Roy Orbison's music, Richard Gere, and Julia Roberts' legs, PRETTY WOMAN is a sure hit!

****This review includes major plot details.****

I was a senior in high school when PRETTY WOMAN hit the theaters.  I, and every other girl in school, wanted to be Julia Roberts, we just all thought she was SO pretty! And SO "kewl"!  When PRETTY WOMAN was released on video, we made a mass exodus to the video store, and promptly emptied the shelves of the movie.  Since that first copy, I have owned quite a few copies.  First there was the video format, then the DVD.  I currently have it on DVD, AND in the listing section of my DVR.  One can never have too much PRETTY WOMAN!!!

THE MOVIE ITSELF:
The movie is a love story of Edward Lewis and Vivian.  Edward is a sullen business man who buys failing companies and sells them off in bits.  His theory is that the bits of each company are worth more than the company as a whole.  Vivian is a new to the business prostitute. 

The opening scene sets the movie in motion.  Edward is visiting the LA area, working on the take over of another  big company.  He breaks up with his live-in girlfriend over the phone.  He is at a party, and decides he needs to leave.  His limousine is buried in cars in the driveway, so he "borrows" his lawyer's (Jason Alexander) Lotus Esprit.

His travels in the Lotus bring him right to Vivian, whom he stops to ask for directions to Beverly Hills.  Vivian tells Edward that she will show him where Beverly Hills is for $20.00, and climbs into the passenger seat.  The rest of the scene in the car is both horrible and wonderful at the same time.  We see Vivian is full of innocence, and yet very adept at being a prostitute at the same time.

When the pair arrives at the Beverly Willshire, Edward sends Vivian home.  Upon seeing her sitting on the bus stop bench, he approaches her and asks her to come up to his room.  Vivian is stunned with the interior of the Beverly Willshire, obviously out of place.  Edward and Vivian decide that for $300.00, Vivian will stay for the entire night. 

The next morning Edward and Vivian come to an agreement that Vivian will stay and play house, so to speak, with Edward for the "bargain price of $3000.00"!  Edward sends Vivian out with money for new clothes, as her prostitute outfit will hardly pass muster in Edward's circle of friends.

The week passes with some of the funniest and cutest moment of any film I have ever seen.    Some of the highlights include watching TV, going to the opera, eating snails, and when Vivian returns to the hotel room after clothes shopping, with a tie for Edward.   There is one scene in which Edward presents Vivian with a necklace to wear for the evening.  Upon telling Vivian that the necklace is only rented, so don't get attached to it, Edward opens the box.  When Vivian reaches out to touch the necklace, Edward snaps the box shut, as if to make it "bite" Vivian's hand.  The trivia for this scene would be that Richard Gere improvised the snapping shut of the box, and the director loved Julia Roberts laughing hysterically reaction so much they left it in the final cut.

There are some incredibly romantic scenes, including a scene in which Edward is in the hotel bar playing the piano.  A bit of trivia here would be that Richard Gere not only really did play the piano for the movie, but he composed the piece he played! 

There are 2 points in the movie where, as a female, I found myself hating the men involved in the movie.  The first one is where Vivian and Edward have a disagreement and Vivian is walking out on the deal.  Edward throws her money on the bed, making her feel like the prostitute she is.  It wouldn't be so bad, except as a viewer one know the two have fallen madly in love with each other!  When Edward sees that Vivian walked out without taking the money, he starts to realize how much he cares, and he goes after her.

The second scene involves Edward's lawyer, Phillip Stuckey, played by Jason Alexander.  Edward has told him how he met Vivian, and that Vivian is a prostitute.  This makes Phillip Stuckey think that Vivian is open for any man, and he goes to Edward's hotel room.  He forcefully tries to have sex with Vivian, but the day is saved by Edward who gets into a fist fight with Stuckey.

Vivian decides she wants out of the deal before the week is over.  She tells Edward she wants a fairytale, which Edward tells her is impossible.  Edward asks Vivian to stay one more night, not because she is being paid, but because she wants to.  Vivian, knowing that this would hurt her heart even more, refuses and walks out of the hotel. 

Luckily for Edward, the hotel limousine is used for her transport back to her previous life.  This allows Edward to chase after Vivian, who is headed for San Fransisco to start over.  With the $3000.00 she made from Edward, Vivian has plans for school and the moon!  She is leaving by bus in 1 hour!

Edward decides to go after Vivian in the hotel limousine.  How apropos that the limo is white!  Edward rides up to Vivian's apartment standing up in the limo sticking out of the sunroof.  It supposed to imitate Edward riding up on a white horse.  Vivian is in her 3rd floor apartment, the "tower".  Edward, who is afraid of heights", climbs the fire escape to "rescue" Vivian.  Vivian got her fairytale after all!!

THE MOVIE SOUNDTRACK:

It is of my opinion that this movie is made by the soundtrack.  I don't think this movie could have been nearly as good without the music.  The most obvious song is "Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison.  You could hardly have a movie titled PRETTY WOMAN, without paying tribute to the song!

"Wild Women Do" by Natalie Cole is one of those songs that latches onto your brain and you find yourself singing it at random times.

Roxette, with their "It Must Have Been Love" playing while Vivian rides away Edward really brings out the drama of one of the most touching moments of the film.

"I LIKED IT SO MUCH, I ALMOST PEED MY PANTS!"

A bit of useless trivia about the quote above.  Edward took Vivian to see her first opera.  That opera was "La Traviata", an opera about a dying prostitute whole falls in love with a wealthy man.  Vivian utters the above quote when an elderly lady next to her asked her if she enjoyed the opera.