I need a list of films about groups of women.

[nolabear]

I've got a writing project going about women and how we have always had our own ways of getting things done, often under the radar of the (for lack of a better term) typical male-oriented power structure. I was just reminded about women's sports teams and A League of Their Own.

I'd appreciate any other movies y'all can come up with that concern "sisters doin' it for themselves". (I know ALofTO was within a male power structure but what I'm talking about is the dynamic and support and conflict among the women themselves and how they got through as women, for women).

Thanks guys; you're a regular Encyclopedia Loungetanica!

[Ptah]

1. Thelma and Louise

[valerief]

2. The Women. Not the remake (ugh!), the 1939 original with Roz Russell, Joan Crawford, and

Norma Shearer.

All women. All about women. Love the "L'Amour" countess in it.

Another flick, sometime in the 60s, is The Group starring Candace Bergen.

[pipi_k]

11. Even the animals

in the movie were female

I love Norma Shearer.

[geardaddy]

17. Yes, this.

And I agree...not the remake.

[Ineeda]

18. Another remake that's not so bad

is "The Opposite Sex" (1956) with June Allyson, Joan Collins, Ann Miller, Joan Blondell and several other stars of the times. This one had men in it (Dick Shawn, Leslie Nielson) and is listed as a musical comedy. I saw it recently and didn't see the comedy aspect. All-in-all, not bad and pretty true to the original.

Boys on the Side (1995) Drew Barrymore, Whoopi Goldberg, Mary-Louise Parker.

[valerief]

62. Boys on the Side. That's a good one!

[KamaAina]

3. Fried Green Tomatoes

I loved how the women all knew who was in the Klan, becasuse they never bothered to change their shoes!

[hedgehog]

4. Paradise Road

"Fact-based recounting of a group of women who are imprisoned on the island of Sumatra by the Japanese during World War II and used music as a relief to their misery. "

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119859/

[sarge43]

8. Along with that, So Proudly We Hail!

The US Army nurses of Bataan and Corregidor

Something lighter: 8 to 5

[Sedona]

5. Steel Magnolias

[Sedona]

6. The Color Purple

[tammywammy]

53. Such a great book AND movie

I also agree with Steel Magnolias...great movie.

[suninvited]

56. Indeed

that was the first one I thought of, too.

[pipi_k]

7. Passion Fish

Mainly just the relationship between two women, but one of them has a group of friends who appear occasionally.

[Flaxbee]

57. that's one of my favorite movies. Good call.

[valerief]

63. Love that flick! nt

[pipi_k]

9. Ooooh, another one!

"Strangers In Good Company"

I read that much of this film was ad-libbed. The personal stories, anyway.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

15. Strangers in Good Company--

A bus carrying a group of women from a Canadian senior center breaks down in the middle of nowhere, and the women are stranded overnight. They pass the time by telling their life stories as they figure out how to find food and keep warm in an abandoned farmhouse.

[likesmountains 52]

21. + 1000

[nolabear]

38. Sounds great! Thanks!

[texanwitch]

39. This movie and The Secret Lives of Bees, a must see for both.

Both great movies.

[yewberry]

46. I *loved* that film.

Totally under-the-radar film, but so great to watch!

[edbermac]

10. 3 Women by Robert Altman

Not sure if it fits your criteria, but it's interesting nonetheless.

[Xyzse]

12. Hmmm... Few that I could think of

Serious Suggestions:

Mona Lisa Smile
Girl Interrupted

Tongue in cheek suggestions:

Blue Crush
Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants
First Wives Club

[Scuba]

13. Adam's Rib

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam's_Rib

Doris Attinger (Judy Holliday) follows her husband (Tom Ewell) with a gun one day and sees that he is having an affair with another woman (Jean Hagen). In her rage, she fires at the couple multiple times. One of the bullets hits her husband in the arm.

The following morning, married lawyers, Adam and Amanda Bonner (Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn) read about the incident in the newspaper. The two argue over the case; Amanda sympathizes with the girl, particularly noting the double standard that exists for men and women regarding adultery, while Adam thinks she is guilty of attempted murder. When Adam arrives at work, he finds that he has been assigned the case (on the side of the prosecution). When Amanda hears this, she seeks out Doris and, to Adam's dismay, becomes her defense lawyer.

Amanda bases her case on the belief that women and men are equal, and that Doris had been forced into the situation through her husband's poor treatment. Adam feels she is showing a disregard for the law as there should never be an excuse for such behavior.

Tension increasingly builds at home as the couple battle each other in court. The situation comes to a head when Amanda humiliates Adam during the trial, having her female witness pick him up, and Adam later storms out of their house. When the verdict for the trial comes in, Amanda's plea to the jury to "judge this case as you would if the sexes were reversed" proves successful, and Doris is found not guilty.

Written by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin; directed by George Cukor.

