| 9 to 5 | |
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Theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Colin Higgins |
| Produced by | Bruce Gilbert |
| Written by | Patricia Resnick Colin Higgins |
| Starring | Jane Fonda Lily Tomlin Dolly Parton Dabney Coleman Marian Mercer Colin Higgins Peggy Pope Elizabeth Wilson |
| Music by | Charles Fox |
| Cinematography | Reynaldo Villalobos |
| Editing by | Pembroke J. Herring |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | December 19, 1980 |
| Running time | 110 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English French |
| Box office | $103,290,500 (USA)[1] |
9 to 5 is a 1980 American comedy film starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, and Dabney Coleman. The film concerns three working women living out their fantasy of getting even with, and their successful overthrow of, the company's autocratic, "sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot" boss.
9 to 5 was a hit, grossing over $3.9 million in its opening weekend in the U.S.[1] and is the 20th highest-grossing comedy film.[2] As a star vehicle for singer Parton, it launched her permanently into mainstream popular culture. Although a television series based on the film was less successful, a musical version of the film (also titled 9 to 5), with new songs written by Parton, opened on Broadway on April 30, 2009.
9 to 5 is number 47 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies" and is rated "88% fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes.[3]
Contents |
Judy Bernly (Jane Fonda)'s husband of seven years, Dick Radford (Lawrence Pressman), has recently squandered their savings and lost his job (because the company went bankrupt) and dumped her for his secretary Liza...all within the same month. To make ends meet, Judy - who's never had a job before, since she's never needed one - begins her own secretarial career at Consolidated Companies: a very large corporation. The senior office supervisor is Violet Newstead (Lily Tomlin), a feisty widow raising four teenagers. Violet introduces Judy to the procedures of office life – and to the perils of same, particularly their boss and his administrative assistant. The former is sleazy, obnoxious Franklin Hart, Jr. (Dabney Coleman); the latter is crisp, equally-obnoxious Roz "the Warden" Keith (Elizabeth Wilson). Hart's vain-yet-endless attempts to seduce Doralee Rhodes (Dolly Parton), his happily-married personal secretary, lead the entire office to think she's a "dime-store floozy." (Hart is married as well; he doesn't even care about Doralee, except as "a mountain to be climbed just because it's there.") After pretending to reject Violet's proposals for improving office efficiency - so that he can later submit them as his own and get all the credit for her work - Hart passes Violet over for a promotion (because "surveys show that clients prefer to deal with men when it comes to figures"). Violet tells Hart what she thinks of this, then goes to drown her sorrows at a local bar with Doralee and Judy...who regale her with tales of Hart's epic advances, and of his impulsive firings over anything remotely perceived as unionization.
Later, the three women concoct fantasies, while smoking marijuana, about turning the tables on Hart and humiliating him before his destruction. Judy's fantasy involves a lynch mob composed of Hart's employees who chase him through the office; he evades them only to be poached and mounted on the wall by Judy herself, dressed as a big-game hunter. Doralee's fantasy finds her and Hart switching places as boss and secretary; she makes lewd and suggestive comments about his clothes and cologne, then brutally ropes him right in the office. When he storms out, she lassos and hog-ties him, then prepares a barbecue with him as the main course. Violet's fantasy is a fairy-tale parody in which she, dressed as Snow White, provides Hart with poisoned coffee; Violet then shoots him out a window from a booby-trapped version of his office chair. And they lived happily ever after...
The following day, a mix-up leads Violet to think she has accidentally poisoned Hart's coffee with rat poison (a nod to her fantasy the previous night) after Doralee finds him unconscious in his office. She learns from Roz that he fell out of the faulty chair in his office and bumped his head in the process, unaware that he hadn't drank from the cup before his accident. After they arrive at the hospital, Violet, Doralee and Judy overhear a conversation between a police detective and another doctor about a patient who died of some type of poisoning and assumes they were speaking about Hart. As Doralee and Judy try to get more information, Violet, in a state of panic and desperation, steals what she believes to be Hart's body from the hospital morgue. After a car accident, they discover they've stolen the wrong body and smuggle it back into the hospital...but not before run-ins with hospital staff and a motorcycle cop.
Hart turns up alive the next morning - much to the collective shock of Violet, Doralee and Judy. All three vow to forget the night's troubles...but Roz, ever the snitch, overhears them while hiding in the ladies' room. Being Roz, she misinterprets their conversation and blabs it to Hart - who confronts Doralee about this and demands that she spend the night at his house, or he'll have all three of them prosecuted for attempted murder. Instead, the enraged Doralee binds and gags him with a telephone cord and then a scarf. After Doralee goes to find Violet, Judy sees Hart and removes his gag. He tricks her into untying him, by pretending to believe Judy when she explains that the poisoning was completely accidental; being Hart, he doesn't really care what the truth is. He is about to leave the office and call the cops when Judy pulls a gun from Doralee's purse. Hart thinks she's bluffing - until she fires three warning shots which destroys the glass panel near his office door.
