Pretty Woman

Watch clips from the movie on Play.

Imagine Molly Ringwald chuckling as Christopher Reeve clips her fingers in a red jewelry box. Or maybe Al Pacino picking up Meg Ryan in a Ferrari Testarossa on Rodeo Drive. Well, that's what Pretty Woman initially would've been reduced to.

The now-beloved classic had at first been scripted as a dark drama about prostitution in Los Angeles. Were it not for the powers that be – savvy Hollywood studio executives who knew how to churn out feel-good blockbusters for "favourable" ticket sales – the script would've been titled 3 000, Vivian would've been a coke addict instead of a passionate flosser (in a dental hygiene, not thug mentality way) and Edward would've thrown her out of his limo and not rescued her from her 'tower'.

Fortunately, after numerous cast changes and car manufacturers Porsche and Ferrari backing out of a film that associated their brands with prostitution, director Gary Marshall – he later directed Runaway Bride (1999), The Princess Diaries (2001) and Raising Helen [2004) – finally got to make his modern day fairy tale.

Marshall's Oscar nominated film has been slated for glamorising prostitution, and it probably did. Never before had the world seen the sleazy sex trade as an "honest" way to make a buck, let alone make three thousand bucks (for those who don't get the reference, $3 000 was Vivian's fee to be Edward's "beck and call" girl). Unverified media reports say it even increased prostitution in the 'burbs of Beverley Hills. It was J.F. Lawton's script that turned the romantic comedy into a $464 million box office hit. The sympathetic characterisation of a whore with a heart of gold, the charming depiction of a kind-hearted corporate raider and the lighthearted rendering of a modern day fairy tale saved Pretty Woman from Milk Money's 1995 Razzie fate.

In the film, Vivian and Edward are complete opposites not only of each other, but also of their 90s stereotypes. Prostitutes were supposed to be mangy and vulgar, not cheery and good-natured. Businessmen were supposed to be self-absorbed and callous, not thoughtful and charming.

And then, of course, there was the dialogue. Sharp, witty, risqué. (See below for classic quotes)

Pretty Woman became the unexpected box office hit that launched Julia Roberts's career into the stratosphere and officially cemented Richard Gere as one of Hollywood's A-list pretty men. Although Julia Roberts' face had become recognisable by 1990 after she appeared in the fast-food romantic comedy Mystic Pizza (1988) and the "funniest movie ever to make you cry" Steel Magnolias (1980), she'd never yet been a leading lady. Pretty Woman jolted audiences with that uproarious laugh, the seemingly untamable red mane, and they sat up and took note of this force of nature. She took home the Golden Globe for best actress the next year, but was pipped by Kathy Bates' performance in Misery at the Oscars in 1991.

But the cult classic simply would not have worked were it not for the tender chemistry Roberts and Gere shared, complemented by the timeless soundtrack, naturally.

Roy Orbison's massive hit single inspired the film's title and still gets decent mileage in Korean karaoke bars. Other popular (at the time) artists like Roxette, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Natalie Cole, Peter Cetera and Go West made up the rest of the track listing on the commercially successful album.

Whether Pretty Woman glamorised prostitution or gave every woman hope that her prince on a white horse would rescue her and put her up in a great condo, it's still a memorable movie that stepped off the streets, into our lives, and stole our hearts.

Quotes from the film:

In Edward's penthouse suite
Vivian: I appreciate this whole seduction thing you've got going on here, but let me give you a tip: I'm a sure thing.

Sitting on Edward's fax in the suite
Edward: What makes you think I'm a lawyer?
Vivian: You have that sharp, useless look about you.

In the hotel lobby as Vivian's friend waits for her
Kit: Fifty bucks, Grandpa. For seventy-five, the wife can watch.

At the opera house
Old Lady at opera: Did you like the opera, dear?
Vivian: It was so good, I almost peed my pants!
Edward: She said she liked it better than Pirates of Penzance.

Vivian's victory on Rodeo Drive
Shop assistant: Hello, can I help you?
Vivian: I was in here yesterday, you wouldn't wait on me.
Shop assistant: Oh.
Vivian: You people work on commission, right?
Shop assistant: Yeah.
Vivian: Big mistake. Big. Huge!

After the polo match
Vivian: I say who, I say when, I say...
[blubbering]
Vivian: WHO.

The final scene
Edward: So what happens after he climbs up and rescues her?
Vivian: She rescues him right back.

- Megan Kakora

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