9 to 5 (film)
9to5 is a 1980 American comedy film directed by Colin Higgins, who wrote the screenplay with Patricia Resnick, and starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, Dabney Coleman, Elizabeth Wilson, and Sterling Hayden. It tells the story of three working women who live out their fantasies of getting even with and overthrowing their company's autocratic, "sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot" vice president.
The film grossed over $103.9 million. 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" and has a 69% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. The film is considered a cult classic.
Plot
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 president Mr. Hinkle and egotistical, sexist vice president Franklin Hart, whom Violet once trained.When Hart turns down Violet for a promotion in favor of Bob Enright who is below her, she reveals to attractive married secretary Doralee Rhodes a rumor about an affair between Doralee and Hart, leading both women to take the afternoon off drinking at a local bar. Judy joins them after learning of Hart's dismissal of Maria Delgado after his loyal administrative assistant Roz told him she had disclosed her salary to another employee, which is against his rules.
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, and Violet would poison his coffee.
The next day, a frustrated and distracted Violet accidentally puts rat poison in Hart's coffee, mistaking the box for the nearly identical box of sweetener. 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 so 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, Roz overhears their conversation and reports everything back to Hart.
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 to 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 everyone, flexible hours, and a job-sharing program allowing employees to work part-time.
Days before the invoices arrive, Hart's adoring wife Missy 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 percent increase in productivity. Tinsworthy invites Hart to join him on a multiyear project in Brazil which he reluctantly accepts as they head up to Mr. Hinkle's office to get some paperwork done. Violet, Judy, and Doralee celebrate their success as Roz returns.
A postscript states that Violet is promoted to vice president. Judy marries the Xerox representative. Doralee leaves Consolidated to become a country western singer. Hart is abducted by a tribe of Amazons in the Brazilian jungle and is "never heard from again".
Cast
- Jane Fonda as Judy Bernly, a new employee for whom Consolidated is her first job after being a housewife. She is forced to get a job after her husband leaves her for his young secretary whom he cheated on Judy with. Soon after starting work, she befriends Violet and Doralee.
- Lily Tomlin as Violet Newstead, a widow with four kids who has been working at Consolidated for twelve years. Despite being very knowledgeable about the company and having once trained him, Hart treats her like a secretary and gives a promotion she wanted to a man. She is the most senior supervisor on her floor and becomes responsible for training Judy, whom she eventually befriends.
- Dolly Parton as Doralee Rhodes, Frank Hart's attractive, married secretary whom he consistently flirts with and sexually harasses. He also gives her presents he tells Violet is for his wife, and spreads an untrue rumor that he and Doralee are having an affair, resulting in the staff shunning her.
- Dabney Coleman as Franklin M. Hart Jr., a Vice President of Consolidated Companies who is the boss of Judy, Violet, Roz, and Doralee. Despite being married, he is not shy about flirting or sexually harassing other women, especially Doralee, and refers to the secretaries on his floor as his "girls". He also steals an idea from Violet and tries to embezzle from Consolidated.
- Sterling Hayden as Russell Tinsworthy, Consolidated Companies' chairman of the board who is mostly away working on a jungle clearance project in Brazil.
- Elizabeth Wilson as Roz, Hart's sycophantic, loyal administrative personal assistant who constantly eavesdrops on the other staff and reports what she learns from Hart.
- Henry Jones as Mr. Hinkle, the President of Consolidated Companies who Hart works under and answers to Tinsworthy.
- Lawrence Pressman as Dick, Judy's ex-husband.
- Marian Mercer as Missy Hart, Franklin's sweet-natured wife who adores him and is oblivious to his cheating.
- Renn Woods as Barbara, one of Judy and Violet's co-workers
- Norma Donaldson as Betty, another co-worker
- Roxanna Bonilla-Giannini as Maria Delgado, a friendly co-worker that has children who Judy befriends. Roz reports to Hart on derisive comments on salary that she heard her make in the ladies' room which results in Hart having Roz inform Maria that she is fired. She later returns to work part-time under the women's job-sharing program that impresses Tinsworthy.
- Jeffrey Douglas Thomas as Dwayne Rhodes, Doralee's husband.
- Peggy Pope as Margaret Foster, an alcoholic secretary whom others refer to as "the old lush".
- Richard Stahl as Meade
- Ray Vitte as Eddie, a friend of Violet's who works in the company mail room, but aspires to become an executive.
Production
My ideas for films always come from things that I hear and perceive in my daily life... A very old friend of mine had started an organization in Boston called "Nine to Five", which was an association of women office workers. I heard them talking about their work and they had some great stories. And I've always been attracted to those 1940s films with three female stars.
Fonda said the film was at first going to be a drama, but "any way we did it, it seemed too preachy, too much of a feminist line. I'd wanted to work with Lily for some time, and it suddenly occurred to Bruce and me that we should make it a comedy." Patricia Resnick wrote the first draft drama, and Fonda cast herself, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton in the leads, the last in her first film role.
Colin Higgins then came on board to direct and rewrite the script; part of his job was to make room for all three in the script. Higgins said Fonda was a very encouraging producer, who allowed him to push back production while the script was being rewritten. "He's a very nice, quiet, low-key guy", said Parton of Higgins. "I don't know what I would have done if I'd had one of those mean directors on my first film." Higgins admitted that he "expected some tension" from working with three stars, "but they were totally professional, great fun, and a joy to work with. I just wish everything would be as easy."
Fonda stated that the resulting film "remains a 'labour film, but that she hoped it to be "of a new kind, different from the Grapes of Wrath or Salt of the Earth. "We took out a lot of stuff that was filmed, even stuff the director, Colin Higgins, thought worked but which I asked to have taken out. I'm just super-sensitive to anything that smacks of the soapbox or lecturing the audience".
Fonda said she did a lot of research, focusing on women who had begun work late in life due to divorce or being widowed.
What I found was that secretaries know the work they do is important, is skilled, but they also know they're not treated with respect. They call themselves "office wives". They have to put gas in the boss's car, get his coffee, buy the presents for his wife and mistress. So when we came to do the film, we said to Colin , OK, what you have to do is write a screenplay which shows you can run an office without a boss, but you can't run an office without the secretaries!