9 to 5 (1980): Working Women, Rhinestones and Remembering Dolly Parton

This week on Cozy Quilt Cinema, we are taking a quiet moment to remember Dolly Parton with 9 to 5 (1980), the feminist workplace comedy that gave us one of her most iconic songs and one of her most memorable performances.

Dolly stars alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin as three women pushed to the breaking point by their sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical boss, played to oily perfection by Dabney Coleman. What follows is part workplace revenge fantasy, part sharp feminist satire, and somehow still painfully relevant more than four decades later.

We talk about the sexism and wage inequality at the heart of 9 to 5, the sheer joy of watching three underestimated women discover just how capable they are, and why kidnapping your boss apparently does wonders for office productivity.

But this episode is also about Dolly herself. Her kindness, her humor, her generosity, her allyship, the lives she touched, and the way she seemed to understand that making the world better meant actually doing something about it. We share some of the things she gave back, what she meant to us, and why losing her feels like losing someone who had simply always been there.

So grab your Mama's coverlet, get into the blanket fort, and join us for working women, rhinestones, a little righteous anger, and a whole lot of love as we remember Dolly Parton.

And, of course, we put 9 to 5 through the Stitch Count to see whether this quilt of a movie still holds together.

Mentioned in the episode:

The Play That Goes Wrong