80sfilms

In 1980, eight years before Working Girl made executive assistants everywhere realize that they should be running the companies they work for, a trio of smart, funny, powerful characters emerged in Nine to Five.

While the film is most assuredly a comedy, a dark one, at that, it also dealt with some major feminist issues. Sexual harassment hadn’t yet hit the headlines like it would a decade (or more) later with Anita Hill v. Clarence Thomas, or Senator Bob Packwood, or even President Bill Clinton.

Back in 1980, this was just a great flick starring three very funny women (Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda), who gang up on their sexist pig of a boss and in the process, as actors, do what they do best–support their fellow co-stars with pitch perfect comedic timing.

Nine to Five is a refreshing role-reversal revenge fantasy film (in a time when Caddyshack and The Blue Lagoon were playing more to men’s fantasies).

While the fashions and lines in Nine to Fiveare dated,  it’s still a film that fans of female comedians (think Tina Fey, Amy Sedaris and Amy Poehler), as well as any women who are tired of being called “honey” by their bosses whilst they fetch a cup of coffee, should see. 

I was only nine years old when this film came out, but even at that age I recognized the underlying empowerment the film offered–I even remember acting out scenes from the movie with the aid of my Barbie Dolls (a contrast, to be sure, but at that age I didn’t understand what Barbie was doing to women’s psyches!).

Ironically, by the time I found my way into office culture, my biggest problems stemmed from jealous, spiteful female bosses, which is a different kind of sexism altogether.

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