The Movie Emily Spivey Has 'Seen A Million Times'
The weekends on All Things Considered series Movies I've Seen A Million Times features filmmakers, actors, writers and directors talking about the movies that they never get tired of watching.
The movie that comedy writer Emily Spivey, whose credits include the television shows Saturday Night Live, Parks and Recreation and Up All Night — which she wrote and created — could watch a million times is the comedy 9 to 5.
Interview Highlights
On the first time she saw 9 to 5
"I saw it in the theater in 1980, and I'll never forget how packed the theater was and how hard people were laughing. Like, you hear the term, 'rolling in the aisles,' people were literally rolling in the aisles. And at the time I kind of got it but not really, I was like 8, and then as I got older I really got hooked on it. I've been watching this movie my whole life, over and over and over."
On what she loves about the movie
"I love the performances. I adore Dolly Parton. I think she's an amazing comedy actress, I think she's super underrated and she's just a real charmer in this movie."
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Transcript
JACKI LYDEN, HOST:
On this show, we've been asking filmmakers about the movies that they could watch again and again, including this one from a former "Saturday Night Live" staff writer.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
EMILY SPIVEY: Hello, my name is Emily Spivey. I'm a comedy writer. And the movie I've seen a million times is "9 to 5," written and directed by Colin Higgins, starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton and Dabney Coleman.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "9 TO 5")
DOLLY PARTON: (Singing) Workin' 9 to 5, what a way to make a livin'. Barely gettin' by, it's all takin' and no givin'...
SPIVEY: I saw it in the theater in 1980, and I'll never forget how packed the theater was and how hard people were laughing. Like, you hear the term rolling in the aisles - people were literally rolling in the aisles. And at the time, I kind of got it, but not really. I was, like, 8. And then as I got a little older, I really got hooked on it. I've been watching this movie my whole life over and over and over.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "9 TO 5")
PARTON: (Singing) I swear sometimes that man is out to get me...
SPIVEY: I think I would describe it as a workplace comedy where women really triumph.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "9 TO 5")
LILY TOMLIN: (as Violet Newstead) Mel? No, no. That's 210 net 30, delivered in nine days. That's 2 percent of 440,550 is 8,811. Oh, my pleasure, Mel.
SPIVEY: I loved the performances.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "9 TO 5")
TOMLIN: (as Violet Newstead) OK, OK, I'm going to leave. But I'm going to tell you one thing before I go: don't you ever refer to me as your girl again.
DABNEY COLEMAN: (as Franklin M. Hart Jr.) What in God's name are you talking about?
TOMLIN: (as Violet Newstead) I'll tell you what I'm talking about: I'm no girl. I'm a woman. Do you hear me? I'm not your wife or your mother.
SPIVEY: And then I adore Dolly Parton. I think she's an amazing comedy actress. I think she's super underrated. And she's just a real charmer in this movie.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "9 TO 5")
PARTON: (as Doralee Rhodes) Look, I got a gun out there in my purse. And up to now, I've been forgiving and forgetting because of the way I was brought up. But I'll tell you one thing: if you ever say another word about me or make another indecent proposal, I'm going to get that gun of mine, and I'm going to change you from a rooster to a hen with one shot.
SPIVEY: My favorite scene in "9 to 5" is when Dabney Coleman, who plays Franklin Hart, is really coming on to Doralee, who's played by Dolly Parton.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "9 TO 5")
PARTON: (as DoraleeRhodes) Have i got something on my dress?
COLEMAN: (as Franklin M. Hart Jr.) Nothing's wrong. Matter of fact, everything is very, very right.
SPIVEY: She's his secretary. She can't help how voluptuous she is, and he can't help to be his cad self. So he's arranging his pencils and pens on his desk so that when she comes in to, quote, "take a memo," he's going to dump those pens on the floor and look down her dress.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "9 TO 5")
COLEMAN: (as Franklin M. Hart Jr.) Oh, the pencils. Yeah.
PARTON: (as Doralee Rhodes) It's all right. I'll get it.
SPIVEY: Then in the fantasy sequence in the second act, she has Franklin Hart stand up, turn around...
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "9 TO 5")
PARTON: (as Doralee Rhodes) Just hold it right there.
COLEMAN: (as Franklin M. Hart Jr.) Something wrong?
PARTON: No. No. Nothing's wrong. I just want to check your bod. Turn around for a second.
SPIVEY: My favorite thing that Dabney Coleman's ever done is when she asks him what kind of cologne he's wearing.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "9 TO 5")
PARTON: (as Doralee Rhodes) That stuff's turning me on. What's that called?
SPIVEY: And the name of the cologne is "Stud."
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "9 TO 5")
COLEMAN: (as Franklin M. Hart Jr.) Stud.
SPIVEY: I've rewound him saying the word stud so many times, because he seemed so scared and so embarrassed. And it's just really satisfying. Those fantasy sequences are so, on paper, broad and corny, but then when you see them, you're just so buying into it. And it's so funny. And as a woman, it really showed me that women are just as hysterical and funny as men.
(LAUGHTER)
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
LYDEN: That's writer Emily Spivey talking about the movie that she could watch a million times, "9 to 5." Spivey created the NBC TV show "Up All Night" with Maya Rudolph and Christina Applegate.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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