Nine to Five | Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin | FEMINISM TURNED INTO COMEDY BUT THE POINT IS WELL TAKEN

Nine to Five | Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin | 9 to 5 - Sexist, Egotistical, Lying Hypocritical Bigot Edition

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Nine to Five

	Nine to Five Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin 20th Century Fox, 1993 average customer review:based on 90 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

FEMINISM TURNED INTO COMEDY BUT THE POINT IS WELL TAKEN

FIRST THOUGHTS - -

This movie is among the greatest 100 minute entertainment fests in existence. "9 to 5" reaches and touches everybody, both male and female somewhere personal and strangely satisfying. Though the plot is great and really moves, it is the smart "fantasy-revenge" ideas, dialogue and strong characterizations that keep this from becoming mean-spirited and thereby enable this movie to work so well for a diverse audience.

We need to salute Director/Screenwriter, Colin Higgins first. Higgins was the Screenwriter for "Harold and Maude", "Silver Streak" and "Foul Play", picking up a Golden Globe nomination for "Foul Play" in 1978. All of Higgins films have an air of sophistication and display a refreshing respect for the audience particularly in avoiding the obvious mean-spirited cliches that many of his films' topics' encompass. Also, Editor Pembroke J. Herring who was nominated for 3 Academy Awards for Editing and also edited "Ground Hogs Day", did an amazingly seamless job of keeping "9 to 5" so coherently glued together. Herring was nominated for "Best Editing" for; "Tora! Tora!Tora!", 1970, "Bound For Glory",1976, "Out Of Africa", 1985 and edited many other excellent comedies and dramas. Higgins and Herring worked together on a number films all of which turned out the better for their contribution and "9 to 5" is one of them.

The three female leads all embody some type of stereotype. Lily Tomlin, as Violet Newstead is the widow with four children, going it alone and trying to break into the male dominated executive world of big business for the past 12 years - UNSUCCESSFULLY. She is confident and capable but she is a woman in a man's world, so she is very dissatisfied with the treatment she has been getting by the male establishment embodied through F. Hart [Dabney Coleman]. Jane Fonda, as Judy Bernly, is in the middle of a divorce in which her no-good husband, Dick, played deftly by Lawrence Pressman, left her for his secretary. Judy is now entering the workforce unprepared and for the first time and especially unprepared for the living embodiment himself, F.Hart. Dolly Parton as the delightful Doralee Rhodes, who F.hart chases round and round the office and even tries getting to conventions that do not exist all for a good time - HIS, examplifies how office rumors can ruin peoples' reputations and of course by the living embodiment himself. That's F.Hart of course and he is the bane of these three "innocent women" and as we see, represents most everything that is wrong in their lives as they see it. BTW, Dolly Parton in this role was nominated for an "Oscar", "Best Song", and 3 "Golden Globes", includeing "Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy".

This film could not get off the ground without a worthy adversary to these very potent femme fatales in training. Dabney Coleman as Franklin Hart or just F.HART, delivers an oscar worthy effort in his role as the living embodiment of almost every rotten thing a man in charge can do to women under him at the office. He is "his" 3 "GIRLS" reason for being the way they are, at least throughout the film. Coleman very generously lends himself to the same type of role Carrol O'Connor did in "All In The Family" as a means of illustrating that some things are clearly and obviously wrong and need to be changed. Comedy and Cliches are powerful tools for evoking awareness and change and "9 to 5" serves that cause well, chiefly through the utterly despicable nature of Coleman's character. Man or woman, we all enjoy Coleman's comeupance and so will you.

My favorite scenes are the three completely different fantasies our heroines relay to each other while under the influence of marijuana. Naturally, these flights of fancy all involved some overdue and elaborate revenge against F.Hart. Even such animated Disney characters as "Snow White" make an appearance in Tomlin's depiction of Hart's demise. Naturally, the reality nearly repeats Tomlin's fantasy on the very next day, which leads our heroines to stealing a corpse, evading the police, kidnapping and much, much more.

The scenes and gags in this film all further the plot and just dove-tail so nicely and so entertainingly together that it is over all to soon. We are left wanting more without realizing we have just sat for over 100 minutes and the issues and conflicts motivating the characters and fueling the film's plot have been resolved.

This is a terrific black comedy. Our characters [3 female leads] gain our empathy as they enter into a kind of twilight zone where both their personal survival and convictions stretch these women and allow their characters to show what they are made of and achieve both personal growth and unexpected satisfaction. Their foil, F.HART after showing all how despicable he was, literally plunges into the abyss as if sent to purgatory and then hell for his misdeeds against women as the plot unfolds. "REEL JUSTICE", tidy and quick!! The topic and the settings have aged very well and even after a quarter century this film in no way seems dated.

--* THE CAST --* Colin Higgins - Director / Screenwriter

Jane Fonda - Judy Bernly
Lily Tomlin - Violet Newstead
Dolly Parton - Doralee Rhodes
Dabney Coleman - Franklin Hart Jr.
Sterling Hayden - Tinsworthy
Elizabeth Wilson - Roz
Henry Jones - Hinkle
Lawrence Pressman - Dick
Marian Mercer - Missy Hart

--* THE AWARDS --*

Best Song (nom) Dolly Parton 1980 Academy
Best Actress- Musical or Comedy (nom) Dolly Parton 1980 Golden Globe
Best Original Song (nom) Dolly Parton 1980 Golden Globe
New Star of the Year - Female (nom) Dolly Parton 1980 Golden Globe

DVD FEATURES:

It is widescreen [1.85:1] and much clearer than the VHS release. The Disney characters in Violet's fantasy demonstrate this obvious color and clarity improvement over the video release. It has 1 trailer and of course scene selection and is available on the same DVD in either English or French with English or Spanish subtitles or no subtitles at all [of course]. Naturally, some interviews and a neat featurette would be nice but again this is a large improvement over the old faded video releases.

