Music and film buffs the world over have been celebrating the extraordinary life and legacy of the late Dolly Parton. There has in particular been a surge in interest in her songs like Jolene, I Will Always Love You and her duet Islands in the Stream with country legend Kenny Rogers. Dolly Parton’s stream surge following her death on Spotify isn’t isolated to just those three songs. Her quintessential feminist and working-class anthem 9 to 5, written by Parton for the 1980 film of the same name, has also topped the charts. The song 9 to 5 earned Parton both an Academy Award nomination and two Grammy awards. Her performance in the comedy-screwball Nine to Five also earned her praise, in her feature film debut no less, which left audiences rolling in the aisle.
Starring alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, Parton plays fed-up co-office worker, Doralee Rhodes, who gets caught up in a plot to turn the tables on their sexist, egotistical boss. (Parton agreed to play the role of Doralee on condition that she was allowed to write and perform the movie’s theme song.) In their attempt to overthrow and get even with their boss, things don’t go to plan and they kidnap him to save their jobs, stay out of jail and reform their workplace.
Blending workplace satire with wild, screwball comedy, Nine to Five was ahead of its time in 1980 upon release. Fonda was in particular instrumental in breathing life to the project, especially after learning about a group of real-life Boston secretaries in the 1970s, whose goal was to improve women’s rights, employment opportunities and put an end sexual harassment in the workforce. Fonda used her production company and star power to get the project up and running. She cast herself in one of the three lead roles, hired comedian-turned-actress Tomlin and country superstar Parton, and tapped Collins Higgins to direct, who first achieved fame for writing and producing Harold and Maude (1971) and later Foul Play (1978). Nine to Five for obvious reasons was turned into a comedy to appeal to a wider audience.
The fanciful movie did little to damage the serious nature of workplace reforms the producers were trying to address, in fact it gave a voice to working women beyond their wildest dreams. Of course, no comedy about workplace sexism would pay off without the perfect villain and or foil to go up against the likes of Fonda, Tomlin and Parton. Nine to Five’s go-to “jerk” was the ever reliable character actor Dabney Coleman, who made a living as a smarmy villain. He often thanked his moustache for his significant career shift as an actor. Coleman’s brilliant comedic performance in Nine to Five perfectly anchors his character Franklin Hart Jr.’s profound arrogance and tyrannical nature against his subordinates. He makes it easy for us to root against him, all the while keeping us thoroughly entertained and looking forward to the moment he gets his comeuppance.
In one of the hilarious early scenes of the film, Coleman as Hart is about to feel his secretary’s wrath. Parton as Doralee who has been wondering why she is being treated like the office outcast by her work colleagues, finds out that Hart has been telling everyone that she has sleeping with him. She snaps and confronts him storming into his office pointing her finger and pushing him around the desk and eventually into a chair.
Holding the high ground Doralee begins to set him straight. “Look, I’ve got a gun out there in my purse,” she tells him. “And up to now I’ve been forgiving and forgetting because of the way I was brought up, but I’ll tell you one thing. If you ever say another word about me… I’m gonna get that gun of mine, and I’m gonna change you from a rooster to a hen with one shot. Don’t think I can’t do it!”
Without skipping a beat, Doralee leaves Hart to contemplate what he has done.
This iconic scene went a long way to making Parton a bona fide movie star. Interestingly, the inspiration for the ‘rooster to a hen with one shot’ line actually came from an encounter Parton had with a stranger in New York City as a young woman. Somehow this tidbit of movie trivia and its real life twist makes the scene even more impressive.
The original release poster shows us everything we need to know about the movie. It features its leading ladies tucked up tight against Coleman as Hart, who is suspicious tied up in his office chair. Its tagline boasts “The power behind the throne” alluding to the trio’s hostile takeover of the office. Moreover, Hart is about to be served a cup of coffee, something which he constantly demands from his senior supervisor Violet Newstead, played by Lily Tomlin. Tomlin is all smiles (in the poster) about to exact revenge on her boss, with a little something extra (like rat poison!) in his coffee. This is far from a spoiler on my part because we all know where good comedy must go to make us laugh.
Some of the best scenes in Nine to Five are both bold and hilarious, showcasing the three lead actresses unique comedic timing and how it all ends up with them accidentally taking Hart hostage. It all begins in earnest with Tomlin’s character, Violet Newstead, who feels very unappreciated by her boss, since she was the one who trained him. Moreover, his refusal to promote her simply because she is a woman adds to her bitterness and contempt towards him. Fonda’s Judy Bernly, is also deeply upset and overwhelmed. As a recently divorced woman, she cannot believe the double standards woman face entering the workforce. While Parton’s Rhodes feels isolated and alone, being vilified as the office harlot, something which simply isn’t true.
Having established their backstories and the awful predictament they find themselves in, Doralee, Violet and Judy hilarious embark on a night of drinking and smoking marijuana. It eventually accumulates in a series of wild fantasies about how best to kill their sexist boss. It is Violet’s Snow White-themed fantasy revenge sequence in which she dreams of poisoning Hart, that foreshadows much of the underlying plot.
Before we know it, back at the office the next day, after her uncharacteristic bender, Hart belittles Violet once again demanding a refill of coffee. Upset and ranting to anyone who’d listen Violet mistakenly spikes Hart’s coffee with rat poison. It leads to a comedy of error with Hart spilling his poisoned cup of coffee all over himself due to his erratic, misfunctioning desk chair. He subsequently hits his head and is taken to the hospital. When Violet hears the news she believes it is all her fault. She’s told Hart was poisoned but we all know he wasn’t. She rushes to the hospital’s emergency department with Judy to find Doralee waiting nearby Hart’s room. Hoping to hear good news, they are stopped dead in their tracks when the police start talking to the doctor in charge. When the doctor reveals a man is dead from a suspected poisoning, Violet goes into a complete panic:
“I’ve killed the boss, you think they won’t fire me for that?
Believing the worst has happened, Violet desperately hatches a plan to steal his body before an autopsy can reveal his cause of death. The whole dead body in the car scene plays out hysterically, especially when Violet, Doralee and Judy realise they have the wrong corpse. Meanwhile Hart has discharged himself from hospital a little worse for wear. Back at the office the following day, Hart is informed by his loyal office snitch about the plot to murder him. When he threatens to expose Violet, Doralee and Judy, they kidnap him and hold him captive in his own home. Here he is forced to endure the next four to six weeks watching ‘Days of Our Lives’ tied up to a skydiving harness with chains and dog collars, while our heroines attempt to prove Hart is involved in an embezzlement scheme.
And if these improbable high jinks events aren’t enough our workplace rebels secretly start running the office in his absence. How will they fair? Will our villain (Hart) escape? And what will the Consolidated Companies’ chairman of the board, who bears a striking resembles to Colonel Sanders, make of all the farce? Let’s just say someone is about to take an international post in Brazil.
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