#Patricia Resnick

[80smovies]

[warningsine]

[doyouknowthismusical]

[adamwatchesmovies]

9 to 5 (1980)

Before I hit play and began watching 9 to 5, I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting into. I’d heard the Dolly Parton song of the same name, knew roughly what the story was about and was aware of the film's cult following. I certainly didn't expect to feel cold towards it. This comedy has its moments for sure. I just kept thinking that the film could’ve - should’ve - gone in and been tougher or darker or made its point more aggressively. Instead, it's being content with merely dipping its toe into the ideas it brings up.

While bonding over their mutual hatred of their sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot of a boss, former housewife Judy Bernly (Jane Fonda), mother of four Violet Newstead (Lily Tomlin) and secretary Doralee Rhodes (Dolly Parton) fantasize about what it would be like to teach Frank Hart (Dabney Coleman) a lesson. When a misunderstanding leads Violet to believe she’s poisoned him, they scramble to find a way to cover up their “crime”.

As a film debut, Dolly Parton couldn’t have asked for much more. She proves herself a natural comedienne, easily keeping up with her co-stars. She’s charming through and through. She also gets to show off her skills as a singer - there's a reason that titular song is still playing on the radio. The film's best scenes have Frank manufacturing scenarios so that he can peer down Doralee's blouse. It makes you hate him even more than you already do and endears you to Doralee even more than before.

It’d be one thing if Frank was good at what he did but everyone can see right through the big idiot (well, maybe except his secretary). The point when Judy, Violet and Doralee fantasize about what they’d like to do to him should fill you with all sorts of dark laughs - should. Whether or not the trio manages to get Hart to change his ways (or get him killed, either one will be satisfying), it won’t change the fact that all of the other Frank Harts are still out there. They're still harassing their female co-workers, rounding up toadies to ensure they are never punished for doing so, handing out promotions to unqualified men rather than the hard-working women who have been around them for years, etc. Frank is not a character; he's an idea. You want an impossibly ridiculous vengeance to rain down upon him; you want your fantasy to come true but the picture just doesn't go that way. To be fair 9 to 5 does abandon all pretense of realism but it eventually turns into a light-as-air comedy, which just doesn’t feel right.

9 to 5 gets very silly, which makes it inoffensive and easily digestible to just about anyone - except maybe dedicated misogynists and Ronald Reagan, who strongly disapproved of a scene in which the girls smoke marijuana. I can't say whether the decision to be light and breezy was right for 1980. Today? It disappoints. 9 to 5 left me wanting a lot more. I expected a laugh-out-loud comedy that also hit as hard as a sledgehammer between the legs; I wanted to see a provocative, memorable comedy. That's not what you get. Still, I would give it another go to see if lowered expectations might change how I feel. (On DVD, October 9, 2021)

[the-blue-fairie]

There was virtually no script for the film, so she was tasked with writing her own dialogue. It's estimated that she personally came up with about 80% of it.

Interview footage with Shelley Duvall: "Yes, I did, I did a lot of writing myself. Um- Bob allows you that freedom and like, for instance, one day at lunch, he said, 'Okay Duvall, you can't have lunch today,' and I said, 'Ah!' and he said, 'You have to write the scene for this afternoon,' so I went and I got my lunch and I sat in a room by myself and I wrote the scene."

She also costumed Millie and decorated Millie's apartment, shaping that gaudy yellow motif that defines her. In other words, the Millie we see was not simply born from the mind of Robert Altman, but sculpted very much in collaboration with Duvall to an even greater extent than her previous characters. The scale of her involvement, to me, certainly calls into question the way we attribute works to so-called auteurs of cinema. - Be Kind Rewind, Shelley Duvall: The "Unconventional" Muse

Patricia Resnick 🤝Shelley Duvall - (doing extensive work on 3 Women and Robert Altman getting the "writer/producer/director" credit)

@ariel-seagull-wings @themousefromfantasyland @thealmightyemprex

[theoscarsproject]

9 to 5 (1980). Three female employees of a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot find a way to turn the tables on him.

