9 to 5 1980

 I remember the first time I watched this film in a film appreciation class in probably 1993 when I  was going to community college.  Then I saw it again a few years later when I transferred up state to a university for a Social Work class as a successful example of a corporation in America. 

The idea of the film came from Jane Fonda who portrays Judy Bernly. An old friend of hers started a business in Boston made up of women office workers called '9 to 5' .Fonda did a lot of research for the film once it was green lit. She focused her research on women who had begun to work late in life due to divorce or being widowed. She worked closely with the screenwriter/ director eventually coming to the conclusion that a script needed to be written that shows 'you can run an office without a boss, but you can't run an office without secretaries!' 

My favorite scene in the film came after the hospital visit and focuses mainly on Lily Tomlin's character Violet Newstead. they've just noticed that the body they stole from the hospital wasn't their boss Franklin Hart. They've just come up with a new idea to get rid of the body when a motorcycle cop tries to to pull them over. When the cop pulls them over, they are extremely nervous and Violet is still wearing the white hospital coat. She manages to talk her way out of allowing the cop to look in the trunk by speeding off to the hospital convincing the cop that the Doralee and Judy are poisioned.

 

Some interesting things I found out about this film while writing. The Consolidated offices were located at the corner of West 6th Street and South Flower Street in downtown Los Angeles. However, the opening sequence with Parton's tune 9 to5 was filmed in downtown San Francisco, including the famous Market Street clock. Dolly Parton eventually came up with the beat of the tune by the clicking of her lovely long acrylic nails together on the typewriter as she was working on set. Because the movie had a late December start date, it missed being nominated for most of the awards shows.  However, Dolly cashed in big in 1981 and 1982's Grammy's which won Country Song of the Year and Female Country Vocal of the Year.