Nine to Five, also known as
9 to 5, is a 1980
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
comedyComedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. Also, films in this style typically have a happy ending . One of the oldest genres in film, some of the very first silent movies were comedies...
movieFilm encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects....
starring
Jane FondaJane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou and, excluding a 15 year hiatus, has appeared in films ever since. She has won two Academy Awards and received several...
,
Lily TomlinMary Jean "Lily" Tomlin is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer. She has won multiple awards from many quarters, including Tony Awards, Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award and has also been nominated for an Academy Award....
,
Dolly PartonDolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best-known for her work in country music....
, and
Dabney ColemanDabney Wharton Coleman is an American actor. He is best known for his abrasive characters and his usually present mustache.-Early life:Coleman was born in Austin, Texas, the son of Mary Wharton and Melvin Randolph 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.
Nine to Five was an across-the-board hit, grossing
USD$The United States dollar is the unit of currency of the United States. The U.S. dollar is normally abbreviated as the dollar sign, $, or as USD or US$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies and from others that use the $ symbol. It is divided into 100 cents .The U.S...
103,290,500 in the
U.S.The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
alone. The film became the highest-grossing comedy of 1980. As a star vehicle for singer Parton, it launched her permanently into mainstream popular culture. Although a
television series9 to 5 was an American situational comedy based on the 1980 film of the same name. Nine to Five aired from 1982 to 1983 and from 1986 to 1988...
based on the film was less successful, a musical version of the film (also titled
9 to 59 to 5: The Musical is a stage musical with music and lyrics by Dolly Parton and a book by Patricia Resnick, based on the 1980 movie Nine to Five...
), with new songs written by Parton, opened on Broadway on April 30, 2009.
This film is number 47 on
Bravo'sBravo is an American cable television channel owned by NBC Universal. It is currently seen in more than 80 million homes and was the first service dedicated to film, drama, and the performing arts when it launched by Cablevision as an advertisement-free channel in December 1980...
"100 Funniest Movies".
Premise
Three women decide to turn the tables on their "sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot" boss when their dissatisfaction causes them to reach the boiling point. A bizarre series of misunderstandings causes them to seize control of their department forcibly, kidnapping their boss and imprisoning him while they change their workplace to suit their vision of a more equitable, friendly environment.
Plot
The film is centered on the friendship among three women who work in the business offices of a large corporation known as Consolidated.
Judy Bernly (
Jane FondaJane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou and, excluding a 15 year hiatus, has appeared in films ever since. She has won two Academy Awards and received several...
) is a naïve new employee, a recent divorcee whose husband left her for his secretary. On her first day, Judy meets
Violet Newstead (
Lily TomlinMary Jean "Lily" Tomlin is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer. She has won multiple awards from many quarters, including Tony Awards, Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award and has also been nominated for an Academy Award....
), the supervisor of her department, and a longtime employee of Consolidated. Violet trains Judy and introduces her to the department executive,
Franklin Hart, Jr. (
Dabney ColemanDabney Wharton Coleman is an American actor. He is best known for his abrasive characters and his usually present mustache.-Early life:Coleman was born in Austin, Texas, the son of Mary Wharton and Melvin Randolph Coleman...
), who immediately reveals himself to be arrogant and sexist. Judy soon learns that Violet has been passed over consistently by those who could promote her, and in fact she has seniority over Hart. The third woman in the trio is the buxom
Doralee Rhodes (
Dolly PartonDolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best-known for her work in country music....
), Hart’s personal secretary. Despite the fact that Doralee is a happily married woman, and Hart is also married, Hart continually makes inappropriate advances toward her, pushing her patience and tolerance to the limit. Hart has also been lying to his colleagues that he’s been sleeping with her, causing office gossip to go wild. The women in the office treat her rudely as a result, and initially Judy shuns Doralee’s attempts to be friendly.