God, this movie is just wonderful. There's such a bounce to it in humour, in character, in plot, which carries it through even the more absurd plot points. It captures the way women are pitted against each other professionally and ground down by the heel of both the patriarchy and capitalism, while finding hope and joy in community and solidarity too. Magic stuff! 8.5/10.

[musicalsorwhatever]

“One of the Boys” is the thirteenth song and the act II opener in the 2009 Broadway musical 9 to 5. With music and lyrics by Dolly Parton, the book by Patricia Resnick is based on the 1980 film of the same name. The show was nominated for four Tony Awards, as well as the Grammy for Best Musical Show Album. This song is lead by Allison Janney, who was nominated for a Drama League Award and a Tony Award, and who won a Drama Desk Award for her performance as Violet.

[susantyrrell]

“Susan Tyrrell and Lover on Pat Resnick’s Rooftop”, circa 1980-1981.

Photo by Eugene Pinkowski.

[whitewaterpaper]

Ärligt Talat / Straight Talk (1992) [US]

Ännu en film som ses ihop med @kulturdasset.

¡Oi! Spoilers, stavfel och alternativa fakta kan förekomma rakt föröver!

Den här komedin signerad Barnet Kellman är lite av en feelgoodfilm, med en underdog som tar det stora steget och flyttar från hembyn till storstaden och sedan hamnar på det ena bananskalet efter det andra och gör succé som radiopsykolog. Samma typ av feelgoodfilm som kanske ofta hamnar försvinner under radarn, Barnet Kellman har tydligen mest regisserat tv och kanske är det därför tonen i den här filmen känns lite anonym? Som om den är meningen att vara en del av en större helhet. Den här filmen skryter med Dolly Parton och James Woods på postern och Teri Hatcher i en rätt tidig roll. Trots sin paketering av en dussinfilm där Dolly Parton är filmens stora färgklick är det här en rätt trevlig och underhållande film. Visst är filmen lite tillrättalagd där skurkrollerna (Shirlees chef och journalisten Jack) liksom slätats ut en aning, men det är den typen av story där alla förlåter alla på slutet. Och som Shirlee själv anmärker så vill hennes lyssnare kanske främst prata av sig med någon, inte ha hela sitt liv fram till "nu" analyserat. Brad Fiedel står för filmmusiken som givetvis ramas in av ett gäng låtar av/med Dolly själv. Summan är iaf att den här filmen är lite bättre än vad dess 5,7p på imdb antyder.

[80smovies]

[warningsine]

[a-year-of-musicals]

Day 193/365 - 9 to 5: The Musical

By Dolly Parton and Patricia Resnick

As the clocks ring and the workers wake up, Violet, Doralee, and Judy prepare for work (9 to 5). The workers begin another mundane and hellish day at work under Franklin Hart, Jr., president of Consolidated Industries. Judy and Violet meet for the first time and Judy reveals she does not have any work experience, but Violet states she will be proud to train her and gives her a few tips and pointers for surviving office life (Around Here). Franklin Hart, Jr., is a domineering and equally lecherous man, who lusts after his secretary, Doralee, and has no shame in making those feelings known, which discomfits Doralee (Here for You). Judy is having major issues on her first day, such as being unable to work a Xerox machine, and feels there is something more inhibiting her. All three women, in separate settings, share mutual feelings, but all feel they can overcome it and make it all work out in the end (I Just Might). A new day rises upon the begrudged workers of Consolidated and life resumes as normal. Around the lunch hour, Doralee and Judy speak for the first time as Doralee asks Judy to go to lunch with her, but Judy subtly refuses and Doralee doesn't know why. She then reflects on her whole life, about just being a pretty face and nothing much more (Backwoods Barbie). Violet is passed over for yet another promotion, which angers her since it is somebody that she personally trained. After a heated confrontation in Hart's office, Doralee finds out about Hart's rumor about their supposed 'affair', which infuriates her to the point of threatening him. All three of the women, who are now seemingly united in their contempt for Hart, go back to Violet's house and light up a joint. Suddenly, each woman lapses into a murderous fantasy involving Mr. Hart; Judy as an unforgiving femme fatale (The Dance O' Death), Doralee as a crack rodeo star (Cowgirl's Revenge), and Violet as a deranged Snow White (Potion Notion). All of these sadistic fantasies soon culminate into a celebration of Hart's death, which is quickly nixed after Hart is discovered alive (Joy to the Girls).

