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Outrageous Fortune
Outrageous Fortune
January 30, 1987
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In the movie Outrageous Fortune (1987) the sign at the border of Tres Cruces is misspelled as Tres Crucas.
If acting was hard for me, I wouldn't do it, it is something that I like to do.
-- George Carlin
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Outrageous Fortune is a 1987 film written by Leslie Dixon, directed by Arthur Hiller, and stars Shelley Long and Bette Midler. The title is taken from Shakespeare's Hamlet ("... the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, ...").
Midler received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, and won an American Comedy Award for Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture (Leading Role).
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Refined actress Lauren Ames (Shelley Long) finally has a chance to study with the great theatre professor Stanislav Korzenowski (Robert Prosky). Sandy Brozinsky (Bette Midler), a brash, loud actress, decides through happenstance to also study with Korzenowski. Lauren and Sandy take an instant dislike to each other when they first meet in Korzenowski's class, but unknown to each other, both women begin dating the same man, Michael Sanders (Peter Coyote).
When Michael "dies" in a gas explosion at a local store, Lauren and Sandy figure out that Michael may have faked his death, and they form an uneven alliance to follow leads across the country to find him and force him to choose between them. During their quest, Lauren and Sandy are chased by CIA agents, as well as Russian assassins who are also after Michael.
When Lauren and Sandy finally find Michael, he instead tries to kill both of them and they are forced to run until they are captured by the federal agents. Lauren and Sandy learns that Michael is a double agent for the CIA who has now gone rogue, and he also works for KGB, and has stolen a toxin that could destroy huge areas of nature with even a few drops. The CIA wants to find Michael to force him to give back the toxin bio-weapon, while the Russian assassins are men cheated by the double agent whom work for Korzenowski, the ladies theatre professor.
The chase leads to rural Arizona when Lauren is taken hostage by Michael and his rouge associates whom force a trade with the CIA for the toxin, and with Korzenowski with the stolen cash he intened to give to Michael. When the trade goes awry, Lauren gets away with both the money and the toxin, with Michael in hot pursuit, cornered on a series of mountain tops, Lauren uses her former ballet skills to evade him, culminating in a grand Jeté, as pursuing Michael slips and is killed on the rocks far below whilst the money is lost to native Indians. The women form a lasting friendship, and go on to perform Hamlet together, with Lauren in the title role.
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Both Shelley Long and Bette Midler were promised top billing when they signed to do the film. Neither one wanted to give up top billing to the other. So west of the Mississippi River, Long got top billing and Midler got top billing east of the Mississippi.
The title is taken from the Shakespearean play "Hamlet", Act 3, Scene 1, line 58, which is the famous "To be or not to be" speech. In the movie, Long's character confesses to a classmate at the beginning of the movie that she someday hopes to play Hamlet.
Bette Midler was three months pregnant when filming began and six months pregnant when it wrapped.