Some time passes, and then some more, and then Violet is once again passed over for an important promotion, even though her ideas are good enough that Hart passes one off as his own and takes all the praise for it. Hart bluntly tells Violet that the company would rather have a man in the position, and Violet becomes enraged, storming off on her own, but not before she reveals to Doralee that her “affair” with Hart is common knowledge. Doralee snaps and also rages at Hart, threatening to use her gun on him the next time he makes an indecent proposal, stating (in what is perhaps the film's most well-known line) that she will turn him "from a rooster to a hen with one shot". Judy witnesses a fellow secretary lose her job over a minor infraction and she, too, becomes enraged. The three women converge at a local bar to drown their sorrows, where Violet finds a joint (that her son gave her) in her purse. They go to Doralee’s house to "light up", prompting each of them to have a detailed fantasy about how they would kill Hart if they had the chance. Judy carefully imagines a scenario where Hart is being hunted down by an angry mob of his disgruntled employees through the Consolidated offices, and she (as a big game hunter) hunts down Hart in the office with a shotgun, eventually shooting him and mounting his head on her office wall as a trophy. Doralee turns the tables on Hart and sexually harasses him before hog-tying him and roasting him alive on a spit. Violet envisions a fairy tale where she is a Snow White-type character who poisons Hart’s coffee and sends him falling to his death outside his office window, via a spring-loaded version of his office chair.
Things take a sudden bizarre turn the next day when each of the women’s fantasies comes true in some way. Violet accidentally puts rat poison in Hart’s coffee, mistaking it for an artificial sweetener. Before Hart can drink it, his defective chair throws him backward and knocks him unconscious in his office. When the women get to the hospital, Hart has already left. Policemen are there concerning a witness who was poisoned and killed, and when the women overhear their conversation with the doctor, they assume they are talking about Hart. Out of desperation, Violet steals the body she believes is Hart, which is draped with a sheet, and stuffs it in her trunk. It is only after she crashes her car do the women realize the body in the truck is not Hart at all. After narrowly escaping a curious traffic cop, the women manage to sneak the body back into the hospital by propping it up in a wheelchair then ditching it in a bathroom. The next day at work, they discover that Hart wasn’t harmed at all, but their discussion about the incident the night before is overheard by Hart’s nosy personal assistant, Roz Keith (
Elizabeth WilsonElizabeth Welter Wilson is an American Tony Award-winning actress. She was elected to the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2007.-Biography:...
), and Hart tries to use the information to blackmail Doralee into having an affair with him after all. Doralee loses her temper and ropes Hart with telephone wires, and Judy fires on Hart with Doralee's gun when he escapes his bonds.
With Hart’s wife away on a lengthy cruise, the women decide to kidnap Hart and imprison him in his own house until they can somehow get him to cooperate and forget the whole incident. Violet discovers that Hart has been embezzling money from Consolidated, and the women plan on using the information to blackmail him. The race is on to see if Hart can escape or if Violet’s documented proof of the scam will arrive in time. While taking a turn guarding Hart, Judy gets a surprise visit from her philandering ex-husband, whose affair has come to an end. He wants a reconciliation with her, and has expected her to welcome his return. She (somewhat inadvertently) gives her ex his comeuppance when he discovers Hart tied up. Judy covers by claiming she now has a wild, hedonistic, unfettered lifestyle and is exploring S&M sex, and has no interest in being a mousy housewife any more.
The three women gleefully work together to make Hart’s absence in the office as inconspicuous as possible, and along the way they take a number of liberties in improving the workplace in ways that they see fit. Hart is accidentally freed when his wife returns early from her cruise, and just when it appears as if he is going to send the women to jail, a sudden visit from the Chairman of the Board, Russell Tinsworthy (
Sterling HaydenSterling Hayden was an American actor and author. For most of his career as a leading man, he specialized in westerns and film noir, such as Johnny Guitar, The Asphalt Jungle and The Killing. Later on he became noted as a character actor for such roles as Gen. Jack D. Ripper in Dr...
), interrupts him. Violet, Judy, and Doralee have made some radical changes while keeping Hart imprisoned, and it seems as if the sudden surge in productivity has caught the attention of Tinsworthy. Since the women did all of it under the false approval of Hart, they can take no credit for it, but fate seems to be on their side: Tinsworthy “rewards” Hart for his good work by immediately removing him from his position and sending him to work on a special project in Brazil, much to the amusement and delight of Violet, Doralee, and Judy.
