9 to 5 (1980): A Tribute to the Unforgettable Dolly Parton

9 to 5 (1980): A Tribute to the Unforgettable Dolly Parton

A true humanitarian, Dolly Parton was an angel on Earth. Her kind giving and compassion should be taught for the next millennium.

She was a country singer, songwriter, actress, businesswoman, philanthropist, and one of the most instantly recognizable entertainers of the last half-century.

But I think something else explains why people loved her.

Dolly Parton always seemed to understand the joke.

The hair. The clothes. The rhinestones. The image.

She knew exactly what people saw when they looked at her, and she was usually three steps ahead.

And perhaps nowhere was that quality captured better than in her first movie, 9 to 5 (1980).

Today, following Dolly Parton’s passing at the age of 80, I want to do something a little different.

Rather than trying to summarize a career that lasted seven decades, I want to remember Dolly through one movie.

A movie about three women, one terrible boss, a corporate office, a kidnapping, a garage-door opener, and one of the most recognizable movie songs ever written.

This is 9 to 5 (1980).

And this is our small tribute to Dolly Parton.

Body

Hello to all of the classic people who are returning. I am glad you are back. I want to welcome any new visitors and let you know there will be spoilers ahead.

Today on Classic Movie Review, we are remembering Dolly Parton, who passed away on August 25, 2026, at the age of 80.

There are plenty of places that will tell you about her remarkable musical career.

They will talk about Jolene, Coat of Many Colors, I Will Always Love You, Dollywood, the Imagination Library, the awards, and the millions of records.

And they should.

But this is a movie channel.

So I want to talk about Dolly Parton, the movie star.

And that story really begins with 9 to 5 (1980).

Dolly Goes to Hollywood

By 1980, Dolly Parton certainly didn’t need Hollywood to make her famous.

She had already been performing professionally for years and had become one of the biggest names in country music.

But movies were something different.

9 to 5 (1980) would be her feature-film debut.

The movie originated with Jane Fonda, who wanted to make a film about the experiences of women working in American offices. Patricia Resnick developed the story, and Colin Higgins eventually directed and co-wrote the screenplay.

The result was something considerably smarter than its reputation as a lightweight comedy might suggest.

Because underneath all the slapstick, fantasies, marijuana, rat poison, and kidnapping is a movie about people who are tired of being treated as disposable.

And into the middle of all of that walked Dolly Parton.

She plays Doralee Rhodes, secretary to Franklin Hart Jr., played magnificently by Dabney Coleman.

Hart is described in the movie as a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot.

And frankly, that may be one of the more generous descriptions of him.

Doralee has another problem.

Hart has been telling people that he is having an affair with her.

It isn’t true.

But because everyone believes it, the other women in the office resent Doralee without ever asking her what actually happened.

That makes Doralee something Dolly Parton probably understood very well.

A woman being judged entirely by appearances.

Three Women and One Terrible Boss

Doralee eventually joins forces with two other women.

Violet Newstead, played by Lily Tomlin, is intelligent, experienced, and extremely good at her job.

She is also repeatedly passed over for promotion while watching less-qualified men move ahead of her.

Then there is Judy Bernly, played by Jane Fonda, a recently divorced woman entering the workforce and discovering that the modern American office can be every bit as intimidating as anything waiting outside it.

The three women initially seem completely different.

But gradually, they discover one important thing in common.

Franklin Hart.

Each of them has been mistreated by him in a different way.

Violet has been professionally exploited.

Judy is intimidated by the entire system he represents.

And Doralee has been sexually harassed and then had her reputation damaged when she rejected him.

Eventually, the three women get together and fantasize about what they would like to do to Hart.

And this is where 9 to 5 (1980) leaves workplace satire behind and becomes something approaching a live-action cartoon.

Their fantasies are ridiculous, exaggerated, and very funny.

But then fantasy and reality begin to get dangerously close.

Violet accidentally believes she has poisoned Hart.

A trip to the hospital turns into complete chaos.

A body appears to disappear.

And before long, the three women have kidnapped their boss and are holding him prisoner in his own home.

That is certainly one approach to improving employee relations.

Dolly Parton the Actress

What is remarkable about watching 9 to 5 (1980) today is how comfortable Dolly Parton appears.

This was her first movie.

You wouldn’t know it.

She is sharing the screen with Jane Fonda, already a two-time Academy Award winner, and Lily Tomlin, one of the great comic performers of her generation.

Dolly doesn’t disappear between them.

She belongs there.

Film critic Roger Ebert noticed exactly the same thing when the movie was released. He essentially described Dolly as a natural movie star — someone whose personality and energy immediately commanded the screen.

I think that’s right.

There isn’t much distance between Doralee Rhodes and the public personality Dolly Parton spent decades creating.

But that doesn’t make the performance easy.

It makes it dangerous.

Because if you play something that close to yourself badly, everyone can see it.

Instead, Dolly takes the assumptions people already had about her and uses them.

Doralee looks like the woman everyone in the office expects to be sleeping with the boss.

And the joke is on them.

She’s probably one of the most decent people in the building.

That mixture of glamour, humor, intelligence, and toughness became central to Dolly Parton’s appeal.

She could make fun of herself without ever diminishing herself.

There is a big difference between the two.

The Song

And then there is the song.

