Customer Reviews

Girl 6

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

1996: Spike Lee directed this movie believe it or not. He wrote the screenplay and performed in the role of the wise, comforting and dreamer neighboor in Lovely's apartment. Theresa Randle of the Bad Boys film, stars as Lovely, or the eponymous Girl 6. When I saw this film, I could not believe it was a Spike Lee film, but his presence in the movie and his signature urban themes are distinctly marked in this movie. The film deals with an aspiring actress who is coaxed into working as a phone sex operator. Despite the good money it pays, it becomes messy and dangerous for her after a client becomes insanely obscessed with her. Her relationship with her (boyfriend ? husband ?) is in jeopardy due to her choice of work. Although clearly this movie attempts to be serious, there are many comic features written into many of the scenes, particularily the sordid, bizarre and outrageous sexual fantasies of the clients. The phone sex scenes that play out between the operators and their clients are hilarious! The "fantasy sequences" in which Lovely acts out various roles from television and film are also hilarious. These roles are: Lovely as Dorothy Dandridge in Carmen Jones, as the daughter in the old sitcom The Jeffersons, as Pam Grier's Foxy Brown in 70's exploitation movies and as a 30's or 40's Hollywood Golden Age diva towards the end of the film shot in black and white.Guest stars abound in this witty urban comic drama. Among them Madonna, as a phone sex operator instructor who is giving the girls tips and advice via a monitor, Halle Barry in a brief interview scene, and even Quentin Terentino shows up in the film. I don't know whether to laugh non stop at one of the silliest films ever made by Spike Lee or to wonder at the subtle signficance of its theme. Spike Lee seems to be portraying a strong black woman who undergoes terrible misfortune in a dark and risky business only to give it up in a beautiful scene towards the end when she and her boyfriend/husband kiss and telephones start falling from the sky in slow motion. In Hollywood, she does not give up her morals or dignity and refuses to do a nude sex scene that might be featured in pornpgraphy. It's really a look at Hollywood's love for sex, its classless tastes and its exploitation of women. It might be Spike Lee's greatest film. Just try to look beyond the comedy.

One of my favourite films of all time. There's something about Spike Lee's *Girl 6* that's particularly stuck with me. In short, it's about a phone-sex agency and the people that work there. Theresa Randle plays Girl 6 brilliantly as a woman of great strength and tenderness. Like the film itself, very funny, yet painfully gritty. A surprisingly good performance from Naomi Campbell as Girl 75. An excellent cameo from Madonna playing the aging scarlet-woman with too much makeup spouting sexual profanitys - typecast or what! And the cherry-moon on the cake is the ace use of Prince music running through the film... *How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore* (which was a rare track back then), *HouseQuake*, *17 Days* and *Hot Thing* (which plays during Madge's monologue) being the musical highlights, for me. Oh, and Mr Lee himself is pretty good in it too... I really hope he gets around to releasing this on DVD... soon?!

This is one of my very favorite movies. It has an equal mix of humor and seriousness. Theresa Randle is an amazing actress, and she shows this in taking on her various incarnations during the movie.

At the beginning we meet a very beautiful woman who is sure she is meant to be an actor but is very unsure about herself as a woman and a person. A reading with Quentin Tarantino goes awry when she realizes there is nudity involved. She hestitantly goes through with it but quicly runs out. This doesn't bode well with her agent or her acting coach.

Her acting coach sees that she has a long way to go in acting ... and in growing up. She wishes her well as she drops her.

Looking for work, she stumbles upon a phone sex operator job. At first she is unsure about it, and is visibly stunned that not only is there a racial aspect to the job, and to the whole idea of it.

While her co-workers entertain themselves in other ways, to help in getting caught up with the job, Girl 6 doesn't and eventually becomes way too personally involved with clients. The first one is "Bob Regular."

During all this, her ex-husband tries to court her, store owners harass her thinking because she is a fantasy operator she's a prostitute as well.

Back to Bob Regular, a meeting is to take place, and she's warned by a friend/co-worker not to get involved, but she does it anyway.

She waits. She waits. She waits some more; puttiing her job on the line as she is late for work.