In the epilogue, it is revealed that Violet took Hart's place as vice president, Judy fell in love and married the Xerox representative, Doralee quit the company and became a country music singer (just like the actress who played her), and Hart was kidnapped by natives in the Amazon and never heard from again.
Cast
- Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou and, excluding a 15 year hiatus, has appeared in films ever since. She has won two Academy Awards and received several...
as Judy Bernly
- Lily Tomlin
Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer. She has won multiple awards from many quarters, including Tony Awards, Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award and has also been nominated for an Academy Award....
as Violet Newstead
- Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best-known for her work in country music....
as Doralee Rhodes
- Dabney Coleman
Dabney Wharton Coleman is an American actor. He is best known for his abrasive characters and his usually present mustache.-Early life:Coleman was born in Austin, Texas, the son of Mary Wharton and Melvin Randolph Coleman...
as Franklin M. Hart Jr.
- Sterling Hayden
Sterling Hayden was an American actor and author. For most of his career as a leading man, he specialized in westerns and film noir, such as Johnny Guitar, The Asphalt Jungle and The Killing. Later on he became noted as a character actor for such roles as Gen. Jack D. Ripper in Dr...
as Russell Tinsworthy
- Elizabeth Wilson
Elizabeth Welter Wilson is an American Tony Award-winning actress. She was elected to the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2007.-Biography:...
as Roz Keith
- Henry Jones
-Arts:* Henry Arthur Jones , English playwright* Henry Festing Jones , author* Henry Jones Thaddeus , Irish painter* Henry Stuart Jones , British academic, professor ancient history...
as Mr. Hinkle
- Lawrence Pressman
Lawrence Pressman is an American actor, probably best known for roles on Doogie Howser, M.D., Ladies Man, a recurring role on Profiler, and as the titular character on Mulligan's Stew...
as Dick Bernly
- Marian Mercer
Marian Mercer is a Tony Award winning American actress.Born in Akron, Ohio, Mercer graduated from the University of Michigan, then spent several seasons working in summer stock...
as Missy Hart
- Ren Woods
Ren Woods is an American film and television actress/singer, best known for her role as Fanta in Roots, and also as the girl with flowers in her hair who sang "Aquarius" in the film version of Hair. Ren Woods began her singing career as a child and released two solo albums before returning her...
as Barbara
- Norma Donaldson
Norma Donaldson was an American actress and singer.Donaldson launched her career as a nightclub singer and then toured with Harry Belafonte and Lena Horne...
as Betty
- Roxanna Bonilla-Giannini as Maria Delgado
- Peggy Pope
Peggy Pope is an American actress.She was born in Montclair, New Jersey. She has made her many acting appearances memorable—even in the smallest roles—beginning in 1966 with the television show The Trials of O'Brien, starring Peter Falk and Elaine Stritch.Pope is most recognizable as...
as Margaret Foster
- Richard Stahl
Richard Stahl was an American actor who mostly appeared in film and TV comedies.Born in Detroit, he studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. In the 1950s, he was appearing in Off-Broadway productions, where he met his wife to be Kathryn Ish in 1959...
as Meade
- Ray Vitte as Eddie Smith
Production
- This was Dolly Parton's first film.
- In the middle of the film, the secretaries send a nosy manager to the Aspen Language Center in Colorado to learn French. The actual TWA 747 aircraft shown in the film later exploded off Long Island, NY as TWA Flight 800
Trans World Airlines Flight 800 was a scheduled international passenger flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, NY to Leonardo da Vinci Airport in Rome, Italy, via Paris-Charles de Gaulle in Paris, France...
.
- In her autobiography, My Life So Far, Jane Fonda wrote that Dolly Parton committed the entire movie script to memory prior to the commencement of shooting, not realizing that she only needed to know her own dialogue, and that it wouldn't be shot in order.
- The young candystriper who briefly exchanges dialogue with Tomlin's character during the hospital sequence was played by Florence Henderson
Florence Agnes Henderson is an American actress and singer, best known for playing the role of Carol Brady in the television program The Brady Bunch, which ran from 1969 to 1974.-Early life:...
's daughter Barbara Chase.
