Nine to Five
Tags: revenge, satire

Plot synopsis:
The film centers on the friendship between three women who work in the offices of a large corporation known as Consolidated Industries. Judy Bernly (Jane Fonda) is a naïve new employee whose husband recently left her for his secretary. On her first day, Judy meets Violet Newstead (Lily Tomlin), the supervisor of her department, and a longtime employee. Violet trains Judy and introduces her to the department executive, Franklin Hart, Jr. (Dabney Coleman), who immediately reveals himself to be arrogant and sexist. Judy soon learns that despite the fact that Violet has worked there for over 10 years, she has been passed over consistently for promotion and in fact has seniority over Hart.The third woman in the trio is Doralee Rhodes (Dolly Parton), Hart's personal secretary. Despite the fact that Doralee is happily married to a construction worker and part-time country-western singer, and Hart is also married to a sweet but oblivious woman named Missy, Hart continually makes inappropriate advances toward Doralee, pushing her patience and tolerance to the limit. Hart has also been lying to his colleagues that he's been sleeping with Doralee, 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 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 credit for it. When Violet protests to Hart that he passed her over for a promotion because she is a woman, Hart bluntly tells her 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, who has been confused and upset about the way she's treated by her coworkers, snaps, and also rages at Hart, threatening to use her gun on him the next time he makes an indecent proposal. 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, when Violet discovers a marijuana cigarette that her son left in her purse as a gift. They return to Doralee's house and smoke it together, prompting each of them to have a detailed fantasy about how they would take down Hart if they had the chance. Judy imagines a scenario where she's a great white hunter who hunts down Hart in the office with a shotgun. Doralee's fantasy is of her as a cowgirl who turns the tables on Hart and sexually harasses him before 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 from his office window, which suddenly releases scores of oppressed "prisoners" chained to their desks.Things take a sudden bizarre turn the next day when each of the women's fantasies comes true in some odd respect: Violet accidentally poisons Hart's coffee, having mistaken a box of rat poison for artificial sweetener. Before Hart can drink it, he falls from his unstable chair and knocks himself unconscious in his office. Doralee finds him, summons an ambulance, and accompanies him to the hospital.At first the women have no clue what happened to Mr. Hart, but then Violet finds the rat poison, realizes what she did, and they all assume the reason Hart blacked out was because he drank the poisoned coffee. They embark on a wild nighttime chase to cover up the crime, starting with Violet stealing what she believes to be Mr. Hart's body from the hospital and putting it in her car trunk to dispose of it. Only after they get into a minor car accident do they discover that the corpse is not that of Hart. After shaking off a suspicious police officer, the three women dispose of the body by taking it back to the hospital and leaving it in a wheelchair in a restroom.The next day, they discover that Hart wasn't harmed at all, but their discussion about the incident is overheard by Hart's nosy personal assistant, Roz Keith (Elizabeth Wilson). 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 when he threatens to call the police, and Judy fires on Hart with Doralee's pistol when he persuades her to untie him.With Hart's wife away on a lengthy cruise, the women decide to kidnap Hart and imprison him in his own home until they can somehow get him to cooperate and forget the whole incident. But the cold and impassive Hart refuses to listen to them and vows to kill them. Looking for a way to blackmail Hart to keep quiet, Violet discovers that Hart has been embezzling money from Consolidated by illegally selling inventory from a company-owned warehouse and keeping the profits. The women plan on using the information to blackmail Hart to keep him from calling the police.After purchasing a series of items, including a skydiving harness, chains, dog collars, and a remote-controlled garage-door opener to keep Hart confined in his own house, the women return to work after the weekend as usual while Violet sends for an order of the warehouse inventories as proof of Hart's embezzlement scheme. She soon learns from the head office that, because of a computer system change, the office will not send them the invoices for between four to six weeks.From this point on, a race is on to see if Hart can escape or if Violet's documented proof of the scam will arrive in time. The three women work together to make Hart's absence in the office as inconspicuous as possible, they sending Roz to Europe on a ruse to learn a foreign language. During the weeks of Hart's confinement, the three ladies take a number of liberties in improving the workplace in ways that they see fit. Hart's archaic and oppressive rules are done away with, employee morale improves