Doralee, Judy and Violet then take Hart prisoner in his own home. They decide to blackmail him so he won't have them arrested. The ladies discover that he's been selling Consolidated inventory behind their backs and keeping the profits for himself. All three women use the occasion of their boss's absence to effect numerous changes around the office - all for the better - as they conceal the true reason for his disappearance. As it turns out, Hart is so feared and/or hated around the office that nobody questions his absence...with the exception of Roz, whom Violet and Company send to language school in Hart's name.
One night, Judy discovers a prowler outside Hart's Tudor-style mansion. It turns out to be ex-husband Dick, whose marriage to Liza lasted only a week. Now he wants Judy to come back to him...until he finds Hart bound and gagged in the upstairs bedroom. Judy, however, makes sure that she blows Dick off before he can blow her off - pointing out that it was he, not she, who asked for their divorce. Moreover, the day after their split was final, Judy (according to herself) even celebrated by opening a bottle of wine! Finally, she shoves Dick out of the house and slams the door after him.
When Hart's adoring (the sentiment is far from mutual) wife Missy (Marian Mercer) returns from vacation early - to thank him for a floral display he allegedly sent her - the ladies' plan is thrown out of whack. Hart scrambles to replace the merchandise he stole from Consolidated, tugging some very long strings (literally!) to accomplish this. Then he commandeers a handgun from Doralee and holds her hostage in his office, along with Judy and Violet. Being Hart, he is appalled by the changes which have been made in his absence, even though all his employees are delighted with them. Before he can have the three women arrested, Hart receives an unexpected visit from Russell Tinsworthy (Sterling Hayden)...the Chairman of the Board. He's there to congratulate Hart for a 20% increase in productivity, which is due to the changes Violet and Company instituted while Hart was absent. Being Hart, he takes credit for everything the ladies have done - although he himself was about to reverse said changes just before Tinsworthy arrived! Hart is still getting used to his new and improved office, so he lets Violet familiarize Tinsworthy with their latest procedures. Tinsworthy is so impressed that he decides to implement "Hart's" policies throughout all of Consolidated's locations! Then he recruits Hart to work at Consolidated's Brazilian operation, under Tinsworthy's personal supervision, for the next few years. ("I hear your wife just loves to travel," Tinsworthy says, which makes Hart look nauseous.) Just before leaving, Tinsworthy appoints Violet to be Hart's successor - since she's done so well as the boss's "right arm."
After Tinsworthy shanghais Hart off to Brazil, Roz returns from language school...and is stunned to discover that Violet is now her boss.
In the end, Judy falls in love and marries a Xerox representative; Doralee quits her job to join her husband's country-western singing act; Hart is abducted by a tribe of Amazons in the Brazilian jungle, never to be heard from again.
The movie's theme song, "9 to 5", became one of Parton's biggest hits of the decade. It went to number one for two weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Song. It won the 1981 People's Choice Award for "Favorite Motion Picture Song", and two 1982 Grammy Awards: for "Country Song of the Year" and "Female Country Vocal of the Year" (it was nominated for four Grammys). Additionally, it was certified platinum by the RIAA.
At the same time, newcomer Sheena Easton was enjoying her first major hit in United Kingdom with a song also titled "9 to 5". With the success of Parton's song, Easton was forced to rename her recording "Morning Train (9 to 5)" for its North American release.
The movie inspired a sitcom version which aired from 1982 to 1983 and from 1986 to 1988. The show, which aired on ABC (1982–83) and in first run syndication (1986–88), featured Parton's younger sister, Rachel Dennison, in Parton's role; Rita Moreno and Valerie Curtin took over Tomlin and Fonda's roles, respectively. In the second version of the show, Sally Struthers replaced Moreno. A total of 85 episodes were filmed.
In an interview aired September 30, 2005 on Larry King Live, Parton revealed that she was writing the songs for a musical stage adaptation of the film.[4] A private reading of the musical took place on January 19, 2007[5] Further private presentations were held in New York City in summer 2007.
In early March 2008, Center Theatre Group artistic director Michael Ritchie announced that 9 to 5 would have its pre-Broadway run at the Center's Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles beginning September 21, 2008, with Allison Janney starring as Violet, joined by Stephanie J. Block as Judy, Megan Hilty as Doralee, and Marc Kudisch as Franklin Hart Jr. The book for 9 to 5: The Musical was written by Patricia Resnick, who co-authored the film. Andy Blankenbuehler choreographed the show, and Joe Mantello directed.[6]
According to playbill.com, the musical opened on Broadway at the Marquis Theatre in previews on April 7, 2009, and officially on April 30, 2009.[7] However, due to low ticket sales and gross, the production closed on September 6, 2009. A National Tour began in September 2010.
In a TV interview broadcast on BBC1 in the UK in 2005, the movie's stars Fonda, Tomlin and Dolly Parton all expressed interest in starring in a sequel. Fonda said if the right script was written she would definitely do it, suggesting a suitable name for a 21st century sequel would be 24/7. Parton suggested they had better hurry up before they reach retirement age. In the DVD commentary, the three reiterate their enthusiasm, Fonda suggests a sequel should cover outsourcing, and they agree Frank Hart would have to return as their nemesis.
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