Legacy
American Film InstituteThe American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
recognition
- 2000: AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs
Part of the AFI 100 Years… series, AFI's 100 Years…100 Laughs is a list of the top 100 comedy movies in American cinema. A wide variety of comedies were nominated for the distinction that included slapstick comedy, romantic comedy, satire, black comedy, musical comedy, comedy of manners and comedy...
#74
- 2004: AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs
|Part of the AFI 100 Years… series, AFI's 100 Years…100 Songs is a list of the top 100 songs in American cinema. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute June 22, 2004 in a CBS special hosted by John Travolta, who appeared in two films honored by the list, Saturday Night Fever and...
#78
- 9 to 5
"9 to 5" is the title of a Grammy-winning, number-one song written and originally performed by Dolly Parton for the 1980 film comedy Nine to Five, starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Parton in her film debut....
Theme song
The movie's theme song,
"9 to 5""9 to 5" is the title of a Grammy-winning, number-one song written and originally performed by Dolly Parton for the 1980 film comedy Nine to Five, starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Parton in her film debut....
, became one of Parton's biggest hits of the decade. It went to number one for two weeks on the
Billboard Hot 100The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday; while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
and was nominated for several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Song. It won the 1981
People's Choice AwardThe People's Choice Awards is an awards show recognizing the people and the work of popular culture. The show has been held annually since 1975 and is voted on by the general public. The People's Choice Awards air on CBS and are produced by Procter & Gamble....
for "Favorite Motion Picture Song", and two 1982
Grammy AwardThe Grammy Awards —or Grammys—are presented annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States for outstanding achievements in the music industry...
s: for "
Country Song of the YearThe Grammy Award for Best Country Song has been awarded since 1965. The award is given to the writer of the song.There have been several minor changes to the name of the award:...
" and "
Female Country Vocal of the YearThe Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance was first awarded in 1965, to Dottie West. The award has had several minor name changes:*From 1965 to 1967 the award was known as Best Country & Western Vocal Performance - Female...
" (it was nominated for four Grammys). Additionally, it was certified platinum by the RIAA.
At the same time, newcomer
Sheena EastonSheena Easton is a Scottish singer who achieved worldwide fame in the 1980s. Easton became famous for being the focus of an episode in the British television program The Big Time, which recorded her attempts to gain a record contract, and got her a deal with EMI Records...
was enjoying her first major hit in
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
with a song also titled
"9 to 5""9 to 5" is the title of a popular song recorded by Sheena Easton in 1980, becoming her biggest hit. It peaked at number three in the United Kingdom in August 1980 and was released in the United States in February 1981 , where it reached number one.- Background :Easton had released one single prior...
. With the success of Parton's song, Easton was forced to rename her recording "Morning Train (9 to 5)" for its
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
n release.
Television series
The movie inspired a sitcom version which aired from 1982 to 1983 and from 1986 to 1988. The show, which aired on
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
(1982-83) and in first run syndication (1986-88), featured Parton's younger sister, Rachel Dennison, in Parton's role;
Rita MorenoRita Moreno is a Puerto Rican singer, dancer and actress. She is the first and only Hispanic female and one of ten performers who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony and at the time the second Puerto Rican to win an Academy Award.-Early years:Moreno was born Rosita Dolores Alverío in...
and
Valerie CurtinValerie Curtin is an American actress and Oscar-nominated screenwriter.-Biography:Curtin was born in New York City, the daughter of radio actor Joseph Curtin. She is a cousin of TV comedian/actress Jane Curtin...
took over Tomlin and Fonda's roles, respectively. In the second version of the show,
Sally StruthersSally Ann Struthers is an American actress and spokeswoman, known for her roles in sitcoms and television, particularly that of Gloria Bunker Stivic, the daughter of Archie and Edith Bunker on All in the Family, for which she won two Emmy awards...
replaced Moreno. A total of 85 episodes were filmed.
2009 Broadway musical
In an interview aired September 30, 2005 on
Larry King LiveLarry King Live is an American talk show hosted by Larry King on CNN. The show debuted in 1985, and is CNN's most watched program, with over one million viewers nightly.The show broadcasts from CNN's Los Angeles studios...
, Parton revealed that she was writing the songs for a musical stage adaptation of the film. A private reading of the musical took place on January 19 2007 Further private presentations were held in New York City in summer 2007.
