# Movies With Women Dressing as Men **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 6, 2005, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-dressing-as-men/288605 "2005-02-06T03:05:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-dressing-as-men/288605/1 "2005-02-06T03:05:47Z")
There are loads of movies in which men try to pass themselves off as women. How many movies are there in which women try to pose as men? I can think of: Hillary Swank in “Boys Don’t Cry” Gwyneth Paltrow in “Shakespeare in Love” Miranda Otto in “Return of the King” “Mulan” Julie Andrews in “Victor Victoria” Other nominees? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-dressing-as-men/288605/2 "2005-02-06T04:15:31Z")
[Just One of the Guys (1985)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089393/) ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-dressing-as-men/288605/3 "2005-02-06T04:20:17Z")
The Afghani movie _Osama_ uses this device. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-dressing-as-men/288605/4 "2005-02-06T04:23:12Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > There are loads of movies in which men try to pass themselves off as women. How many movies are there in which women try to pose as men? I can think of: > > Hillary Swank in “Boys Don’t Cry” > Gwyneth Paltrow in “Shakespeare in Love” > Miranda Otto in “Return of the King” > “Mulan” > Julie Andrews in “Victor Victoria” > > Other nominees? Steisand in Yentl ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-dressing-as-men/288605/5 "2005-02-06T04:27:18Z")
Portia in the _Merchant of Venice_ ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-dressing-as-men/288605/6 "2005-02-06T04:40:28Z")
How could we forget Barbra Streisand as Yentl? ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-dressing-as-men/288605/7 "2005-02-06T04:41:34Z")
Oops, we didn’t forget Streisand as Yentl. Sorry, astro. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![StephenG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@StephenG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StephenG)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-dressing-as-men/288605/8 "2005-02-06T05:24:34Z")
> [@DeVena](#): > > Portia in the _Merchant of Venice_ And Viola in [_Twelfth Night_](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0117991/). ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-dressing-as-men/288605/9 "2005-02-06T06:09:36Z")
This isn’t the same thing, but Linda Hunt won a best supporting Oscar for playing a man in _The Year of Living Dangerously_. ---
**Author:** ![Dusty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@Dusty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dusty)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-dressing-as-men/288605/10 "2005-02-06T06:19:02Z")
_Beverly of Graustark_ (1926) Same as the book, with Marion Davies playing Beverly who dresses as her cousin Oscar to save The Kingdom of Graustark. _A Florida Enchantment_ (1914) A surprising good film (the premise sounds incredibly stupid, but I always take the chance to see silents in real theatres when they play) about a woman (Edith Storey) who, by way of magic beans, turns into a man so that she may flirt with women. In the end, it all turns out to be a dream. _The House with Closed Shutters_ (1910) A D.W. Griffith film about a man who deserts the Confederate army and his sister who, dressed as him, takes his place so that the family is not disgraced. _I Don’t Want to be a Man!_ (1919) A funny movie about a girl who thinks the life of women is boring, so she dons formal wear and goes out a-drinkin’ with the boys. _Little Lord Fauntleroy_ (1921) 29 year old Mary Pickford dressed as a 12 year old (approx., I don’t remember if an exact age is mentioned) boy. Not quite what you’re looking for, since in the film she’s supposed to be male, not just be dressed as a male, but it’s worth a mention. ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-dressing-as-men/288605/11 "2005-02-06T07:41:11Z")
_Just One of the Guys_: A high school reporter dresses up as a girl and enrolls at a rival school to prove that the rejection of her newspaper article wes sexist. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-dressing-as-men/288605/12 "2005-02-06T08:29:26Z")
_Belle epoque._ Fernando Trueba, 1992 There is a Mardi Gras party. The main male character goes in drag; one of the four daughters of the house where he is a guest goes dressed as a guy. The lesbian daughter. It’s a Spanish movie, got nominated for the Oscars for Best Foreign Language Movie. For some reason IMDB lists it as French… they must think that sounds snazzier. I once watched it with an American boyfriend (we had picked one movie each and rolled dice to see which got played first): he didn’t speak a word of Spanish and of course there are some in-jokes that you can’t understand unless you know quite a bit about Spanish history, but he was laughing so hard I would occasionally stop the tape and turn it back a bit. He ended up sitting on the floor so he wouldn’t roll off the armchair again. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eada6e/32.png) [@Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_You_Big_Red_Fire_Engine)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-dressing-as-men/288605/13 "2005-02-06T10:17:41Z")