The next day at the office, Violet unwittingly acts out her fantasy and believes she put rat poison into Hart's coffee. They all go to the hospital in panic, but learn he was never there. Roz overheard the ladies in the bathroom and tells Hart, who concocts a plan to scare them by pretending he was actually poisoned and to threaten them with the police. After Hart leaves, Roz sings a song confessing her obsessive love and fantasies for him (Heart to Hart). Hart confronts Doralee with the information and Doralee, acting on a fight or flight instinct, rips the phones out and ties up Hart with the wires, which he seems to get a quasi-sexual pleasure from. The women are seemingly puzzled as to what to do with Hart, but Judy and Violet create a plan in which they will imprison Hart in his own house. As they are carrying out their plan, they sing to Hart their issues with him and the problems in their own lives, but will begin to make the changes in their lives and have confidence to succeed (Shine Like the Sun). The women, empowered, have restrained Hart to a mechanical harness above his bed.

After the Entr’acte, in Hart's office the three women are pondering on how they can keep the office in the dark about Hart's disappearance, when Doralee's skill of being able to forge Hart's signature comes into play. Judy and Doralee both point out to Violet that she is, in a sense, the new Operating Officer of the company. Violet then lapses in a fantasy and sings a song about she is now a hard-hitter like the rest of the male employees who seem to rank above the women (One of the Boys). Roz begins to get nosy and wonders where Hart actually is, which creates a new obstacle for the ladies to rid. Judy formulates the idea to send Roz to a one-month language seminar to learn French, which isn't necessary and is only a way to get rid of her. Roz receives the memo from Violet and is heartbroken, because she believes that Hart doesn't like her, and that the time she isn't at work is lonely and boring (5 to 9). As Hart is still strung up in his bedroom, he passes time by watching countless hours of soap operas. Doralee enters to give him a meal and Hart lashes out at her saying that he still has the control and will use it when he is free. Doralee brushes him off and leaves the room. Hart begins to recount how most of the men in history had "downfalls" by women and that he is no different, which angers him (Always a Woman).

Back at the office, the new changes the women have made under Hart's name have seemed to ease the workers' lives and changed their outlook on work (Change It). Joe, who has shown admiration toward Violet through the show, asking her out many times, confronts her and asks why she rebuffs him. She claims she was a "one-man woman" and that her husband's death three years before has prevented her from dating again. Joe tells her that it is time to move on and possibly give someone new a chance (Let Love Grow). Violet accepts, as they walk out of the scene holding hands. Later on that evening, Judy's ex-husband, Dick, shows up at Hart's house and asks her to take him back since his secretary girlfriend dumped him. She rebuffs him and states she is a changed woman who will not crawl back to someone who broke her heart, showing strength as she orders him to leave (Get Out and Stay Out).

The next day, Hart storms into the office with Judy hostage, which shocks the women, who have collected evidence about Hart's "creative accounting" and embezzling practices to use against him. The women, seemingly defeated, prepare to submit to Hart's wishes when they learn that the CEO of Consolidated, Mr. Tinsworthy, is paying a visit. The women and Hart meet Tinsworthy, who, after noting the changes in office life, gives the credit to Hart. Violet and the others step up and say they made the changes, but are shot down. However, in a comedic twist, Tinsworthy sends Hart to manage the South American branch in Bolivia. Violet is then promoted to Hart's position as President of the company and a celebration ensues, while Roz is devastated over the loss of her obsession. The characters deliver epilogues about what happened after the events of the story (Finale: 9 to 5 Reprise). Hart was captured by natives in the jungles of Bolivia and was never seen or heard from again. Roz found a new love - Hart's wife. Violet and Joe have been together for the past 30 years and are very happy together. Doralee went to Nashville and became a successful country and western singer. Judy is single and loving it and wrote a bestselling book, Life Without Dick.

