Flick of The Day: Blue Collar

The lives of the average blue collar worker are usually beneath the eye of the Hollywood system. Except for rare examples such as this, there are no working class people in mainstream American cinema. They are either comfortably affluent or desperately poor. You can spot the desperately poor because they take the bus. It takes a brave film-maker to point out the flaws in the American dream.

Blue Collar (Amazon.com Exclusive)

Paul Schrader, who made his name as screenwriter never afraid to tackle taboo subjects, writing films such as Taxi Driver, Hardcore and The Last Temptation Of Christ makes his directorial debut with this biting attack on the corruption endemic in the Detroit car industry. Starring Richard Pryor, who is superb in one of his only dramatic performances. Harvey Keitel and Yaphet Kotto complete the trio of auto-workers, who disillusioned with an uncaring employer and a union more concerned with lining its own pockets then helping its members, decide to break into the union offices and crack its safe.

The picture Schrader paints of the Detroit car industry and of the unions which sustain it is not a pretty one. From the Foreman who bullies his workers, to the Shop Steward who refuses to look after their grievances and a taxation system ready to hit them like a ton of bricks if they step out of line, this film makes a point of sympathising with the troubles of the little man. For that alone, it deserves credit for originality of ideas. The script pulls no punches as the Yaphet Kotto character Smokey James puts it:

"They pit the lifers against the new boy and the young against the old. The black against the white. Everything they do is to keep us in our place."

Of course, the robbery nets the trio very little in cash but they do come across a ledger which documents the union's illegal activities. This is when the union begins to show its true colours. The film's downbeat ending was too much for audiences in the late '70s and the film was a commercial flop while still critically acclaimed. The script is peppered with the kind of authentic street level dialogue that gives the film its gritty realism. The performances of all 3 leads is superb, which is amazing given that as legend has it, none of them got along together with fistfights between takes not uncommon.

Looking back now after all of the much publicised troubles of the American car industry and its workers, this film seems eerily prescient of that which was to come. The big car companies and the unions are portrayed as equally despicable and very much in league with each other. Given these odds, how could the common worker hope to defeat them? It is telling that no major car company would allow the film to be shot on their line. This is a great film and an excellent portrait of the hardships of factory life. I urge you to seek it out.