greatly and productivity improves as well.One night, Hart almost escapes when he finds a nail file in the bathroom that his captors overlooked and tries cutting his restraints. Using the restraining system they'd installed in Hart's bedroom, Judy is able to render him helpless while he hangs from the ceiling. Judy is further surprised when her ex-husband shows up at Hart's house after following her there and asks to reconcile with her. But when Hart makes a noise, Judy is forced to restrain him, and seeing the captive Hart tied up, her ex-husband mistakenly assumes that Judy is having an affair with her boss and leaves, claiming that they are now over and will never get back together.Later, Hart is accidentally freed when Missy returns early from her cruise, and for three days, he quietly buys back all the items he sold and puts them back in the Consolidated warehouse. Doralee only learns about Missy's return when Missy calls her to thank her for her sending her flowers in Hart's name, which is why she returned from her vacation early. Doralee hurries to Hart's house to find the freed Hart now holding Judy captive.After taking them to the office to meet with Violet, Hart plays his final card, boasting that women never can defeat him. Just when it appears as if he is going to send the women to jail, a sudden visit from the reclusive and ruthless Chair of the Board, Russell Tinsworthy (Sterling Hayden), interrupts him. To the cold and unfeeling Hart's chagrin, he finally sees that Violet, Judy, and Doralee have made some radical changes in the office during his captivity, and the sudden surge in productivity has caught Tinsworthy's attention. Where Hart had bristled at the changes in the office -- job-sharing, flexible hours, new, disabled employees working alongside veteran ones, a drying-out program for alcoholic workers -- Tinsworthy congratulates Hart for the increased morale.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, as now they are free from Hart, who will never try to destroy them without destroying his own career.In a postscript at the end, it is revealed that Violet took Hart's place as vice president of Consolidated, Judy married the Xerox technician and quit the company, Doralee also quit the company and moved back to her Tennessee hometown, where she became a country music singer (just like the actress that played her), and Hart was kidnapped by natives during a trip in the Amazon and was never seen or heard from again.

Review: Dolly Parton is Doralee, a secretary whom everyone at the office thinks is using her - ahem - "assets" to get ahead by sleeping with the boss.Soon these three become best friends and team up after they've gotten fed up with their chauvinistic and smarmy boss Mr. Hart, played to the hilt by Dabney Coleman.
This is the kind of movie where you check your brain at the door and take it for what it is.There are some great one-liners like the one where Fonda tells her ex-husband, who thinks she's having a kinky S&M affair with Mr. Hart, something along the lines of, "If I want to do M&M's, that's fine with me!" The office they work in is reminiscent of the one in "The Apartment".
Jane Fonda and the brilliant Lilly Tomlin round out the lead cast with hilarious performances in this screwball revenge comedies that was one of the first films to champion "girl power".
Dolly Parton is excellent, portraying the country girl, Jane Fonda as the divorced housewife's first job role, and Lily Tomlin as the bosses stepping stone.
Do watch the movie a few times, and soon you'll pick up on how funny the lines are "Violet, did you get my Memo?", "I did Roz, I tore right through it".Later in the film the plot is well underway and animation is combined successfully with Tomlin's scene of a Snow White type character!
Three miserable women (Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda) take it upon themselves to get back at their evil boss (Dabney Coleman) in this hilarious little film.
I thought about poor Shirley MacLaine who tried to commit suicide and eventually found love with Jack Lemmon, but both faced an uncertain future albeit with each other.Shirley and the other of MacMurray's victims should have seen this film and taken a lesson from Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton who start as strangers and end up as allies and who find a way to get even with Dabney Coleman for using and abusing his employees.All three women are different, different in real life and playing different types of characters in the film and at the beginning not really liking each other because they don't know each other.
And the beautiful and curvaceous Parton is Coleman's secretary who Coleman is trying to jump her form and the folks in the office think he already has.But eventually these women make common cause and what they do to Coleman is an inspiration to working women everywhere.As good as these women are the film would go nowhere without Dabney Coleman who makes a specialty of playing men you love to hate whether in comedy or drama.
And movie veteran Sterling Hayden comes on in the end as the chairman of the board of the company who in his own earnest, but clueless way settles all their problems.To Dolly, Jane, and Lily who took action for put upon employees everywhere, we did love you in this film..
