A special locker for the hat

So tonight Caryle, Heidi and I all gathered around the TV for a late evening viewing of one of my top 5 favorite films - 9 to 5. This week on last.fm, we all had 9 to 5 avatars (I was Violet pushing the corpse through the hospital) and we decided that a screening of the film was definitely in order.

I ADORE this movie. I have probably seen it literally a hundred times. I still remember the first time I saw it - January 1, 1982 on HBO. Yes, it was probably a bit adult for me at 10 years old, but I loved it. (No, I didn't get the joke about M&M's until much later.) It probably had a lot to do with the fact that I loved Dolly Parton, even then. And she is so good in this movie. She's Dolly, but yet, she's not. She really does ACT in this movie, even though the role is really a version of herself. And while I don't think she's a great actress, I do think she's great in this movie. Of course, the fact that she's there with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, well, it's just a match made in heaven.

But what is so great about this movie is, as Heidi pointed out while we were watching it, is the writing. It's a very tight little story with a lot of foreshadowing and all the best gags are set up in the first 30 minutes of the movie, even though you don't realize it until later. The last act where Mr. Hart is tied up in his bedroom has always been, for me, the weakest part. Perhaps it's because it comes after the FABULOUS middle act involving the rat poison in the coffee. It looks just like Skinny & Sweet, except for the little skull and crossbones on the label! And don't even think about suggesting to pull over at a restaurant, because Violet just wants to know where they can lay their hands on some cement!

A special blog shout out goes to Jeffrey Douglas Thomas who plays Dolly's husband in the movie, Dwayne Rhodes. You would have thought that he'd be able to parlay that big break into something else, but alas, 9 to 5 was all he ever did.

A classic film. Truly, it is. It's a bit dated, yes, but that is half of it's charm. And for those of you who haven't seen it, well, for shame, but here's the clip with the M&M's joke that I didn't get until MANY years after my initial viewing.