Finally, a man starts walking towards her; she calls out to him, but he looks at her with indifference and keeps going. Myself and others included feel that this WAS indeed Bob, but because she wasn't white (which is the pre-requisite for the operators's characters to be) he just kept walking. Or, it was just a stranger.

In any case, she is distraught and her plans of acting have been all but forgotten; claiming that she IS acting by being a phone sex operator.

As a result, she keeps working and working and working. Getting burnt out, and finally enforced to take a leave of absence.

She needs to work ... money, or just because she's getting hooked ... she decides to take a job that was previously offered by a character played by Madonna. A "home girl," Girl 6 does the phone sex job at home.

Getting further and further into the job, and giving out her personal number and address to clients is taking over; her friends don't see her, they only hear her.

It isn't until her life is threatened that she realizes she needs to break free and to change her life, and pursue the dream she had before: ACTING.

The film ends with her leaving for Hollywood and reading the same piece that she did at the beginning. Another director asks her to undress, but this time, she is determined to stay true to herself, and after giving an impressive reading, leaves. She is now sure of herself, her abilities and she has grown up and matured, and the audience noticeably sees this.

Theresa Randle does an impressive job in her role as the main character, and we learn to laugh, love, and appreciate this woman. We see her at her weakest, and we see her at her finest.

We only learn her real name at the end of the movie, which has been criticized, but this shows us that not only do we have to learn who she is, but so did she. When she hears her name, she expresses how "she likes the sound of it." It took the whole movie for her to truly find herself, and so it is finally complete when we hear it also.

Spike Lee acts in it as her roommate and friend, and does an excellent job doing so, and in directing. He uses various film techniques: colors, parody flashbacks at characters Girl 6 is inspired by, and all these really flesh out the mood or level of severity that the character is in. We are given humor to laugh as the character laughs, and to keep things from getting too morbid, but when he wants us to know things are serious, Lee ensures that we do indeed know that.

Throughout the movie, we also meet a girl through the news on t.v.; a girl who is innocent and sweet, who is injured severely, and we gain a parallel with Girl 6 herself.

Girl 6 watches the news and discovers a young girl has fallen in an elevator shaft and is in critical condition. At this point, she connects with the girl, but so do we soon see that the character really has connected.

The camera moves through the elevator shaft as if we were falling, and this effect continues at different points as Theresa Randle's character begins to fall also.

Eventually, Girl 6 and the girl meet in person which is also a link in recovery and strength.

Again, the type of photography in the movie; the colors, the realism/surrealism changes with the moods and degrees of the main character's development, and this really help to bring out the humor or seriousness of the piece.

Before she leaves for Hollywood, there is a scene where telephones of all shapes and colors fall smashing to the ground. This truly shows that Girl 6 isn't "Girl 6" any longer, but a grown woman who has conquered her fears, her addictions, and is ready to face what life has to bring her from then on.

Madonna and other notable actors/celebrities are featured throughout and they add their own distinctive personality to the film.

In conclusion, "Girl 6" is a movie is a dark comedy, a serious comedy; a mature movie offering laughter, tears, fear, and joy. It isn't for everyone, but if you're a fan of Theresa Randle, Spike Lee, Madonna, or just want something different ... something that has some weight to it, or some twisted humor, then this is definitely for you.

Most of the filmgoing people I know say that this is Spike Lee's worst movie...I guess that they never saw "She's Gotta Have It". I have to say that I loved this one, and in my opinion, it was better than that overrated "Do The Right Thing"! The cinematography was colorful and dynamic and Theresa Randle ( a very beautiful and talented actress who usually pick out horrible movies to be featured in)was remarkable! She had the the voice and the spunk to play this character to a "T"! Normally, I get tired of watching Spike Lee in his own movies..but he was perfect as the nerdy, scrubbish Jimmy! The phone sex conversations were hilarious! (I loved the part where the husband was telling his wife and a phone sex operator about his fantasy of having a menage' trois) There were also surprising cameos from great faces in showbusiness today! Check out Madonna as a strip club owner and Quentin Tarrantino as the demanding director! And to top it off, it had THE BEST SOUNDTRACK any movie could ever have! It was brillant for Spike to have the Emperor of sexy music *yes, I mean Prince* to bless this feature with his sound! I wasn't surprised to see the Amazonian.com people giving this movie the ratings that it got. It's definantly not for people who are looking for the usual controversial Spike Lee movie. But for this girl, it's a smooth, sexy flick with panache!

