Blue Collar

I highly recommend 'Blue Collar.' I initially stumbled on the movie yesterday on BET. Basically, I thought it was a comedy when I saw Richard Pryor. Anyway, long story short, three auto workers get tangled up w/a corrupt union when a robbery goes all wrong. It's really a great movie w/a fantastic twist. Pryor gives a great dramatic performance as does Harvey Keitel.

Blue Collar (Paul Schrader, 1978) In the early days of Paul Schrader's career, the man could do no wrong. By 1978, he was already well known for his screenplays for Taxi Driver and Rolling Thunder, and he jumped into the director's chair to film his own script for Blue Collar. Turned out to be a pretty good decision, as this is one of Schrader's best early efforts, from both a writing and a directing standpoint. While he's fallen on hard times recently (he's one of the directors who recently tried his hand at an Exorcist prequel, and we all know how those turned out, don't we?), his early films stand as testament to his amazing talent. Here we have three auto workers, Zeke (standup comedian Richard Pryor), Smokey (Homicide: Life on the Street's Yaphet Kotto), and Jerry (Taxi Driver's Harvey Keitel), all of whom are having financial problems. They're not getting any help from their corrupt union heads, so the three decide to take matters into their own hands and rob the local unio... Read more

Blue Collar (1978) is a hit in my mind, in the tradition of the hard-hitting, dripping-with-reality yet artistic and entertaining movies that Harvey Keitel has come to represent. The real story, is how far can friendship go, among co-workers, when by circumstances at work and in their personal lives, those decide to burglar a union office in order to raise cash, to meet mounting out of control consumer spending on credit, lack of budgeting, and financial discipline. We learn that, at the end of the day, the turn of events happens very quickly leading to unforeseen outcomes, from pressures coming from a variety of unexpected sources. The power of the mass media and American culture, controls minds and emotions, as workers feel compelled to partake in escort services, lines of powder, orgies in between their married lives and that on the car assembly line. Reality comes calling, in the form of tax evasion caught by the IRS, and general ethnic and job class tensi... Read more

I can't believe this isn't on DVD! This is an excellent heist movie set in a Detroit auto plant, with excellent acting from Richard Pryor (in his best dramatic role), Harvy Keitel, and Yaphet Kotto. One of the better films to address the plight of the working man, without ever crossing over into sentimentality or sensationalism. These are real people with flaws and hopes and problems. Writer/director Paul Schrader has crafted a tight, thrilling journey through these mens lives. Even though at heart this is a message movie, it's story driven, and never feels preachy. I only hope it gets the DVD transfer it deserves.

Well, I love Schrader and his moralistic style, to begin with. But anyway, Blue Collar has held up pretty well through the years, despite the changing face of the American workplace. It's a great movie, an American classic.

This is as real as real can get far as life on the assembly line in the Motor City went. Richard, Yaphett and Harvey along with the other actors in this movie did a superb job portraying the blue collar working men inside of the factory plants. The way corruption in the union was exposed was on point. This is definitely one of Richard Pryor's best films. It ranks in the top three in my book.