[csziggy]

24. Just watched that the other night!

Great movie but I was a little disappointed by the ending. When Adam gets Amanda's sympathy by crying, then shows that it was a ploy, I thought Amanda should have clocked him. I wish the ending had been as strong as the rest of the movie!

[fizzgig]

14. fried green tomatoes

[Lydia Leftcoast]

16. Mädchen in Uniform

A strange film made in Germany just before the director had to flee the country.

A young girl is sent to a highly regimented boarding school. The film--once notorious for its lesbian overtones--shows the school as exhibiting the characteristics that allowed Nazism to flourish.

[seabeyond]

19. ya ya sisters. nt

[riderinthestorm]

20. Calendar Girls (even better that its based on a true story)

Private Benjamin (don't laugh but the Army exercise in the field where the "red team" takes out the "blue team" is classic girl power).

Which leads me to... (do teeny bopper films count?) Spice Girls movie.

Charlie's Angels

Dancing at Lughansa

[demmiblue]

22. Iron Jawed Angels n/t

[nolabear]

37. !! Definitely!

[frogmarch]

23. The Group

from Wiki:

The Group is a 1966 ensemble film directed by Sidney Lumet based on the novel of the same name by Mary McCarthy about a group of female graduates from a Connecticut College-like college during the early 1930s.

The cast of this social satire includes Candice Bergen, Joan Hackett, Elizabeth Hartman, Shirley Knight, Jessica Walter, Kathleen Widdoes, and Joanna Pettet. The film also features small roles for Hal Holbrook, Carrie Nye, James Broderick, Larry Hagman and Richard Mulligan (Empty Nest, Soap). For its time, the movie touched on some controversial topics, such as free love, contraception, abortion, lesbianism and mental illness.

The film was not issued in any consumer format, including VHS and DVD, for many years. In 2009, Amazon.com began selling a DVD-R of the film.

Cast

Candice Bergen - Lakey
Joan Hackett - Dottie
Elizabeth Hartman - Priss
Shirley Knight - Polly
Joanna Pettet - Kay
Mary-Robin Redd - Pokey
Jessica Walter - Libby
Kathleen Widdoes - Helena
James Broderick - Dr. Ridgeley
James Congdon - Sloan Crockett
Larry Hagman - Harald Peterson
Hal Holbrook - Gus Leroy
Richard Mulligan - Dick Brown
Robert Emhardt - Mr. Andrews
Carrie Nye - Norine

Awards

Joan Hackett was nominated for the British BAFTA Film Award for the best foreign (i.e. non-British) actress.
The film was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 16th Berlin International Film Festival in 1966.

[nolabear]

36. Wow. Never heard of it. Thanks!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

58. You must be young

The second chapter of The Group, which describes one of the characters losing her virginity in almost clinical detail, was the most passed around piece of writing in my entire junior high school.

[valerief]

64. Hey! I mentioned it in post 2! nt

[HopeHoops]

25. "Striptease" comes to mind.

[Lars39]

26. Vera Drake...maybe.

[valerief]

65. That movie was fascinating. I loved it! nt

[Joe Shlabotnik]

27. Probably not what you're looking for,

But I love the cheesy drive-in classics from the early 70's with Pam Grier, Margaret Markov, Roberta Collins etc doin' some serious ass-kickin'.

The Arena
The Big Bird Cage
Women in Cages
The Big Doll House

[nolabear]

35. Are you kidding? I LOVE those movies! Thanks!

[ohiosmith]

28. Witches Of Eastwick.

[lexx21]

29. Some art films...

Where the boys aren't 1,2,3 (the last is a classic)
Girl train #2
Finger licking good #4


Oh I am going to be smoking a turd in purgatory for this post.

[supernova]

32. ....

[jobycom]

30. The Secret Life of Bees. nt

[Shrek]

31. How to Beat the High Co$t of Living

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080895/

Jessica Lange, Susan Saint James, Jane Curtin.

[snacker]

33. A League of Their Own n/t

[nolabear]

34. Hey all! I've been offline a while and came back to a great list! Thanks! Any others?

Anything about Amazons? Rosie the Riveters? Triangle Shirtwaist Factory? Schoolgirls? (Heathers is in the running; it counts as girl power structure, no matter how fucked up) Little Women maybe...women in wartime when all the men are gone.

Nuns. Beauty pageants. Movies about those?

[riderinthestorm]

40. Hmm, beauty pageants? Miss Congeniality? or that Minnie Driver one (can't remember name)

A Little Princess comes to mind when you mention schoolgirls - directed by Alfonso Cuaron, beautiful film.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

42. Circle of Friends? (n/t)

[WorseBeforeBetter]

43. Schoolgirls? "Heavenly Creatures" with Kate Winslett.

(Didn't notice if it was posted elsewhere...)

[WorseBeforeBetter]

44. Nuns? "The Magdalene Sisters"

You said no matter how fucked up.

[tammywammy]

55. There was a great HBO movie on the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire

Great video if you can find it.

