Mannequin is a 1987 romantic comedy film, starring Andrew McCarthy, Kim Cattrall, Meshach Taylor, James Spader, G. W. Bailey, and Estelle Getty. It was written and directed by Michael Gottlieb, and the original music score was composed by Sylvester Levay. The film is an unacknowledged remake of the obscure 1948 film One Touch of Venus, starring Robert Walker and Ava Gardner.
Mannequin was nominated for one Oscar for the Original Song category for "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now".Despite poor reviews, the film was a major commercial success and has since obtained cult status. It was followed by a sequel, Mannequin Two: On the Move, in 1991.
Jonathan Switcher (McCarthy) is a struggling artist who goes from one dead-end job to another. This all changes when he sees a mannequin (Cattrall) that he had created before. He finds work at the department store displaying her, and befriends a flamboyantly gay co-worker named Hollywood Montrose (Taylor) while still managing a girlfriend, Roxie Shield (Carole Davis). While having to dodge the store's autocratic vice president (Spader) (who is also working with Illustra, a competing department store), and his dimwitted security guard (Bailey), the mannequin comes to life. The mannequin, "Emmy", was actually once Emahasure, a real-life woman from ancient Egypt. Her beauty, love and imagination inspire Switcher to become the best window dresser in town. Emmy and Jonathan have to fight through a lot, including the fact that she is alive only when just Jonathan can see her, which makes their relationship difficult.
However, everything starts to change when Illustra gets fewer and fewer customers because of the popularity of Jonathan's display windows. They first try to persuade him, through Roxie, to work there; when that does not work, the vice president and security guard decide that they must steal the mannequin from the store. They end up having to steal all the mannequins, since they could not identify Emmy from the others. When Jonathan finds out she is gone, he must fight through security guards and machines to save her. When he finally saves her, they both find out that because of their true love anything is possible, including a real live Emmy and a happy ever after.
The story has a subplot: in order to regain full status as a real life person, the mannequin must find true love.
Mannequin Two: On the Move is a 1991 romantic comedy film and a partial sequel to the 1987 film Mannequin. Although the film is labelled and referred to as a sequel of Mannequin, this film has very few references to the original film and instead its central plot is almost identical to its predecessor. The film stars Kristy Swanson as a mannequin who was frozen one thousand years ago by an evil sorcerer using a magic necklace. She remains frozen until the necklace is removed and can stay permanently unfrozen if she receives a kiss from her true love.
The film was released in the United States as Mannequin Two: On the Move, while in Ireland, it was released as Mannequin on the Move. The original film's theme song "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" by Starship, written by Diane Warren and Albert Hammond, was featured in this film. The original music score was composed by David McHugh. The film's tagline is: "A lively comedy about a living doll." This movie was released along with the original in a double-feature DVD in April 2008.
Flamboyant window dresser Hollywood Montrose (Taylor) has now been promoted to the head of Prince & Company's visual display department. He takes on a new assistant, Jason Williamson (Ragsdale), who in times past was Prince William, the dauphin of the kingdom of Hauptmann-Koenig. One thousand years ago, he lost his beloved Jessie (Swanson) when an evil sorcerer (Kiser) turned her into a wooden icon, now known as the Enchanted Peasant Girl. As a tribute to Hauptmann-Koenig, the Enchanted Peasant Girl is being sent to Prince & Company for a window display. Jason awakens Jessie and the two get reacquainted, having a millennium of things to catch up on. But the evil sorcerer, now reincarnated as Count Gunther Spretzle, arrives on the scene to take Jessie (and a prize necklace) and hop a flight for Bermuda, with Jason as the only one who can stop him.
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