Big Business (1988) on Netflix
Two sets of twin girls are born in Jupiter Hollow in 1948, and a nurse mixes them up. Forty years later, the Shelton and Ratliff sisters face off over a factory sale.
- Netflix3.4/5
- IMDb6.4/1017,144 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes52%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1948, Hunt Shelton, a wealthy businessman, is traveling through rural West Virginia with his pregnant wife when she goes into labor near Jupiter Hollow. The hospital there serves only Hollowmade employees, so he buys the company and she is admitted. The impoverished Ratliffs arrive moments later, with Mrs. Ratliff in labor too. Both women bear twin girls, and the nurse attending them mixes the sets up. Mr. Ratliff hears the Sheltons choose the names Rose and Sadie and gives his daughters the same names. Forty years on, Moramax in New York City is run by the Shelton sisters; Sadie pushes a sale of Hollowmade while Rose wishes for a simpler life. In Jupiter Hollow, Rose Ratliff, forewoman at the Hollowmade factory, sets out for New York to keep it from being sold, and her sister Sadie comes along.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Big Business (1988)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Unable to get permission to film at the Plaza Hotel in New York City, the production had the hotel replicated on a Walt Disney Studios sound stage, and to recoup construction costs Disney built a sitcom titled The Nutt House around it.
- Big Business was originally written for Barbra Streisand in the role that went to Bette Midler, and for Goldie Hawn in the role that went to Lily Tomlin.
- Jim Abrahams said he staged one of the film's boardroom scenes on an experience of his own, when a large agency used many employees to get him to sign with them.
- The plot playfully combines three recognizable stories: Aesop's The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper, and Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors.
- Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin were both nominated for the American Comedy Award for Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture for their performances, with Midler winning.
