9 to 5 (Colin Higgins, 1980) | Dolly Parton Tribute

Friday, September 25, 2026 7:00pm

Location: Rubenstein Arts Center Film Theater

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Special screening in memory of
the incomparable Dolly Parton
(January 19, 1946 – August 25, 2026)

9 to 5
(Colin Higgins, 1980, 109 min, USA, DCP)

"Ranked by AFI among the art form’s greatest comedies – and with a theme song that was included as one of the greatest movie songs of all time – NINE TO FIVE (1980) marked the feature film debut of singer Dolly Parton, and also stars AFI Life Achievement Award honoree Jane Fonda and AFI Honorary Degree recipient Lily Tomlin." -- American Film Institute

"Workplace frustration becomes revolutionary farce in Colin Higgins’s 9 to 5, a sharply observed comedy that turns the indignities of office life into a gleeful fantasy of feminist revenge. Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton star as three employees united by their contempt for Franklin Hart Jr. (Dabney Coleman), their “sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot” of a boss, whose harassment and exploitation inspire increasingly elaborate fantasies of retribution. When circumstances unexpectedly give the women an opportunity to take control of the workplace themselves, they set about creating the humane, equitable office their management never imagined. Higgins balances broad comedy and wish fulfillment with pointed observations about sexism, unequal pay, childcare, and the everyday structures of workplace power, while the effortless chemistry among Fonda, Tomlin, and Parton gives the satire its infectious energy. Featuring Parton’s irresistible title song and an effervescent screen debut from the country superstar, 9 to 5 turns the daily grind into an enduringly funny call for solidarity, dignity, and a better way to work." -- The Colonial Theatre

"[W]hen Jane Fonda was developing the fantastic 1980 workplace comedy 9 to 5 ... [she] was inspired by the 9to5 National Association of Working Women, a grassroots labor movement founded in Boston in 1973 by female office workers fighting workplace discrimination, low pay, and the near impossibility of advancement. ... [Fonda] was friends with a member of the 9to5 movement, a labor organizer named Karen Nussbaum, a Boston clerical worker, and [she] set out to make a serious drama about the conditions 9to5 was fighting against. As Fonda shaped her film project, she landed the excellent director Colin Higgins, known for movies that are a little less serious but no less striking; he directed the cult classic Harold and Maude and the Goldie Hawn/Chevy Chase comedy Foul Play. So Higgins, along with co-writer Patricia Resnick, reshaped 9 to 5 into something different: a workplace satire rather than a straight social-issue drama." -- Bryan Abrams, The Credits