FINAL THOUGHTS - - This wonderful film is highly recommended and "9 to 5s" entertainment value stands up very well to repeated viewings and the passage of 26 years.

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9 to 5 - Sexist, Egotistical, Lying Hypocritical Bigot Edition

Brilliant.Although the film has aged,it's still just as funny all these years later.This is a must for anyone who has ever had thoughts of getting revenge on a boss.The documentary afterwards is great as it offers a lookat how the three girls ended up filming it together.10/10 even after 25 years.

Nine to Five

A great movie! Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, and Jane Fonda are wonderful! I'm so glad this movie is in my DVD library! The laughter will be side splitting! They really give Dabney Coleman a run for his money! A must have DVD for any collection!

The First Woman in the Workplace Film

9 to 5 was the first film to address the glass ceiling. It takes a look at the workplace from a woman's view.

We first meet Violet (Lily Tomlin) who has been working for Consolidated Companies for 12 years and has been overlooked for most of them. She trained her current boss and has the bruises to prove it. Judy (Jane Fonda) is the new girl in the office. She is a divorcee (he left her for his secretary) and has never worked for a living. Rounding out the heroines is Doralee (Dolly Parton in the film debut). She is the personal secretary of Franklin Hart (Dabney Coleman) and everyone thinks she is "banging the boss".

But the fun starts when Violet is passed over for a promotion to a man she helped train. She then blurts out that Hart has been spreading rumors that he's been having an affair with Doralee. And an employee is fired for a small infraction. This sends the three women to the local bar to drown their sorrows and they bond.

Each comes up with their fantasy way of killing the boss. Judy is a big game hunter with Hart as the prey. Doralee plays role reversal and Hart ends up on a rotisserie spit. But Violet wants it to be like a fairy tale where she is Snow White and the wicked witch and poisons Hart.

The next day, Violet accidentally poisons Hart's coffee. When falls out of his chair and is knock unconscious, Violet thinks she killed him. This leads to an all out comedy chase with Violet steals the wrong corpse.

The next day to the ladies surprise, Hart shows up. The ladies regroup in the restroom but Roz overhears them and reports it to Hart. Hart confronts the ladies but they wind up kidnapping him to find some incriminating evidence. The find something but it is going to take some time to get the evidence. Over the next six weeks the ladies run the office in Hart's absence. Hart escapes but the ladies changes have brought notice and Hart is not above taking someone else's glory.

The subject matter here is very serious. So to do it as a comedy is very daring and it works perfectly. This is a film that many people identify with. Everyone has had a boss or a teacher that oppressed them. And this film is what we all would like to do to these oppressors. You will laugh until it hurts.

DVD EXTRAS:
Commentary by producer Bruce Gilbert and stars Lily, Jane and Dolly

9 to 5 @ 25 - a 25 minute featurette with interviews with Gilbert, writer director Colin Higgins and stars Lily. Jane, Dolly and Dabney Coleman.

Deleted Scenes - 10 mostly expanded scenes or alternate takes. The problem is without some kind of commentary we do not know why the scene was cut.

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Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton work their best!

This review is for the 2001 DVD release.
Have you ever daydreamed about what you would like to do to your boss who was too [..] you or did something to you objectionable?
Well, these secretaries did. They carried out a plan against their boss and got away with it.
Please keep in mind, this film is a comedy and was made to laugh at.
However, their are some strong messages here that can be well learned. Bosses should not verbally abuse and/or sexually intent, touch, harass any employee. This film does point out employees have rights too. Managers can be in the wrong too.
Jane Fonda is "Judy Bernly". Recently divorced. Has no experience, but is a very decent woman. Today is her first day at Consolidated Companies LTD. On her first day everything goes wrong.
Lily Tomlin is "Violet Newstead". She has worked their forever. Never spies. She is ready for a promotion. She trains Judy on her first day. In fact, Violet has trained most of the people there and they have been promoted instead of her.
Dolly Parton (in her first film) is "Doralee Rhodes". Mr. Hart's main secretary. There is bad gossip going around about the boss and the secretary, but it is not true. Doralee is a married woman and is a Christian and pure as Judy is and would never engage in bad behavior at work.
Dabney Coleman is the boss, "Franklin Hart". He is the boss and the vice-president. Has has a bad mouth towards secretaries and wants "personal servitude" that is not part of the job description.
After the boss makes personal advances towards Doralee, makes inappropriate comments towards Violet and dismisses Maria (Roxanna Bonilla-Giannini) for having light conversation in the bathroom and guessing the bosses salary, and after another incident, Violet, along with Doralee and Judy later decide that something has to be done to the boss and improvements must be made within the company.
Better working conditions for all. Violet just might get her promotion yet.
Also in the cast: Elizabeth Wilson, Peggy Pope, Sterling Hayden, Lawrence Pressman, Marian Mercer.
Yes, that is Dolly Parton singing "Nine To Five".

Jane Fonda and Dabney Coleman also worked together in On Golden Pond (1981).
Followed by the tv series Nine To Five (1982-83) with Rita Moreno as "Violet", Valerie Curtin as "Judy", and Rachel Dennison as "Doralee". Jane Fonda was one of the Producers and Executive Producers. Rachel Dennison is Dolly Parton's real-life sister.

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