This is such a funny and clever idea - I’m sure everyone will sympathise with frustration in the workplace and these ladies handle it creatively!

Favourite Songs: Nine To Five, I Just Might, Backwoods Barbie, Cowgirl’s Revenge, Heart to Hart, Shine Like The Sun and Get Out And Stay Out

Favourite Character: Doralee

She tied up her boss with the phone wires, held him captive and became a country and western star!

[amcinematheque]

WGAW Gorundbreakers -  Double Feature! Writer Patricia Resnick In Person!

9 TO 5 (1980) THELMA & LOUISE (1991)

Sunday, January 28 - 7:30PM, Egyptian Theatre, Hollywood, CA

TICKETS

Presented by the American Cinematheque and the Writers Guild of America, West, as part of the Groundbreakers: Screenwriters Who Moved Hearts & Minds screening series. Sponsored by Final Draft.

Discussion between films with 9 TO 5 writer Patricia Resnick.

9 TO 5 - 1980, 20th Century Fox, 110 min, Dir: Colin Higgins

This classic from screenwriter Patricia Resnick and director Colin Higgins (writer of HAROLD AND MAUDE and director of SILVER STREAK) brilliantly brings together three of Hollywood's favorite female stars - Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda and Dolly Parton - in an uproarious office farce. At Consolidated, the office manager (Tomlin), the vice president's secretary (Parton) and the newest employee (Fonda) plot revenge against their sexist, egotistical and hypocritical boss Franklin Hart Jr. (Dabney Coleman). The scheme spins wildly out of control, forcing them to keep Hart tied up as they take over the company and run it their own way. Full of witty one-liners, great ’80s outfits and an unforgettable soundtrack (including Parton's Oscar-nominated title song), this delightful, insightful comedy is so much fun "it'll drive you crazy if you let it."

THELMA & LOUISE - 1991, Park Circus/MGM, 128 min, USA/France, Dir: Ridley Scott

Thelma (Geena Davis) and Louise (Susan Sarandon) take a fishing trip to get away from their dead-end relationships, only to end up dispatching a would-be rapist. This results in a cross-country rampage on the lam from the law, all culminating in one of the most daring, simultaneously uplifting/downbeat climaxes ever recorded on film, due in no small part to Ridley Scott’s expert direction and Callie Khouri’s gutsy script. With Harvey Keitel and a young Brad Pitt in his breakout role.

[thetangentialruinsminneapolis]

Theatre Pro Rata Brings Shoulderpads-Era Caryl Churchill to the Crane Theater With “Top Girls”

“You’re a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot!”

Even acclaimed playwright Caryl Churchill had her work cut out for her trying to match 9 to 5 screenwriters Patricia Resnick and Colin Higgins in lucidly critiquing ’80s workplace sexism, but it always needs to be said once more for the people in the back.

Theatre Pro Rata embrace the Thatcher-era setting of Churchill’s Top Girls (1982) in a focused, humane new production at the Crane Theater — a venue that recently played host to the Twin Cities Horror Festival, so its black matte walls are absorbing plenty of dread this season.

With contemporary music setting the scene and performers costumed (by Eleanor Schanilec) in outfits that evoke the times without condescending to played-out leg-warmer stereotypes, director Carin Bratlie Wethern turns the clock back four decades to an era of British history where anyone who’s been absorbing this year’s copious Princess Di content has been spending a fair amount of time.

