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9 to 5

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A Techtite Review

A PG film, starring Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda, and Lily Tomlin

The Film : This office comedy has "fantasy" written all over it, though that is half the reason for its appeal. I mean, where else can you see a film where three secretaries get away with tying up and kidnapping their boss, taking over the office in his absence, and in the end, getting nothing less than promotions and better job opportunities because of it? Add to all this a "neener, neener, I can do your job better" message to the story, where they even improve the workplace, more than their boss ever could! To anyone asking if I liked of disliked this picture, well, let me admit this much; I liked Working Girl much better. For whatever reason, 9 to 5 just seems like the bigger, more fanciful fairy tale. However, again, that's half its charm.

The story begins with Judy Bernly (Jane Fonda) entering the wonderful world of the office secretarial pool, in a typical 1980's office complex. This is the pre-computer, pre-yuppie age of business, when rows upon rows of office desks, sans "barriers" between them, would incessantly lead to the constant sound of loud typewriters ticking away (much louder than 1p00 people on computer keyboards, if you were wondering). Judy doesn't enter this workplace easily, and has an even harder time adjusting than she would, thanks to her rude, obnoxious boss, Mr. Hart (Dabney Coleman).

She soon finds kindred spirits, in two other office assistants: Violet Newstead (Lily Tomlin), and Doralee Rhodes (Dolly Parton). Violet is a long-suffering favored assistant to Mr. Hart, who does most of his work for him, yet he gets all the credit. Doralee is the equally long-suffering married secretary, who Mr. Hart is always crudely hitting on for a date, or worse. Doralee even has to deal with idle office gossip that she's his mistress, or so Mr. Hart brags to everyone. They eventually share their gripes together over drinks, and become immediate friends.

This is where the film starts its fantasy twist. You see, the ladies get "high" on drugs that same night (you knew it had to happen sooner or later, in a 1980 film), and fantasize about the best way they'd get back at Mr. Hart. This leads to some of the more humorous moments of the film, particularly Violet, who sees herself as Snow White (complete with cartoon animals surrounding her!), who does away with the evil Mr. Hart, frees the worker slaves from his "dungeon," and ends up living happily ever after. As dream sequences, such fanciful fantasies are a real hoot.

The fantasy trickles into "reality," however, when Violet accidentally mistakes rat-bait poison for Sweet & Low in Mr. Hart's daily coffee. She didn't really poison him --he never drank the coffee-- though this turns out to be the least of their worries. The real Mr. Hart discovers Violet's potential rat-poison mistake, and sees it as the best opportunity to blackmail the ladies into giving him everything he wants...particularly Doralee! This leads to the two other ladies living out their own fantasies, with Doralee tying him up like a rodeo cowgirl, while Judy gets to shoot at him to make sure he doesn't escape (don't worry; she misses). They eventually decide to kidnap him while they try to expose his thefts of office inventory from the company. That way, their almost-homicide, kidnapping, and reckless endangerment can all be excused, right? Uh, yeah...right.

The fantasy continues, when nobody really notices Mr. Hart is gone. Since his assistants handled most of his office communications, they can relay messages "from" Mr. Hart with nobody knowing the difference. Quickly they learn that, with Hart gone, they can even change an office memo or two! They wind up changing several office policies (including such "novel" concepts as flowers on desks and people able to choose their own working hours), leading to a more productive workplace. While some of this film's messages are indeed deserved --"A happy employee is a productive employee"-- some of the concepts here are a bit too fanciful to believe. How could someone working 9-to-5 ever get work done, when some of their most important co-workers work from 8-to-4, and others 10-to-6? though again, such fantasy is half the film's charm.

Admittedly, this office-comedy fantasy is not as good as Working Girl was in 1988. I also must protest how yet another 1980's film promotes marijuana as the end-all way to productive, happier lives. Regardless, the film is still a classic, cult hit all its own, given the comedic timing of Tomlin, Fonda, and Parton. Their performances even led to a TV series based on the film (with different actresses in the roles), and although that series' memory has long passed, anyone who sees 9 to 5 will have a hard time forgetting it.

The DVD :  How cool would it be, to hear an audio commentary track with Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda, and Lily Tomlin? Well, forget it: either the DVD's creators, or the actresses themselves, just couldn't find the time to offer one. In fact, bonus materials on this DVD are the scarcest I've seen in years. One of many amusing additions could've been the pilot episode to the TV series based on the film, which starred Dolly's own sister, Rachel Dennison, in the role of Doralee! Nice idea...too bad they didn't think of it.

	Final Rating : Large Crater. It's a classic in the history of office comedies, yet not classic enough to give a "Deep Impact" rating, IMO. Still, it's more than worth the purchase.
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