Jane Fonda is Judy, a just-divorced woman new to office work, and her starchy appearance and nervous manner aren't really all that funny (she's immediately cold to secretary Dolly Parton on the basis of office gossip alone); her character's big flub in the copy room is an example of director Colin Higgins' use of silliness--and it's not even to make a point (the Xerox machine goes cartoonishly haywire and Judy just looks like a jinx).
Dolly Parton is dazed but not frazzled--she's just pleasantly zonked as Doralee, whom everyone thinks is sleeping with the boss (Dabney Coleman--who only shines in the fantasy sequences; his Mr. Hart is a tiresome tyrant who, of course, is not just a show-off and a cheat but an embezzler as well!).
No question that this is a very funny movie thanks to the gifted performances of Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Dabney Coleman and Dolly Parton.
Three secretaries (Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton and Jane Fonda) work for a sexist pig of a boss (Dabney Coleman).
I know it's a 'chick-flick' but I can't help but like this 1980 Comedy about 3 women played by Jane Fonda,Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton (who also sang the titlesong) who work as secretary's for a mean,horrible,sexist pig (a tailor made role for Dabney Coleman) who decide enough is enough and so plan their revenge.I've heard of this movie for quite sometime, but didn't watch it because I didn't think it was my cup of tea, How wrong I was, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie from start to finishThe movie is quite dated (all the ladies use typewriters-which have since been turned into antiques by the onset of Computers.It's well Directed by Colin Higgins who had previously Written and Directed the equally enjoyable Chevy Chase-Goldie Hawn Crime Comedy 'Foul Play'.Followed By not one but TWO TV series based on the film 1982-1983 and 1986-1988 without the Stars and probably suffers as a resultall in all a very enjoyable 1980's Comedy that was a major hit on it's original release 24 years ago.My Rating ***1/2 out of ***** or 7/10.
NINE TO FIVE starts out with a good idea for a comedy involving such able players as JANE FONDA, LILI TOMLIN and DOLLY PARTON in a story about three secretaries who are fed up with their boss--the male chauvinist pig from hell--DABNEY COLEMAN in the film's funniest performance.
Three female company employees wage war against their "sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot" boss in this prototype 80s sisterhood comedy, 9 TO 5 is the late Colin Higgins' second feature film and flexes the muscle of female star power which not only brings down the house, but also sets alight its box office, the runner-up top-grosser of its year, second only to STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.The Fonda-Tomlin-Parton trinity embodies three different types of career women, Fonda's Judy is a housewife grossly jilted by her ex-husband for his secretary, so she is the greenhorn in the workplace, prissy but not without wits and guts, her frilly entrance is remarkably incongruous with the rest, although her clash with the boss Frank (Coleman) is most tangential among the three, her personal victory climaxed when she blurts out to her feckless ex-husband that being dumped by him is the best thing ever happened to her.
Tomlin's Violet is a widow with a brood of four, the assertive senior office supervisor who has plodded for years in the company, yet the promotion she deserves proves to be unattainable because of Frank's sexism, and aggravated by being ordered about like a servant by him, she has every reason to get back at him; Parton's Doralee (her maiden picture, who also pens and belts out the Oscar-nominated title song), a corn-fed, bosomy secretary repulses the derogated stereotype as a boss-hunting schemer, who is indeed happily married and only humors Frank's advancement for the sake of the job, but in the face of Frank blabbering blackmail, she is the one who is not hesitant to pinion him like a steer.Truly, the triad enjoys a real blast together, initiated by a joint-influenced brainstorm about how each envisions a scenario to vent their grievance on Frank - here Higgins makes a good fist of genre conventions, whether it is a black-white mob thriller, a lasso-tossing oater or a Snow White animation with a dark spin, all are given a reality simulacrum later in the plot - and hits the mark during their hilarious blunder with the wrong body, although the resultant kidnapping idea is less wholly engaging for its yawning implausibility, not least when the deus ex machina comes about in the form of Sterling Hayden's chairman of the board, publicly asks equal pay to be eliminated from the reform program, which is actually conceived by the triad and executed by forging Hank's signature.