The play, which in many assessments sits near the top of the prolific playwright’s lauded oeuvre, centers on Marlene, played by Maggie Cramer with subtlety and conviction. Marlene’s recently been promoted to head of the Top Girls employment agency, where she not only needs to navigate her own career and the choices she’s made in prioritizing her work, but also guide a steady stream of women looking to land better positions for themselves.

Marlene and her agents (Megan Kim and Nissa Nordland Morgan) err on the side of brutal honesty when counseling applicants about realities including ageism and the dangers of letting prospective employers know too much about your plans for having a family. The seemingly hard-headed Marlene does have broader reflections on the injustice of it all, though, as we learn in a famed opening scene in which legendary women convene in her imagination for a wine-thirty dinner party.

Wethern’s strong ensemble cast carries this scene, as well as the others, with perfect aplomb. Sarah Broude heads the table as the iconic Pope Joan, while Emily Rosenberg’s badass Dull Gret uses her few words well. Ninchai Nok-Chiclana, who’s kept hopping as a server keeping the thirsty ladies’ wine glasses filled in the opening scene, later shines in two additional roles: a frank child and a job-seeker with a particularly creative résumé.

The show’s powerful concluding scene is a family reunion as Marlene visits her sister Joyce (Kelsey Laurel Cramer, convincingly weary) and niece Angie (Rosenberg, grippingly enthusiastic). While the opening scene underlines the universality of patriarchal oppression, the final scene feels very specific to its place and time, including the suggestion that the upwardly mobile Marlene has succumbed to yuppie conservatism. Today, you’d imagine the rural Joyce being an anti-vaxxer who blows up over Marlene allowing Angie to get a poke of AstraZeneca during her London visit.

If you’re vaccinated yourself (cards are checked at the door), this accessible, absorbing production is ample reason to pause the endless content stream and check in again with thought-provoking live theater. It still feels thrillingly novel to see people together onstage again, and this top-notch Top Girls cast make the most of the opportunity.

– Jay Gabler

Photo: Maggie Cramer in character as Marlene (Charles Gorrill, courtesy Theatre Pro Rata).

[thehauntologicalsociety]

Quintet — A Film by Robert Altman

St. Christopher: "You'll never understand the scheme until you're part of the scheme". Essex: "Are you telling me I will be?" St. Christopher: "Yes, at the exact moment where it will be too late"

Robert Altman's "QUINTET", a Twentieth Century-Fox release, is the thirteenth film the producer-director-writer has done in the last nine years. It also marks Paul Newman's return to the screen after a self-imposed year-and-a-half sabbatical.

Newman heads an international all-star cast including Vittorio Gassman, Bibi Andersson, Fernando Rey, Brigitte Fossey, Nina van Pallandt and David Langton. The screenplay, by Frank Barhydt, Robert Altman and Patricia Resnick, is based on a story by Robert Altman, Lionel Chetwynd and Patricia Resnick.

These facts, plus production information, are all Altman wants told about "QUINTET", his aim being to give motion picture audiences the rare opportunity to see and experience a film without pre-conceived ideas or advance conditioning.

"Games always fascinated me," says Altman. "They are reflections of their cultures. So I made one up called Quintet, which is at the core of the film. It was also my intention to keep the picture from being tied in with a particular time or place. Therefore the look of it is unusual, and so is the cast with its multiple accents".

"QUINTET" was filmed on location in the environs of Montreal, Canada, and in Frobisher Bay during its Arctic-like winter. Temperatures were always below freezing and often below zero, occasionally as much as forty below. Even the interior scenes were filmed outdoors in sets constructed to maintain a below zero temperature. No other feature film has been done under similar conditions. On several levels, "QUINTET" is a totally unique motion picture experience.

The distinguished multinational cast of the Lion's Gate film represents a concept Altman had long had in mind. The unique framework of "QUINTET" provided the perfect opportunity to use it.

The screenplay by Frank Barhydt, Robert Altman and Patricia Resnick is based on a story by Robert Altman, Lionel Chetwynd, Patricia Resnick.