In early March 2008,
Center Theatre GroupCenter Theatre Group is a non-profit arts organization located in Los Angeles, California. It is one of the largest theatre companies in the nation, programming subscription seasons year-round at the Mark Taper Forum, the Ahmanson Theatre and the Kirk Douglas Theatre...
artistic director Michael Ritchie announced that
9 to 5 will have its pre-Broadway run at the Center's
Ahmanson TheatreThe Ahmanson Theatre is one of the four main venues that comprise the Los Angeles Music Center.Through the generosity of philanthropist Robert H. Ahmanson, construction began on March 9, 1962. The theatre opened on April 12, 1967 with a production of More Stately Mansions starring Ingrid Bergman,...
in Los Angeles beginning September 21, 2008.
Allison JanneyAllison Brooks Janney is an American actress, best known for her role as C. J. Cregg on the television series The West Wing.- Personal life :...
will star as Violet, joined by
Stephanie J. BlockStephanie J. Block is an American actress and singer. She is most well known for her work on the Broadway stage and for originating the role of Elphaba in the early workshops of Wicked. She has additionally been nominated for a Drama Desk Award and a Drama League Award...
as Judy and
Megan HiltyMegan Hilty is an American stage and television actress.- Early years :...
as Doralee, and
Marc KudischMarc Kudisch is an American stage actor, whom most recently appeared in 9 to 5, the Musical in the role of Franklin Hart Jr. on Broadway.-Early Life and Education:...
as Franklin Hart Jr. The book for
9 to 5: The Musical is by Patricia Resnick, who co-authored the film. Choreography is by Andy Blankenbuehler and
Joe MantelloJoseph Mantello is an American actor and director best known for his work on Broadway productions of Wicked, Take Me Out and Assassins, as well as earlier in his career being one of the original Broadway cast of Angels in America...
will direct.
According to playbill.com, the musical opened on
BroadwayBroadway Theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, is the theatre associated with the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City...
at the
Marquis TheatreThe Marquis Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 1535 Broadway in midtown-Manhattan.Situated on the third floor of the Marriott Marquis Hotel, the 1611-seat venue was designed by developer/architect John C. Portman, Jr...
in previews on April 7, 2009, and officially on April 30, 2009. However, due to low ticket sales and gross, the production will close on September 6, 2009.
Possible sequel
In a TV interview broadcast on BBC1 in the
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
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
retirementRetirement is the point where a person stops employment completely . A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours...
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.
Popular culture
- Marian Mercer and Dabney Coleman played husband and wife on the 1970s cult Soap opera spoof Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman is a 1976 syndicated soap opera parody produced by Norman Lear, directed by Joan Darling and starring Louise Lasser. The series writers were Gail Parent and Ann Marcus.-Synopsis:...
.
- A clip of the film appeared on the Xbox 360 interactive game Scene It.
- Like many popular films of the early 1980s, an unofficial X-Rated parody was released, titled 8 to 4, in 1981. The film was shot on 35mm film and played in adult cinemas. It also featured a theme song that parodied the original Nine to Five theme. The Tomlin, Fonda and Parton roles were played by Annette Haven
Annette Haven , also known as Annette Robinson, was an American pornographic actress. She was one of the most popular porn stars of the 1970s and 1980s.-Biography:She was brought up in a sexually-repressive Mormon family...
, Loni SandersLoni Sanders is a retired porn star and adult model.She started her career as a glamour model, and appeared in several men's magazines, like Penthouse, Genesis, Swank, and Gallery. She later went into the hardcore business and started to act in X-rated movies.Sanders has been inducted into the AVN...
and Lisa De LeeuwLisa De Leeuw is an American pornographic actress, and allegedly one of the only ones to die from AIDS .-Career:Lisa De Leeuw reportedly got into porn at the urging of a boyfriend who managed an X-Rated movie theater. She went on to appear in almost 200 films and was inducted into both the X-Rated...
, respectively.
- President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California .Born in Tampico, Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1930s...
watched the movie and found it to be humorous. He did, however, voice his anger over the scene where Fonda, Tomlin, and Parton smoked marijuana, as he considered it to be an "endorsement of [p]ot smoking for any young person who [saw] the film."