9 to 5

Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda.

I had forgotten what a great comedienne Dolly Parton was – and how much I love Lily Tomlin.

The year we had cable when we were kids, my sister and I watched a few movies compulsively. Poltergeist was one of them. And another one was 9 to 5.

Before Dilbert, before I had actually worked for a large corporation, I only knew of the world of work in abstract – from movies like this. I knew working for The Man sucked but didn’t realize how soul-deadening the corporate track can be. And I can’t believe people actually used to smoke in the office just 20 years ago.

I truly love Dolly Parton. She is a national treasure – along with Ms. Tomlin – another pioneer in comedy. I’ve never really liked Jane Fonda. Whenever I hear Whitney strain her cocaine-burned vocal cords to whore out ‘I Will Always You’ for the thousandth time, I remember hearing Dolly’s version for the first time and loving how simple and humble and epic the song was. And I remember seeing Tomlin on Sesame Street, The Muppets and on PBS on a show about The Search For Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe.

The movie was fun to watch because I remembered images from it – but had forgotten most of the plot. And the Lily Tomlin as Snow White sequence held up well. Ron, of course, loved it because it featured sassy women.


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4 responses to “9 to 5”

  1. Jef Avatar

    I love Nine To Five as well. It’s one of my favorite movies. In fact, I asked for a copy on DVD for Christmas. It was the right cast with the right script at the right time. I saw it at the drive-in with my grandmother in Sweetwater, Texas and when Dolly Parton pulled the gun on Mr. Hart, my grandmother turned to me and said, “Don’t you know his butthole just puckered up and disappeared.” I had to laugh.

  2. Jef Avatar

    By the way, Jane Fonda’s daughter lives down the street from me near the park. At one time, Jane was living with her when I first moved into the neighborhood. I always imagined what I would say if I casually ran into her while jogging and finally decided I would ask her why she didn’t get back together with Lily and Dolly and make Nine To Five II. “After all, it’s not like y’all are really doing anything these days.”

  3. bw Avatar
    bw

    All I can remember from that movie is the Boss (Dabney Coleman) trying to escape and being pulled up into the air by a garage door opener attached to the S&M gear he is forced to wear.

  4. Andy Avatar
    Andy

    Or as Jane’s malaprop goes: ‘I’m not into M & M’s!’

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