Nonetheless, 9 TO 5 is as delightful and jolly as one can get in a comedy that has something to say but consciously eschews any trace of indoctrination, all three leading ladies are having a field day, but for my liking Tomlin is the one gets an upper hand for her steely nerve and comedic timing; as the antagonist, a versatile Coleman eloquently exhibits shameless wickedness to the hilt, and lastly, Elizabeth Wilson has her own moment as a brilliant tittle-tattler, who perfectly encapsulates the entire farce with a precisely uttered "Holy merde!" to bring down the curtain in the coda..
When Jane Fonda, fresh from a divorce, enters the workforce and gets a taste of his attitude, the three ladies commiserate and become close friends.For any woman who's been disrespected by her boss, felt the pressures of being the breadwinner in the family, or been unfairly treated at work, this movie will be your new best friend.
Lily Tomlin shines as Violet (not shrinking), the smart but put upon, unappreciated supervisor who shows Judy the ropes, and Dolly Parton (my perennial favorite) is the sweet, well endowed Southern gal, Doralee, who is assumed by many to be sleeping her way to the top.The plot moves along ridiculously from one set of crazy antics to the next, both fantasies and actual revenge tactics.
After their undesirable-in-every-way boss (Dabney Coleman) threatens to have them arrested after a misunderstanding (it's a long story), the three take him hostage and institute progressive policies in the office.Especially a hoot is the mixture of characters: Jane Fonda is the mousy newcomer, Lily Tomlin is the goof-off, and Dolly Parton is the hillbilly.
However as a comedy it falls flat at times, since it heavily relies on just the three main characters, played by Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton and Jane Fonda.The movie begins good and sort of satirical, about the male domination at the office.
All three actresses are perfect in their roles (Dolly Parton's first movie role) and deliver some of the best lines ever."Will you two quit arguing and think of a way we can get our hands on some cement!" Very dated in it's theme (sexual harassment isn't mentioned ONCE; and the fact that everyone though that Doralee was 'screwing the boss'basically because of the way she looked like is never addressed) it still has enough 'timeless truth' to it to relate to modern audiences.Funny, funny, funny."Well it looks just like 'Skinny and Sweet', except for the skull and cross bones on the label.".
This movie is not only still hilarious, with all the jokes still making for side-splitting moments, the commentary on what a quality work environment is, and the need for rights for women in the workplace, is still utterly valid.A film that deserves the term "classic"..
The three female leads; Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton are great as Judy, Violet and Doralee; three distinct characters whose developing friendship feels real.
I heard it took Jane Fonda a year to convince lily tomlin and Dolly Parton to do the movie.
Jane Fonda plays a newly divorced woman who begins working at the company Lily and Dolly have been working at for a good while, with a boss who's speciality is sexual harassing his female employees and cheating to get rich.
My 12 year old son watched for the first time and love it!The three leading ladies and Dabney Coleman's Franklin Hart are the focal points in the film.
9 to 5To ensure that your co-workers don't snitch on you when you kidnap your boss, nab them on a Friday morning so everyone gets a half-day.However, the co-workers in this comedy have avoided detection by taking their boss hostage before he arrives at work.When Judy (Jane Fonda) is hired as a secretary for a sizable company, she is quick to learn that her boss (Dabney Coleman) is a complete creep.Eventually fed up with his misogynistic manner, Judy and her colleagues (Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton) decide to take him hostage in his own home.Meanwhile, in his absence, they begin to implement bold new business ideas that really shake up the company.A ballsy comedy with feisty performances from the female leads, 9 to 5 is still ahead of its time, socially and comically.As for getting rid of a female boss for an extensive period, secretly inseminate her.
Colin Higgens directed and wrote this hit comedy that stars Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton as three office secretaries in a successful firm who must contend with their lecherous and overbearing boss Franklyn Hart(played by Dabney Coleman) who treats them like servants, and wont leave Parton alone(despite being married).
Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda, Dabney Coleman and Lily Tomlin were made to play each of the characters in the film, and the film itself is so funny, it's hard to believe after all these years and times of seeing it, that it can still make me genuinely laugh.Judy (Fonda), has just gotten a job as a secretary at an office in the big city.
Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin were so amazingly funny and I laughed myself to death when I watched this movie.
