Higgins, Colin

The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas

This is an energetic, but ultimately mediocre adaptation of the play, directed on Broadway by Tommy Tune. Burt Reynolds is the town sheriff and a regular patron of a local bordello. He wages a public battle to keep it open after it is targeted as the devil's den by a television minister. Charles Durning was nominated for a Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, and there are some lively song and dance numbers featuring Dolly Parton as the madame of the Chicken Ranch. However, this becomes bogged down in too many serious moments for it to be more than a lightweight musical comedy. --Rochelle O'Gorman

Texas madam miss mona and her sheriff boyfriend try to save her chicken ranch from a tv muckraker. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 08/01/2006 Starring: Randy Bennett Theresa Merritt Run time: 114 minutes Rating: R Director: Colin Higgins

Foul Play

Not short on murder, mayhem, or any other screwball '70s conventions, Foul Play is a wonderful vehicle for Goldie Hawn. She plays Gloria, a librarian "ready to take a chance again," who ends up the target of an assassination ring. Chevy Chase, fresh off of Saturday Night Live, does the closest thing to real acting he would ever achieve (okay, maybe Fletch) as Tony, the cop assigned to protect Gloria. Dudley Moore made an indelible impression on American audiences as Stanley Tibbets, a surprisingly kinky symphony conductor. But it's the quirky things that make this film: the grandmothers playing Scrabble with expletives, Burgess Meredith's snake Esme, the old Japanese couple in the back of the careening limo. From the opening credits with Barry Manilow crooning the title song, this is a fond trip down memory lane. --Keith Simanton

beware of the dwarf whispers the hitchhiker to the beautiful librarian as he dies midway through a moive. Suddenly she is propelled into a world of wild chases bizarre attempts on her life & deadly encounters with an assortment of weird underworld characters. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 08/23/2005 Starring: Goldie Hawn Burgess Meredith Run time: 116 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Colin Higgins

9 to 5 - Sexist, Egotistical, Lying Hypocritical Bigot Edition - Widescreen

Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 02/06/2007 Run time: 110 minutes Rating: Pg

With a nod to Preston Sturges's classic dark comedy Unfaithfully Yours (about a man who fantasizes about murdering his possibly philandering wife), this 1980 cotton-candy-feminist-vendetta film concerns a monstrous boss (Dabney Coleman) whose more capable underlings dream of ways of punishing him. That much of the film is particularly fun, but the rest of it descends into silliness when the women stumble onto a real-life opportunity to teach him a lesson. Fonda, the biggest star in the film at the time, takes a back seat to Parton's and Tomlin's showier roles. Written and directed by the late Colin Higgins (who made a lot of people happy in the '70s with his script for the beloved Harold and Maude). --Tom Keogh

On the DVD
What's on the "Sexist, Egotistical, Lying Hypocritical Bigot Edition" DVD of one of the more enduring comedies of the 1980s? The cast were obviously delighted for the opportunity to travel down memory lane, providing a commentary. Dolly Parton and Lily Tomlin recorded their bits in one city while Jane Fonda recorded hers simultaneously in another city, as they watched the movie again together. The three leads--one, Parton, a rookie actress--made for a well-balanced comedic team whose friendship has endured off-screen for 25 years, a friendship that comes across in their banter. A "Nine At 25" featurette finds the cast and producer dishing such tidbits as the fact Parton came to the set having memorized the entire script, everyone else's parts included. A "9 to 5" karaoke feature may entertain depending on how many drinks one has had at the office party, but the words don't always seem in sync with the music.

To celebrate the release of this edition of 9 to 5, the cast, sans Dabney Coleman, reunited in Los Angeles for a party in which Dolly sang the theme song, memories were shared, and actresses dressed as '80s office workers acted busy in cubicles and reception desks.

