9 To 5

Released by: Twilight Time Releasing
Released on: September 13th, 2016.
Director: Colin Higgins
Cast: Dabney Coleman, Lily Tomlin, Elizabeth Wilson, Jane Fonda, Sterling Hayden, Dolly Parton
Year: 1980
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The Movie:

Franklin M. Hart Jr. (Dabney Coleman) is a businessman, but so too is he, for lack of a better word, a complete asshole. He's a sexist. His ego is the size of the moon. He lies to get his way. He manipulates people. He talks down to his employees. He treats his female staff members as objects, talking to them as if they were beneath him. It's no wonder that nobody likes him, particularly his chief assistant, Violet Newstead (Lily Tomlin).

When she finally has enough of his nonsense, she pairs up with coworkers - his secretary Doralee Rhodes (Dolly Parton) and new recruit Judy Bernly (Jane Fonda) - to give him a taste of his own medicine. Of course, what at first seems harmless soon takes a few odd turns when there is, shall we say, an accident. Once this happens, they find they've gone from teaching Hart a lesson to felony kidnapping. They keep him under lock and key in his own home and then take over the business for themselves. Under their control, those above Hart in the chain of command appreciate the uptick in results - but they can't keep the guy locked away forever… can they?

This is a fun, breezy comedy with a good social message at its core. Obviously the movie deals with the way that women are treated in the American work place - it never tries to hide that, nor does it need to in order to be effective. We've made progress in this regard since the movie was made and on that level things are a bit dated, but sadly only a bit as we've clearly got a long way to go. Regardless, the movie never gets too heavy handed with its politics, it's really more concerned with entertaining the viewers. 9 To 5 succeeds at that. Not every joke is a winner, there are some that fall flat, and the entire premise behind all of this is pretty ludicrous, but the three leading ladies have great screen chemistry together. That goes a long way towards making this movie as much fun as it is.

Fonda plays Bernly well. She's classy, smart and maybe a little naí¯ve, like a new employee would be. Tomlin is a lot of fun as Newstead, the harbinger of the chaos that ensues when she reaches her breaking point. It's Dolly Parton, however, in her feature film debut that really impresses in this picture. Her character is suspected by a few of the other ladies in the office of having an affair with her boss. This puts her in a bit of a predicament here and there, but she handles it well. She's got an incredibly likeable quality to her in this film that impresses, given that she hadn't really done any feature film acting before. Seeing the three ladies do their thing in this picture is really just a good time at the movies. Throw in Dabney Coleman as a real rat bastard of a boss and you've got a pretty solid cast.

So yeah, by the half way point 9 To 5 throws plausibility out the window but most viewers won't care. This isn't as deep or as heavy as it could have been, but we're talking about a mainstream eighties comedy here. Grab a bowl of popcorn and dig in - 9 To 5 is, very simply, a good time at the movies.

Video/Audio/Extras:

9 To 5 arrives on Blu-ray from Twilight Time framed at 1.85.1 widescreen in an AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer that looks very nice. The film is quite colorful and that comes across nicely here, while the picture remains sharp and nicely detailed while avoiding obvious edge enhancement. The image is clean, there's virtually no print damage here at all, while skin tones and black levels look nice. A natural amount of film grain is present and there are no noticeable problems with overzealous edge enhancement or compression artifacts. This is an impressive picture.

Audio options are offered up in English language DTS-HD 2.0 Stereo and Mono tracks. Optional subtitles are provided in English only. Both tracks sound quite nice and offer properly balanced levels and clear dialogue. The stereo track gets the edge over its mono counterpart for spreading things out a bit here and there, mostly folly effects and the film's score, but both tracks are problem free and of very nice quality.

The main extra on the disc is a commentary with actresses Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton, and Producer Bruce Gilbert that was previously recorded for the old DVD release. It's a fun track, at least it starts off that way, with the ladies talking quite amiably about their work together on the picture and sharing some fun stories from the shoot. About two thirds of the way in, things start to slow down but the first hour or so is good. New to this disc is an exclusive commentary with Screenwriter Patricia Resnick moderated by film Historians Julie Kirgo and Nick Redman. This track is considerably more focused as the moderators get Resnick talking quite intently about what went into coming up with the story, how she decided to write specific characters, her thoughts on the performances, and quite a bit more.

The rest of the extras on the disc are carried over from the special edition DVD, starting with the featurettes. Nine @ 25: Revisiting A Comedy Classic is a twenty-five minute long piece that includes input from producer Bruce Gilbert, writer Patricia Resnick, and actors Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton, Dabney Coleman and Elizabeth Wilson. Each of the interviewees looks back on the film pretty fondly and they offer up their thoughts and memories on making the picture. Fun stuff. Remembering Colin Higgins is a nice five minute piece wherein the film's three leading ladies and Bruce Gilbert share some memories of the film's late director. In the Dolly Parton And Lily Tomlin Interviews featurette we get (separately recorded) interviews with the two stars for twenty-one minutes. Some of the same ground is covered here as is covered in the commentary but these are fun to watch.

Also on hand are over twenty-two minutes of deleted scenes. There are ten scenes in total here and while it was probably the right move taking them out of the picture, it's interesting to see them and fans will appreciate their inclusion.

The disc also includes Charles Fox's isolated score as a separate DTS-HD 2.0 track, an option to sing karaoke to the film's opening theme song, the film's original theatrical trailer, an animation reel, a quick gag reel, menus and chapter selection. Inside the clear Blu-ray case is an insert booklet containing liner notes from essayist Julie Kirgo.

The Final Word:

9 To 5 might be a product of its time but its message still rings true in a lot of ways. More importantly than that, however, it's still a very funny film. The cast are all in fine form here, the jokes are clever and move at a good pace and the characters are nicely defined. Twilight Time have carried over all of the extras from the old special edition DVD, thrown in a new commentary and given the picture an impressive high definition facelift. A very solid release for a really enjoyable movie!

Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!