Aside from the motion picture "Do The Right Thing", directed by Spike Lee, "Girl 6", also directed by Spike Lee, has to be my second all time favorite film he has produced. I know it is available on VHS format through CDNOW/AMAZON.COM, but I don't understand how such a great film as this has fallen into the "video(VHS)void?" Does anyone out there know if "Girl 6" has ever been produced on DVD, and if so, where I could find it?
If not, has anyone out there heard or know if and when there are plans for "Girl 6" to be released on DVD? Any help or information would be greatly appreciated.

'girl 6' is one of the few spike lee films that i appreciate wholly and in parts.

the first part is suzan-lori parks' screenplay. there are times when it feels like a goodly portion of the dialogue is being written as the actors speak the lines. her words are that good. the situation which her heroine finds herself in is one that any performer has dealt with. she somehow manages to plunge the depths of human experience and pull herself up to reconnect with her ambitions to become a working actress without compromise.

the second is theresa randle's performance as girl 6. 6 (or judy) has a lot of issues, a great deal of baggage to carry and randle doesn't hold back in revealing any of 6's complexity. she is vain, she is overly romantic, she is strong and she, as a character, is in great hands with randle. i can always turn to this film and jump in because randle's performance is that finely crafted and inviting. a sad postscript is that this fabulous actress hasn't had much to do since this film was released in 1996.

the third is the supporting cast, filled with many recognizable faces such as isiah washington, jenifer lewis, gretchen mol, naomi campbell, richard belzer, madonna, michael imperioli, debi mazar, debra wilson, quentin tarantino, john turturro and lee himself. many of these actors had worked or continue to work with lee on his joints. the cast is an embarassment of riches and each actor comes through.

the fourth is the soundtrack made up of prince tunes. lee uses the music well and the songs are some of the best prince recorded, especially 'erotic city', 'how come u don't call me...' and 'nothing compares to u'. not to mention the sneak-ins of prince-produced classic like 'nasty girl' and 'screams of passion'.

fifth, and i write this gingerly, is the signature use of subplot. lee uses this device in his films seemingly in an effort to make them longer. they add little or nothing to the general action nor do they move the films forward with ease. 'girl 6' has one of these subplots and it is only at the last third of the film that is seems that it's affecting the film for the worse.

but for the most part, the visuals are stimulating, and at times poetic, the editing and camerawork are dancelike and not too gimmicky and everything works together in a funny, touching whole that sparks some interesting discussion about sex, women and their bodies when they are in the entertainment industry by choice or design.

A few flaws, but this is one of my favorite movies to watch when I'm in a certain mood. The phone sex conversations were hilarious as were all of the supporting actors! Theresa Randle (one of Hollywood's VERY overlooked actresses) had just the right amount of spunk,and sex appeal to pull this character off without being sleazy! And as much as I get tired of watching Spike Lee in his own movies, he fit his role as the scrubby, nerdy neighbor perfectly! Last but not least, the soundtrack was outstanding and fit every situation in the movie! It was down-right brilliant for ol' Spike to have the master of sexy music ( Yes, I'm talking about Prince) to be involved in Girl 6!

This movie is unique. It doesn't really make sense to me, but i like to see it. The music was awesome. How can you go wrong with Prince. Theresa Randle is beautiful!

I knew this was going to happen sometime soon. Recently HBO has been showing Girl 6 a lot more frequently and I noticed that it was a DVD format so I knew Fox was going to release this. I actually like the movie, it has its moments. I love the soundtrack and the fact that it's a Spike Lee joint. I wonder what features will be on the DVD.

This message is to inform you that a DVD for GIRL 6 (1996) will be released on March 7, 2006.