Movies
Nine To Five (1980, Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton)
Nine to Five was a 1980’s unappreciated career women’s deepest, darkest fantasy come true: a piggish boss finally “gets his,” courtesy of three fed-up, panty-hosed colleagues.
After her husband leaves for another woman, prim and naïve Judy (Jane Fonda, in a rare comedy turn) is thrust into the cruel corporate landscape, where she lands a job as a secretary and does regular battle with the photocopy machine. Violet has her best ideas and most of her pride stolen by boss Frank, and Doralee (Dolly Parton, in her film debut) is thought be sleeping with him—a rumor he himself started. The disgruntled trio sits around one night and regales each other with their fantasies about how they’d kill Frank (a poisoning, a hog-tie, and a safari shoot-out). But later, when Frank goes to the hospital for a bump on the head, Violet fears she has sub-consciously made her fantasy a reality and laced his coffee with rat poison.
The three panicked ladies kidnap Frank and lock him up inside his own house, via a harness, a garage door opener and a dog collar (don’t ask). To cover his absence, our heroines take over the company and make incredible changes—you can put a plant and a picture of your kid on your desk now, and you can drop that kid off at the fantastic new company daycare. Productivity skyrockets and everybody goes about their business with a great big smile.
When the jig’s up (and any jig that involves a harness, a garage door opener and a dog collar eventually comes up), Frank shows up at the office to huffily re-claim his throne and throw his erstwhile captors in jail. But his boss, white-suited Colonel Sanders look-alike Tinsworthy, might be their corporate guardian angel.
Nine to Five was a huge hit in 1980, sparking the movie career of Parton, who sang the hit title song. And as further proof that the film had tapped some deep, dark fantasy in working women everywhere, Nine to Five resulted in not one, but two TV spin-off sitcoms, one in 1982 and one in 1986. Harassing bosses, you have been warned.
production details
USA / 110 minutes / 1980
Writer and Director: Colin Higgins
cast
Jane Fonda as Judy Bernly
Lily Tomlin as Violet Newstead
Dolly Parton as Doralee Rhodes
Dabney Coleman as Franklin M. Hart Jr.
Sterling Hayden as Russell Tinsworthy
Elizabeth Wilson as Roz Keith
Henry Jones as Mr. Hinkle
Lawrence Pressman as Dick Bernly
Marian Mercer as Missy Hart
Renn Woods as Barbara
Norma Donaldson as Betty
Roxanna Bonilla-Giannini as Maria Delgado
Peggy Pope as Margaret Foster
Richard Stahl as Meade
Ray Vitte as Eddie Smith
Edward Marshall as Bob Enright
Alan Haufrect as Chuck Strell
Earl Boen as Mr. Perkins
Jeffrey Douglas Thomas as Dwayne Rhodes
Tom Tarpey as Norman Lane
Michael Delano as Motorcycle Cop
Barbara Chase as Buffy
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