[Tabasco_Dave]

61. Swing Shift

Movie about A "Rosie the Riveter" staring Goldie Hawn.

[HeiressofBickworth]

41. Bagdad Cafe

How the friendship of two very different women developed and the benefits of their acting together to resolve issues. I've seen it three or four times and enjoy it every time. I particularly enjoy that the larger of the two women is the one with the love interest.

I wouldn't say Thelma and Louise as I believe it represents a series of bad decisions made by two women which ultimately result in their unnecessary deaths. I really didn't like this movie.

Absolute best women's movie is The Women, Norma Sheerer version. The remakes, even the musical, just don't match it. The musical was just on a day or so ago and I was disappointed to see that they gave Buck (the rodeo singer) to Sylvia instead of the Countess as in the original. The original movie is much better.

[VespertineIconoclast]

45. Made in Dagenham (2010)

Synopsis: Dagenham, England 1968: a group of women workers at a Ford auto plant strike to gain equal wages with male employees, setting off a national media frenzy, a government crisis, and problems at home. Based on a true story.

[applegrove]

47. "The Company of Strangers" I loved, loved, loved.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Company_of_Strangers

"The Company of Strangers (US release title: Strangers in Good Company; French title: Le Fabuleux gang des sept[1]) is a Canadian film, released in 1990. It was directed by Cynthia Scott, and written by Scott, Sally Bochner, David Wilson and Gloria Demers. The film depicts eight women on a bus tour, who are stranded at an isolated cottage when the bus breaks down.

Created in a genre defined as semi-documentary/semi-fiction,[2] the film is not tightly scripted; the writers wrote a basic story outline but allowed the eight women to improvise their dialogue. Each of the women, all but one of whom were senior citizens, told stories from her own life. A major theme of the film is how the elderly women each face aging and mortality in their own way, and find the courage together to persevere.

At various points throughout the film, a montage of photos from each woman's life is shown.

The women are:
Alice Diabo, 74, a Mohawk elder from Kahnawake, Quebec,
Constance Garneau, 88, born in the United States and brought to Quebec by her family as a child,
Winifred Holden, 76, an Englishwoman who moved to Montreal after World War II,
Cissy Meddings, 76, who was born in England and moved to Canada in 1981,
Mary Meigs, 74, a noted feminist writer and painter,
Catherine Roche, 68, a Roman Catholic nun,
Michelle Sweeney, 27, a jazz singer,
Beth Webber, 80, who was born in England and moved to Montreal in 1930.

Meigs published a book about her experiences making the film, In the Company of Strangers, in 1991.[3]"


Also called "Stranger in Good Company". Rared 100% at rotten tomatoes.

[valerief]

66. I really enjoyed that movie. nt

[riderinthestorm]

48. Ooh, just thought of more... Waiting to Exhale and Center Stage (female ballet corps)

which leads of course to Black Swan....

[WorseBeforeBetter]

49. Rabbit-Proof Fence, Nine to Five, Bend it Like Beckham...

just tossing out a couple more.

[VespertineIconoclast]

50. I absolutely loved Rabbit-Proof Fence.

It was an amazing story and to think that it's based on a true story makes it that much more incredible.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

52. Agreed. I'm going to check out the one...

you referenced above (Made in Dagenham)... missed that one.

[no_hypocrisy]

51. Unmarried Woman

Don't be clouded by Alan Bates. Most of the movie is about women.

[DearHeart]

54. The Joy Luck Club...

Mona Lisa Smile, Since You Went Away (WWII homefront-Claudette Colbert), The Color Purple, and Beaches.

[2theleft]

59. Ditto on Mona Lisa Smile, and keeping with the

Julia Robert's theme...Erin Brockovich.

Coal Miner's Daughter

Fargo - LOVED Frances McDormand in that role.

And another fave...Million Dollar Baby, although...there is Clint Eastwood in that...grrrrr....

[Flaxbee]

60. 8 Women / 8 Femmes

From IMDB:
"One murdered man, eight women, each seeming to be more eager than the others to know the truth. Gimme, gimme, gimme some clues to make up my mind. And eventually enter the truth. Oh, thou cruel woman!"

No men in the movie at all. Catherine Deneuve, Fanny Ardant, Firmine Richard who sings Pour ne pas vivre seul ("Not to live alone&quot and it's been forever stuck in my head. Forever.



I also liked Emma Thompson's "Sense and Sensibility" -- Jane Austen era women getting screwed by English laws and greedy relatives but doing well by themselves, thank you very much (until they get married, but at least married on their own terms). The Dashwood ladies are very resilient.

[hedgehog]

67. An old one - Turning Point

an excellent commentary on how there is no such thing as having it all!

[Doc_Technical]

68. "Queen of Outer Space"

[u4ic]

69. Babette's Feast

[Baitball Blogger]

70. Stage Door.

Katherine Hepburn, Lucille Ball & Ginger Rogers to name a few

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029604/fullcredits