Jane Fonda plays prim, newly divorced Judy Bernly, Lily Tomlin plays feisty, pot-smoking Violet Newstead, and Dolly Parton plays sexy blonde Doralee Rhodes.
This is Dabney Coleman's greatest role and Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton and Jane Fonda have a field day.
It's quite funny to watch Jane, Lily and Dolly get back at their very stubborn no good male chauvinist boss played by Dabney Coleman.I think the movie shows woman power (female wisdom/intelligence as well) - women are stronger and smarter than what they think in a comical way.
If have ever worked in an office atmosphere,felt undue pressures from your bosses and fantasized about getting revenge,or just want to have some good laughs,Nine to Five is for you.It's just one of those films where all of those people that are entrusted to bring forth a great finished product went above and beyond.It is excellently written,casted,and acted.You would expect seasoned veterans like Dabney Coleman,Lily Tomlin,and Jane Fonda to deliver,which they do,but the biggest surprise was Dolly Parton,in her first film,proving to us that her talents were not limited to her singing.Fortunately,her great singing talents were made part of the mix,and that makes it all the better..
What I liked best was the catchy title song, by Dolly Parton, with its appropriate theme and disco beat.The film has its funny moments like, for example, when Roz, the overbearing admin assistant, hands Violet, the Lily Tomlin character, a memo admonishing Violet about the rules of "office décor".
What a combination of great talent in this cast and that includes Oscar nominees Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton with 2-time Oscar winner Jane Fonda and Dabney Coleman playing their despicable boss.
But if "Nine To Five" has an overt feminist agenda, it is only in the sense of showing feminists really do have a sense of humor.Fonda plays Judy, a newly divorced woman forced into the office, where she soon makes friends with seasoned supervisor Violet Newstead (Lily Tomlin) and cheery secretary Doralee Rhodes (Dolly Parton), their bond formed in the crucible of cubicle misery overseen by the heartless Mr. Hart (Dabney Coleman).
Dabney Coleman is also great in the role of the chauvinist Franklin Hart Jr. The fantasies of the women of how they would like to kill their boss is one of the greatest moment of this film.
Lily Tomlin is the most talented here of our three heroines, with great work from Dolly Parton and Jane Fonda, and of course Dabney Coleman and others.
I have watched this movie a few times and never really thought it was that funny, but it's still fun to watch and good for a few laughs.Its about women that work at a company and their boss is a jerk and they end up giving him a taste of his own medicine, and try to get the respect they deserve.The acting is really good.
Lily Tomlin is the best thing about this movie, she has the funniest lines and made me laugh out loud several times, gotta love her.I could recommend this to anyone that likes 80's comedy.
Here the purge of the women's frustration is outlined in some hilariously over-the-top healthy fantasies--marijuana-driven scenes that have Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, and Jane Fonda dreaming of how they'd rid their lives of an evil, despicable boss, with none of them seriously thinking they would actually get their revenge in such violent (and very, very funny) ways.
Nine to Five (1980): Dir: Colin Higgins / Cast: Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin, Dabney Coleman, Elizabeth Wilson: Observant and hilarious view of women in a working world dominated by males.
Fonda, Tomlin and Parton are hilarious with Dabney Coleman perfectly cast as the chauvinistic boss.
Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton, are an absolute joy to watch as they become increasingly fed up with their "Sexist, Egotistical, Lying, Hypocritical, Bigot," boss, played magnificently by Dabney Coleman.The actors hit all the right notes, which creates this gem of a film that remains appreciated to this day, and not just for its humorous elements.
The physical comedy during these scenes are top notch, including Jane Fonda's Judy character shooting at Hart like a carnival game, Dolly Parton's Doralee character roping Hart like he was cattle, and Lily Tomlin's masterful dark portrayal as a "Snow White" like women, surrounded by animated forest animals, playing the role of poisoning Hart.The world has turned upside down in 9 To 5 by the end of the film.
Jane, Lily, Dolly and Dabney Coleman have fun in this classic comedy and so will you.
Her boss is the "sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot" Franklin Hart (Dabney Coleman) who rules over his section of the building with an iron fist, cheats on his wife and does'nt appreciate the valuable asset that are such women as Violet (Lily Tomlin in a great performance) and Doralee (Dolly Parton).
Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton and Dabney Coleman are simply great together.