9 to 5 (film)
9 to 5 (listed in the opening credits as Nine to Five) is a 1980 American comedy film directed by Colin Higgins, who wrote the screenplay with Patricia Resnick. It stars Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton as three working women who live out their fantasies of getting even with and overthrowing the company's autocratic, "sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot" boss, played by Dabney Coleman.
This article is about the American comedy film. For the German documentary, see 9 to 5: Days in Porn.9 to 5
- Colin Higgins
- Patricia Resnick
Patricia Resnick
Bruce Gilbert
- December 19, 1980
110 minutes
United States
English
$10 million<[1]
$103.3 million[2]
The film grossed over $103.9 million.[2] As a star vehicle for Parton—already established as a successful musician—it launched her permanently into mainstream popular culture. A television series based on the film ran for five seasons in the 1980s, and a musical stage adaptation with new songs written by Parton opened on Broadway in 2009.
9 to 5 is 74th on the American Film Institute's "100 Funniest Movies"[3] and has a 69% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.[4] The film is considered a cult classic.[5][6]
Plot[edit]
Reserved housewife Judy Bernly must start work as a secretary at Consolidated Companies after her divorce, and is placed under the supervision of experienced and sharp-tongued widow Violet Newstead. Both work under egotistical, sexist vice president Franklin Hart, whom Violet once trained and who encourages the rumor that he and his attractive married secretary, Doralee Rhodes, are having an affair.
When Hart turns down Violet for a promotion in favor of a man who is below her, she reveals to Doralee the rumor about the affair, leading both women to take the afternoon off drinking at a local bar. Judy joins them after learning of the dismissal of a friendly co-worker.
Unable to think of a way to improve their situation, they spend the evening smoking marijuana at Doralee's house and fantasizing about how they would get revenge on Hart: Judy would shoot him like a hunter does a deer, Doralee would hog tie him and roast him over a slow fire, while Violet would poison his coffee.
The next day, a frustrated Violet accidentally puts rat poison in Hart's coffee, but before he can drink it, his desk chair malfunctions and he blacks out after hitting his head on a credenza. Violet realizes her mistake and thinks the poisoned coffee caused Hart to black out. She and Judy meet Doralee at the hospital just in time to overhear a doctor pronounce another man dead from poisoning.
Thinking the dead man is Hart, Violet steals the body to prevent an autopsy, but while arguing with Judy and Doralee, she crashes her car, damaging a fender. When Doralee retrieves a tire iron from the trunk to fix the fender, she discovers the body is not Hart and they return it to the hospital.
The next morning, Hart shocks the women when he arrives for work as usual. In the ladies room, Doralee explains that Hart hit his head, but did not drink the coffee. Relieved that nothing will come out of the night's events, the ladies agree to meet for happy hour at the end of the day. However, Hart's loyal administrative assistant Roz overhears their conversation and reports everything back to him.
Hart summons Doralee to his office and offers her a choice: if she spends the night with him, he will not report her, Judy, and Violet for attempted murder. Doralee refuses and when Hart will not hear her out, she hogties him and stuffs a scarf he had given her as a gift in his mouth to keep him quiet. He eventually tricks Judy into loosening the binds, which leads her to shoot at him with Doralee's handgun.
Ultimately, the women discover Hart has been selling Consolidated inventory and pocketing the proceeds, so they blackmail him into keeping quiet. When they are told that invoices Violet ordered that should prove Hart's crimes will not arrive for 4–6 weeks, they confine Hart to his bedroom wearing a hang gliding suit tied to a remote controlled garage door opener.
While Hart is out of the office, they implement several programs that are popular with the workers, including an in-office daycare center, equal pay for men and women, flexible hours, and a job-sharing program where employees can work part-time.
Days before the invoices arrive, Hart's adoring wife returns from a cruise and frees him, giving him the time to buy back the inventory he sold. Before Hart can report Judy, Doralee, and Violet to the police, the chairman of the board, Russell Tinsworthy, arrives to meet with Hart. He congratulates him on his improvements to the office which have resulted in a 20% increase in productivity. As a result, he invites Hart to join him on a multiyear project in Brazil, which he reluctantly is forced to accept.
Violet, Judy, and Doralee celebrate their success. Violet is eventually promoted to vice president, Judy leaves Consolidated to marry the Xerox representative, and Doralee leaves to become a country western singer. Hart is kidnapped by a tribe of Amazons and is never heard from again.
Reception[edit]
Roger Ebert gave the film 3 stars out of 4 and called it "pleasant entertainment, and I liked it, despite its uneven qualities and a plot that's almost too preposterous for the material." Ebert singled out Dolly Parton as "a natural-born movie star" who "contains so much energy, so much life and unstudied natural exuberance that watching her do anything in this movie is a pleasure."[15] Vincent Canby of The New York Times was less enthusiastic, writing, "It's clearly a movie that began as someone's bright idea, which then went into production before anyone had time to give it a well-defined personality."[16]
Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 2.5 stars out of 4 and wrote, "The most pleasant surprise is the appearance of Dolly Parton, who with this one film establishes herself as a thoroughly engaging movie star. The biggest disappointment is that this Jane Fonda comedy about a trio of secretaries out to get their boss doesn't have more bite ... Instead of getting darker and darker, 'Nine to Five' gets lighter and lighter until it loses most of the energy it established so well early on."[17] Variety stated, "Although it can probably be argued that Patricia Resnick and director Colin Higgins' script at times borders on the inane, the bottom line is that this picture is a lot of fun."[18] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film "appears to be an audience pleaser that never misses an intended laugh. However, it strays so far from reality for so long that it threatens to become mired in overly complicated silliness and to lose sight of the serious satirical points it wants to make. Happily, it does pull together for a finish that's as strong as it is funny."[19]
Gary Arnold of The Washington Post thought the film "runs a merely weak comic premise into the ground with coarse, laborious execution". He thought that Dolly Parton was the film's "only reassuring aspect", as she seemed "an instantly likable natural on the movie screen, too".[20] David Ansen of Newsweek called the film "a disappointment ... It's not wild or dark enough to qualify as a truly disturbing farce and it's too fanciful and silly to succeed as realistic satire. Politically and esthetically, it's harmless—a mildly amusing romp that tends to get swallowed up by its own overly intricate plot."[21]
Ronald Reagan wrote in his presidential diary that he and his wife Nancy watched the film on Valentine's Day 1981. He wrote, "Funny—but one scene made me mad. A truly funny scene if the 3 gals had played getting drunk but no they had to get stoned on pot. It was an endorsement of Pot smoking for any young person who sees the picture."[22]
While the film received mixed reviews from critics during its initial theatrical release, it has since been reappraised for its commentary on workplace sexism and the gender pay gap.[23][24] In a 2018 review for The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw wrote, "Thirty-eight years on, this tale of misogyny, kidnap and rattling typewriters is a boldly progressive piece of film-making."[25] The film's cultural legacy, path to production, and impact on the women's labor movement are explored in the 2022 documentary Still Working 9 to 5.[26][27]
The film holds a score of 69% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 99 reviews. The critical consensus reads: "It might not be much of a way to make a living, but 9 to 5 is a wonderfully cast comedy that makes some sharp points about gender roles in the workplace."[4] Metacritic gave the film a score of 58 based on 12 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[28]
The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists: