FILM (1980)

9 to 5
Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, Dabney Coleman
Director: Colin Higgins

Despite being the product of an era in which the term 'women's lib' was still thrown about with derision, the comedy 9 to 5 passes the Bechdel Test, as the film features scenes with two female characters talking to each other about topics other than men.

In this case, there's a lot of talk about work. The story, which is at its core an office revenge fantasy, is witty, madcap and zany. It also addresses sexism and sexual harassment in the workplace in a comic manner, catching flies with honey rather than vinegar.

In an early scene, Judy (Jane Fonda) and Violet (Lily Tomlin) enter a drab office filled with rows of desks. Workers clack away at typewriters and answer phones. There is nothing welcoming about it; the boss has ruled that workspaces be free of personal items such as family photos and coffee mugs.

It's Judy's first day of work: she's recently divorced - her husband left her for his secretary - and this is her first job. Violet, a widow with four children, has been with the company for 12 years and waiting for a promotion she deserves. 'I've never seen anyone leapfrog so fast to the top in my life - and I have the bad back to prove it,' Violet says of her boss, Franklin Hart (Dabney Coleman). 'I remember when he was just a management trainee. In fact, I was the one who trained him.'

There's a glass ceiling for women in this office and no one has been able to break through it.