over the rail in an attempt to retrieve the money, Jack (played by James Woods) sees her from his office window. He is a reporter for a Chicago newspaper. He thinks she is trying to commit suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
, so he runs out to rescue her. As he attempts to grab her and save her, Shirlee almost falls and drops the money she was trying to recover. After they recover, she complains that he caused her to lose the twenty dollars. Jack tries to give her money, saying she needs it more than he if she is willing to risk her life to retrieve it. She refuses and the two part.
Shirlee goes on many different job interviews, and finally lands a job as a switchboard operator. After a few hours on the job, she inadvertently walks into a recording office, and the manager mistakes her as the new radio therapist. He puts her on the air and she completes a show before being fired by the producer once he comes into the office. However, once the radio station boss demands that Shirlee be the new radio personality, then Alan is forced to find Shirlee and convince her to do the show. Shirlee accepts the position, but there is one condition: she must agree to pretend to be a real clinical doctor. She reluctantly accepts and becomes a popular radio figure as "Doctor Shirlee."
Jack, the newspaper reporter, suspects something when he realizes the woman ready to risk her life for twenty dollars is a doctor. Although his boss doesn't agree, he pursues the story. He begins to date her. They begin to fall for one another when Shirlee's boyfriend from Arkansas comes and tries to get her back. His attempts fall short, and Shirlee and Jack wind up making love. Afterwards, Jack develops true feelings for her and refuses to publish a story about her. Shirlee finds out that he was trying to write a story, and although she is angry, the two eventually wind up together. Shirlee finally confesses to everyone on air that she is not a real doctor and leaves the show. All of her viewers call in and want her back. Someone calls the show and tells everyone listening to honk their horns if they want Doctor Shirlee back. Jack shows up on the same bridge where they met and convinces her to take him back. When she hears the horns, Jack tells them that they are for her. She eventually goes back to the radio show, but wants to be called just "Shirlee."
Production
The vast majority of this film was shot in the historic downtown Lemont, IllinoisLemont, Illinois
Lemont is a village located in Cook, DuPage, and Will Counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, and is roughly southwest of Chicago. The population was 16,625 at the 2007 Special Census.-History:...
. The "Flank Center" building was used to house the dance sequence scenes in the beginning of the film. Both Dolly Parton and James Woods ate at local establishments during filming off times. Most filming occurred in the early hours of the morning with the usage of high intensity floodlights to depict daytime. This was done to reduce interference with the general public who crowded the streets throughout the weeks of filming. The bar in the raining scene, Tom's Place, and the Barber Shop are still open with some small movie memorabilia.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Dolly Parton Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk... |
Shirlee Kenyon |
| James Woods James Woods James Howard Woods is an American film, stage and television actor. Woods is known for starring in critically acclaimed films such as Once Upon a Time in America, Salvador, Nixon, Ghosts of Mississippi, Casino, and in the television legal drama Shark. He has won three Emmy Awards, and has gained... |
Jack Russell |
| Griffin Dunne Griffin Dunne -Personal life:Dunne was born Thomas Griffin Dunne in New York City, New York, the son of Ellen Beatriz Dunne and Dominick Dunne. His mother founded the victims' rights organization Justice for Homicide Victims and his father was a producer, writer, and actor... |
Alan Riegert |
| Michael Madsen Michael Madsen Michael Søren Madsen is an American actor, poet, and photographer. He has appeared in more than 150 films, most of them small independent films, though he has starred in central roles in such films as Reservoir Dogs, Free Willy, Donnie Brasco, and Kill Bill, in addition to a supporting role in Sin... |
Steve |
| Deirdre O'Connell Deirdre O'Connell (actress) Deirdre O'Connell is an American character actress who has worked extensively on stage, screen, and television.O'Connell began her career at Stage One, an experimental theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts... |
Lily |
| John Sayles John Sayles John Thomas Sayles is an American independent film director, screenwriter and author.-Early life:Sayles was born in Schenectady, New York, the son of Mary , a teacher, and Donald John Sayles, a school administrator. He was raised Catholic and took to labeling himself "a Catholic atheist"... |
Guy Girardi |
| Teri Hatcher Teri Hatcher Teri Lynn Hatcher is an American actress, writer, and presenter. She is known for her television roles as Susan Mayer on the ABC comedy-drama series Desperate Housewives, and Lois Lane on the ABC comedy-drama series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman... |
Janice |
| Spalding Gray Spalding Gray Spalding Rockwell Gray was an American actor, playwright, screenwriter, performance artist and monologuist... |
Dr. David Erdman |
| Jerry Orbach Jerry Orbach Jerome Bernard "Jerry" Orbach was an American actor and singer. He was well known for his starring role as Detective Lennie Briscoe in the Law & Order television series and as the voice of Lumière in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. As well, Orbach was a noted musical theatre star... |
Milo Jacoby |
| Amy Morton Amy Morton Amy Morton is an American actress best known for her work in theatre. A member of Steppenwolf Theater's core group of actors since 1997, Morton has spent most of her career working in the Chicago theater scene. She made her Broadway debut starring opposite Gary Sinise as Nurse Ratched in the Tony... |
Ann |
| Philip Bosco Philip Bosco -Personal life:Bosco was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, the son of Margaret Raymond , a policewoman, and Philip Lupo Bosco, a carnival worker. Bosco went to high school at St. Peter's Preparatory School in Jersey City. He attended the Catholic University of Washington, D.C. Bosco married Nancy... |
Gene Perlman |
| Charles Fleischer Charles Fleischer Charles Fleischer is an American actor, stand-up comedian and voice artist.-Life and career:Fleischer was born in Washington, D.C. As a child, he is reported to have spent several summers at Kamp Kewanee in La Plume, Pennsylvania, where he started practicing his stand-up routine at age nine... |
Tony |
| Keith MacKechnie | Gordon |
| Jay Thomas Jay Thomas Jay Thomas is an American actor, comedian and radio talk show host.-Personal life:Thomas was born in Kermit, Texas. He was raised in his Italian American mother's Roman Catholic faith, although his father was Protestant.... |
Zim Zimmerman |
| Paula Newsome Paula Newsome -Career:Newsome began having an interest in acting as a child performing in community theater, before moving to New York City. While in New York, she was cast in a number of Broadway productions... |
Ellen |
| Tracy Letts Tracy Letts Tracy Letts is an American playwright and actor who received the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play August: Osage County.-Biography:... |
Sean |
| John Gegenhuber John Gegenhuber John Gegenhuber is an American actor. He was raised in Palatine, Illinois and his earliest screen-acting credit was in the 1986 series Under the Biltmore Clock. He has starred in several series, as well as appeared as a guest or recurring character on numerous shows, including Seinfeld , Murphy... |
Waiter |