9 to 5 (1980)

Office-based comedy about sexism in the workplace. Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton are fairly entertaining in the main roles, playing against their “sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot” boss (Dabney Coleman).

It’s badly let down by a terrible series of fantasy sequences in which each of the women plots their oppressor’s demise. These scenarios aren’t funny and are actually a little creepy. They spoil the momentum and take you out of the story. The film recovers when the real plot begins, but only just: it still fails to ring true. If these were three ordinary, decent people (as the plot tries to suggest), they would never kidnap someone and keep them chained up as a prisoner for weeks.

9 to 5 makes some good points about gender inequality, but Working Girl (1988), which owes something of a debt to this film, did it so much better.

I was fairly disappointed, having expected a classic. Dolly Parton’s theme song is, by some distance, the best thing about the film.

Steel Magnolias (1989)

Moving comedy-drama adapted from Robert Harling’s play. Indeed, it works very much as a theatrical piece with long, set scenes and acts. The story concerns six women in a small Louisiana town and examines how their lives interact. At the heart of it is a mother–daughter relationship. There are laughs and tears aplenty. Dolly Parton is a natural as the local beautician. Daryl Hannah proves she really can act as the timid newcomer who gets religion. Julia Roberts is the just-married daughter battling severe diabetes and Sally Field is her endlessly worried mother. Shirley MacLaine and Olympia Dukakis are also just right for their parts as older members of the community. The male characters (including Sam Shepard as Dolly Parton’s distant husband) are deliberately played down, allowing the film to keep its focus on the six women. Things are slow to get going and I didn’t think I was enjoying it, but matters improve when the narrative kicks in and ultimately works round to an emotional and satisfying conclusion.