Freaky Friday (1976)

A mother (Barbara Harris) and her teenage daughter (Jodie Foster) casually (and separately) wish they could switch places with each other for a day. It's Friday the 13th and magically they get their wish. Based on the novel by Mary Rodgers (ONCE UPON A MATTRESS) who adapted her book for the screen and directed by Gary Nelson (THE BLACK HOLE). Disney silliness is immeasurably helped along by the two central performances of Harris and Foster, who both bring an actress's creativity and intelligence to their work here. In the hands of lesser actresses, there could have been a lot of mugging and phony play acting (think of Ginger Rogers' embarrassing attempts at acting juveniles in MONKEY BUSINESS and MAJOR AND THE MINOR) but clearly the actresses here took the time to deliberate on their characters. This film came several months after Foster's performances as the child prostitute in TAXI DRIVER, talk about range! Popular enough to spawn two remakes, a 1995 TV version with Shelley Long and a 2003 film with Jamie Lee Curtis. With John Astin, Kaye Ballard, Patsy Kelly, Marie Windsor, Marc McClure, Jack Sheldon and Brooke Mills.