Rachael Stirling (Daughter of Diana Rigg) in [Tipping the Velvet.](http://imdb.com/title/tt0324264/) ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-dressing-as-men/288605/14 "2005-02-06T11:03:29Z")
Briefly, A black male airplane passenger is revealed to “really” be Drew Barrymore’s character at the start of Charlie’s Angels. A murderous mob of men almost lynches a crooked ointment salemen, one of whom turns out to be the mannish sister of the eponymous Little Big Man. In Dragonslayer, a young maiden passes herself off as a boy to prevent being ritually sacrificed to a dragon. Natalie Portman very briefly dresses up as Charlie Chaplin in Leon (The Professional). I think. I think Diane Weist dresses as a man to escape the attention of a tabloid photographer at the end of The Birdcage but I might be mistaken. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-dressing-as-men/288605/15 "2005-02-06T15:58:11Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Hillary Swank in “Boys Don’t Cry” I wouldn’t include this. The other movies listed are all ‘woman dresses as man as part of some plan.’ Eomer puts on some armor and calls herself Dernhelm because she wants to go and fight. Terry dresses as a boy to sell her article on school lunch, then lives as a boy as fodder another article. Brandon Tina, OTOH, was just a transsexual trying to live the way he felt. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-dressing-as-men/288605/16 "2005-02-06T17:30:44Z")
The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1914) The Mystery of Richmond Castle (1914) The Ragged Earl (1914) Hearts and the Highway (1915) Mistress Nell (1915) The Beckoning Flame (1916) The Daughter of the Don (1916) Her Father’s Son (1916) Land O’ Lizards (1916) Poor Little Peppina (1916) The Snowbird (1916) The Wharf Rat (1916) Alma, Where Do You Live? (1917) Cheerful Givers (1917) The Jury of Fate (1917) The Little Brother (1917) The Little Chevalier (1917) Love Aflame (1917) Peggy, the Will O’ the Wisp (1917) The Trouble Buster (1917) The Wild Girl (1917) The Daredevil (1918) The Dream Lady (1918) Opportunity (1918) Two-Gun Betty (1918) The Girl Alaska (1919) The Hoodlum (1919) The Microbe (1919) Muggsy (1919) The Oakdale Affair (1919) Phil-for-Short (1919) Bubbles (1920) The Flame of Hellgate (1920) Thunder Island (1921) Trail of the Law (1923) Lawful Cheaters (1925) Pursued (1925) The Enchanted Island (1927) 2 Girls Wanted (1927) Finders Keepers (1928) She Goes to War (1929) Viktor und Viktoria (1933) First a Girl (1935) West of the Pecos (1935) Rose of the Rancho (1936) Sylvia Scarlett (1936) Yiddle with His Fiddle (1936) Wings of the Morning (1937) Turnabout (1940) True to the Army (1942) The Emperor Waltz (1948) Stagecoach Kid (1949) The Marshal’s Daughter (1953) Age of Youth (1961) Fidelio (1961) Homicidal (1961) The Spessart Inn (1961) Confessions of an Opium Eater (1962) The Ballad of a Hussar (1963) The Love Eterne (1964) The Lady General (1965) Every Day Is a Holiday (1966) The Female Prince (1966) Gunn (1967) Fidelio (1970) ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-dressing-as-men/288605/17 "2005-02-06T18:14:17Z")
In “Sleeping with the Enemy”, Julia Roberts’ character dresses as a man to sneak in somewhere without being caught. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-dressing-as-men/288605/18 "2005-02-06T18:36:58Z")
Glenn Close has an unrecognizable cameo as Glenn the Pirate in _Hook_. Sophia Coppolla, as an infant, played a baby boy in the baptism scene in _Godfather, Part II_ _The Wonderful Land of Oz_ (although magic was involved and they had one actor for Tip and another actress for Ozma) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-dressing-as-men/288605/19 "2005-02-06T19:26:12Z")
> [@](#): > > A murderous mob of men almost lynches a crooked ointment salemen, one of whom turns out to be the mannish sister of the eponymous Little Big Man. In that scene, the sister was one of the leaders of the mob. But she had been mistaken for a man in earlier scenes. Didn’t Blofeld dress up as a woman in one of the James Bond movies? _Diamonds Are Forever_ maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-dressing-as-men/288605/20 "2005-02-06T19:27:35Z")
Of course, Blofeld dressing as a woman doesn’t answer the OP. Never mind. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-dressing-as-men/288605.md?page=2)