The Cast of 9 to 5 Celebrate 25 Years of Sticking It to the Boss (click for larger image)

Nine to Five - Sexist, Egotistical, Lying Hypocritical Bigot Edition - Full Screen

Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 04/02/2007

With a nod to Preston Sturges's classic dark comedy Unfaithfully Yours (about a man who fantasizes about murdering his possibly philandering wife), this 1980 cotton-candy-feminist-vendetta film concerns a monstrous boss (Dabney Coleman) whose more capable underlings dream of ways of punishing him. That much of the film is particularly fun, but the rest of it descends into silliness when the women stumble onto a real-life opportunity to teach him a lesson. Fonda, the biggest star in the film at the time, takes a back seat to Parton's and Tomlin's showier roles. Written and directed by the late Colin Higgins (who made a lot of people happy in the '70s with his script for the beloved Harold and Maude). --Tom Keogh

On the DVD
What's on the "Sexist, Egotistical, Lying Hypocritical Bigot Edition" DVD of one of the more enduring comedies of the 1980s? The cast were obviously delighted for the opportunity to travel down memory lane, providing a commentary. Dolly Parton and Lily Tomlin recorded their bits in one city while Jane Fonda recorded hers simultaneously in another city, as they watched the movie again together. The three leads--one, Parton, a rookie actress--made for a well-balanced comedic team whose friendship has endured off-screen for 25 years, a friendship that comes across in their banter. A "Nine At 25" featurette finds the cast and producer dishing such tidbits as the fact Parton came to the set having memorized the entire script, everyone else's parts included. A "9 to 5" karaoke feature may entertain depending on how many drinks one has had at the office party, but the words don't always seem in sync with the music.

To celebrate the release of this edition of 9 to 5, the cast, sans Dabney Coleman, reunited in Los Angeles for a party in which Dolly sang the theme song, memories were shared, and actresses dressed as '80s office workers acted busy in cubicles and reception desks.

The Cast of 9 to 5 Celebrate 25 Years of Sticking It to the Boss (click for larger image)

Nine to Five

With a nod to Preston Sturges's classic dark comedy Unfaithfully Yours (about a man who fantasizes about murdering his possibly philandering wife), this 1980 cotton-candy-feminist-vendetta film concerns a monstrous boss (Dabney Coleman) whose more capable underlings dream of ways of punishing him. That much of the film is particularly fun, but the rest of it descends into silliness when the women stumble onto a real-life opportunity to teach him a lesson. Fonda, the biggest star in the film at the time, takes a back seat to Parton's and Tomlin's showier roles. Written and directed by the late Colin Higgins (who made a lot of people happy in the '70s with his script for the beloved Harold and Maude). --Tom Keogh

On the DVD
What's on the "Sexist, Egotistical, Lying Hypocritical Bigot Edition" DVD of one of the more enduring comedies of the 1980s? The cast were obviously delighted for the opportunity to travel down memory lane, providing a commentary. Dolly Parton and Lily Tomlin recorded their bits in one city while Jane Fonda recorded hers simultaneously in another city, as they watched the movie again together. The three leads--one, Parton, a rookie actress--made for a well-balanced comedic team whose friendship has endured off-screen for 25 years, a friendship that comes across in their banter. A "Nine At 25" featurette finds the cast and producer dishing such tidbits as the fact Parton came to the set having memorized the entire script, everyone else's parts included. A "9 to 5" karaoke feature may entertain depending on how many drinks one has had at the office party, but the words don't always seem in sync with the music.

To celebrate the release of this edition of 9 to 5, the cast, sans Dabney Coleman, reunited in Los Angeles for a party in which Dolly sang the theme song, memories were shared, and actresses dressed as '80s office workers acted busy in cubicles and reception desks.

The Cast of 9 to 5 Celebrate 25 Years of Sticking It to the Boss (click for larger image)

The Devil Wears Prada / Nine to Five

Disc 1: The Devil Wears Prada Widescreen Feature Disc 2: 9 to 5 Widescreen Feature

The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas [Region 2]

This is an energetic, but ultimately mediocre adaptation of the play, directed on Broadway by Tommy Tune. Burt Reynolds is the town sheriff and a regular patron of a local bordello. He wages a public battle to keep it open after it is targeted as the devil's den by a television minister. Charles Durning was nominated for a Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, and there are some lively song and dance numbers featuring Dolly Parton as the madame of the Chicken Ranch. However, this becomes bogged down in too many serious moments for it to be more than a lightweight musical comedy. --Rochelle O'Gorman