The Associate

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The Associate

Directed by	Donald Petrie
Produced by	Frederic Golchan Adam Leipzig Patrick Markey
Written by	Jenaro Prieto (novel) Nick Thiel (screenplay)
Starring	Whoopi Goldberg Dianne Weist
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	1996
Running time	114 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

The Associate is the title of a 1996 film starring Whoopi Goldberg (Laurel Ayres), Dianne Wiest (Sally Dugan), Eli Wallach (Donald Fallon), Timothy Daly (Frank), Bebe Neuwirth (Camille), Austin Pendleton (Aesop), Lainie Kazan (Cindy Mason), George Martin (Manchester), Kenny Kerr (Charlie), Lee Wilkof (Bissel), Helen Hanft, (Mrs. Cupchick), George Morfogen (Plaza manager), Zeljko Ivanek (SEC Agent Thompkins), Miles Chapin (Harry), and Jean De Baer as the Loan officer.

[edit] Storyline

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Laurel Ayres is the smart and single woman trying to make it up the Wall Street corporate ladder, until one day she finds out that she is passed over for a promotion because she is a woman. Unable to face that fact that her less smart and sexist male protege (Frank) has now become her boss, she quits and tries to start up her own company only to find out that the male dominated world of Wall Street is not interested in taking an African American woman seriously, and thus is forced to create a fictional white man (Robert S. Cutty) in order to be judged on her own merits. Ayres financial wisdom is joined by the intelligent and computer-savvy secretary Sally Dugan who also was not properly recognized for her talents, and together they are able to become the most successful independent stock brokers in the world while helping a struggling high tech computer company stay afloat.

However, the ruse eventually runs into problems, as Cutty is still getting credit for Ayres great ideas, and competing firms and tabloid journalists are willing to do anything in order to bring the wealthy and elusive Cutty into the public and on their side. Thus Ayres is forced to get her gay best friend (who works at a nightclub as a female impersonator) to create an effective disguise in the mould of Marlon Brando to try and fool the naysayers; when that fails, she and Dugan decide to kill Cutty only to be charged with his murder. Frank uncovers the ruse and pretends that he is now the front man to world famous Cutty.

The film ends with Ayers donning the Cutty disguise one last time to attend a meeting of the exclusive gentlemen's club to accept Cutty's awards and unmasking herself in order to teach the male dominated industry the evils of racial and sexual discrimination. Ayers is finally given credit for her work and creates a huge business empire with her friends at the helm.