It is difficult to separate 9 to 5 (1980), the movie, from “9 to 5,” the song.

Dolly Parton wrote it while working on the film.

One of the great stories surrounding its creation is that Dolly discovered she could click her acrylic fingernails together and produce something resembling the sound of a typewriter.

That became part of the song’s rhythm.

Think about that for a moment.

Most of us would hear fingernails clicking together.

Dolly Parton heard the beginning of a hit record.

The song reached number one and earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song as well as two Grammy Awards.

But more importantly, it escaped from the movie.

It became an anthem for working people.

You don’t need to have worked in the Consolidated Companies office with Violet, Judy, and Doralee to understand what Dolly was singing about.

Working hard.

Getting very little recognition.

Watching someone above you take the credit.

And wondering whether you’ll ever get ahead.

Dolly wrapped all of that frustration inside a song so catchy that people have been singing along with it for more than forty years.

That’s a pretty remarkable trick.

Why 9 to 5 Still Works

The movie itself became a massive success, earning more than $100 million at the box office.

But box-office numbers don’t explain why people are still watching it.

I think 9 to 5 (1980) survives because the basic frustrations in the movie haven’t disappeared.

Bad bosses haven’t disappeared.

Office politics haven’t disappeared.

People taking credit for somebody else’s work certainly haven’t disappeared.

And unfortunately, workplace harassment hasn’t disappeared either.

But the movie doesn’t lecture us.

It gives us revenge.

Very funny revenge.

Once Hart is imprisoned, Violet, Judy, and Doralee essentially begin running the company themselves.

And something strange happens.

It gets better.

They introduce flexible working hours.

They create a job-sharing program.

They establish a daycare center.

They make the workplace more humane.

Productivity improves.

In other words, after spending most of the movie being told they aren’t capable of running things, the women finally get the opportunity.

And they run things better.

The joke practically writes itself.

More Than a Movie Star

Dolly Parton would make other memorable movies.

She starred opposite Burt Reynolds in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982).

She appeared with Sylvester Stallone in Rhinestone (1984).

And she became part of that extraordinary ensemble in Steel Magnolias (1989).

But 9 to 5 (1980) will always be special.

Because this is the moment movie audiences discovered something music audiences already knew.

You underestimate Dolly Parton at your own risk.

And that idea extended far beyond entertainment.

She turned her success into businesses that employed people in the region where she grew up.

Her Imagination Library put books in children’s hands.

She supported communities after disasters.

And through all of it, she maintained that carefully constructed Dolly Parton image.

The wigs got bigger.

The rhinestones got brighter.

And the jokes kept coming.

But behind the image was an extraordinarily shrewd woman who understood exactly what she was doing.

Maybe that’s why Doralee Rhodes fits her so perfectly.

Everyone thinks they understand Doralee the moment they look at her.

They’re wrong.

Conclusion

The death of someone like Dolly Parton feels strange because she seemed as though she had always been there.

For generations, she practically had.

Her songs were on the radio.

Her movies were on television.

Her face was instantly recognizable.

And somehow, despite being one of the most famous people in America, she retained a connection with ordinary people.

Maybe 9 to 5 (1980) helps explain why.

Dolly never seems to be looking down at the people punching the clock.

She’s standing beside them.

She understood ambition.

She understood struggling for money.

She understood being underestimated.

And she certainly understood hard work.

So if you’re looking for a way to remember Dolly Parton, you could put on one of the records.

You could listen to Jolene.

You could listen to Coat of Many Colors.

You could listen to I Will Always Love You.

But tonight, I think I’ll watch 9 to 5 (1980).

And there is one final reason I think the movie belongs on this channel.

One Last Film Noir Connection

Classic Movie Review always seems to find its way back to Film Noir.

Even when we’re talking about Dolly Parton.

Near the end of 9 to 5 (1980), the chairman of Consolidated Companies arrives to investigate what has been happening.

Sterling Hayden plays Russell Tinsworthy.

Yes.

That Sterling Hayden.

The man who played Dix Handley in The Asphalt Jungle (1950).

Johnny Clay in The Killing (1956).

One of the great faces of Film Noir.

After everything Violet, Judy, and Doralee have endured, Hayden’s Tinsworthy looks at the office’s improved productivity and decides he likes what he sees.

Hart expects to take the credit.

Instead, Tinsworthy sends him off to Brazil.

And Doralee, Violet, and Judy finally win.

So somehow Dolly Parton’s first movie ends with one of the great Film Noir actors helping deliver the final blow to the villain.

I can’t think of a better connection for us.

Sterling Hayden spent the 1950s walking through some of the darkest corners of American cinema.

And thirty years later, there he was in 9 to 5 (1980), sharing the screen with a woman making her very first movie.

Her name was Dolly Parton.

She didn’t look like anybody else.

She didn’t sound like anybody else.

And as it turned out, there wasn’t anybody else quite like her.

Rest in peace, Dolly.

And thanks for all those cups of ambition.

Thanks for Watching

Thank you for watching Classic Movie Review.

If you enjoyed this tribute, please leave your favorite Dolly Parton movie, performance, or song in the comments. I would really like to hear what she meant to you.

And if you haven’t seen 9 to 5 (1980) in a while, this might be a good time to watch it again.

Beware the Moors.