| Blue Collar | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Paul Schrader |
| Written by |
|
| Produced by | Don Guest |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Bobby Byrne |
| Edited by | Tom Rolf |
| Music by | Jack Nitzsche |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 114 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1.7 million[1] |
| Box office | $6.5 million[2] |
Blue Collar is a 1978 Americancrime drama film directed byPaul Schrader in hisdirectorial debut. Written by Schrader and his brotherLeonard, the film starsRichard Pryor,Harvey Keitel andYaphet Kotto.[3] The film is both a critique ofunion practices and an examination of life in aworking-classRust Beltenclave.
Schrader, who wrote the script forTaxi Driver (1976), recalls the shooting as being very difficult because of the artistic and personal tensions he had with the actors (including the stars themselves). Schrader has also stated that while making the film, he suffered an on-setmental breakdown, which made him seriously reconsider his career.[4]
The film was shot inDetroit andKalamazoo, Michigan.
A trio ofWayne County, Michigan auto workers, two black — 32-year-old Ezekiel "Zeke" Brown fromDetroit, Michigan, and two-time ex-convict, 35-year-old Sam "Smokey" James fromMississippi, who spent time inMichigan State Prison — and one 33-year-old white, aPolish-American fromHamtramck, Michigan, Jerry Bartowski. The three men are fed up with mistreatment at the hands of both management and the union brass. Smokey is in debt to a loan shark over anumbers game, Jerry works a second job as a gas station attendant to get by and finds himself unable to pay bills including theorthodontics work that his daughter needs, and Zeke is in trouble with the IRS fortax evasion by filing returns showing fictitious children in order to reduce his family's taxable income.[5]
Coupled with the financial hardships on each man's end, the trio hatch a plan to rob a safe atUnited Auto Workers union headquarters. They commit the caper but find only $600 in petty cash. More importantly, they also come away with aledger which contains evidence of the union's illegalloan operation and ties to organized crime syndicates inLas Vegas,Chicago andNew York. They decide to make an attempt to blackmail the union with the information. Meanwhile, a local loan shark has given Smokey advice on how to crack the safe in exchange for a percentage of the robbed proceeds. He gets busted by the police for his ties in an unrelated crime and attempts to get off or receive a softer conviction in exchange for spilling off the information about the trio's robbery & blackmailing. This information subsequently gets back to the union, and they begin to retaliate strongly by turning the tables on the three friends. Jerry experiences a near miss one evening when a pair of hired thugs show up at his house to attack his wife, but both get intercepted and beaten up by Smokey. The next day at work, a suspicious accident at the plant results in Smokey's death that is investigated as awork accident caused by negligent safety protocols, which Zeke and Jerry realize was a murder coordinated by the union bosses due to the incriminating knowledge they possess against the union.
AnFBI agent John Burrows attempts to coerce Jerry intomaterial witness orcooperating witness on the union's corruption, which would make him an adversary of his co-workers as well as the union bosses. At the same time, corrupt union bosses succeed in coopting Zeke to work for them with promises of upward mobility being promoted toshop steward and increased remuneration. Zeke, happy with his new duties and higher pay, pragmatically prescinds from seeking justice for Smokey's murder, as it would jeopardize his newfound standing within the ranks of the union. Jerry attempts to convince Zeke to take steps to avenge Smokey's death, but Zeke rebukes him, telling Jerry that nothing will bring Smokey back and that they should just move forward. Later that evening, two gunmen, hired by the mob, try to shoot Jerry in adrive-by shooting while traveling through theDetroit–Windsor tunnel. This evolves into a chase where Jerry ends up crashing his car but is rescued by the police. Disgusted with Zeke's capitulation and terrified after another attempt on his life, Jerry decides to cooperate with the FBI and aUnited States Congressspecial Congressional committee that have been investigating the union.
In the end, as Jerry enters the plant with federal agents, Zeke confronts him. Once friends, Jerry and Zeke now turn on each other as a heated discussion escalates into them attempting to attack each other, confirming the prescient earlier narrative that union corruption divides workers against one another.
The film was shot on location at theChecker plant inKalamazoo, Michigan and at locales around Detroit, including theFord River Rouge Complex on the city's southwest side and theMacArthur Bridge toBelle Isle.
The three main actors did not get along and were continually fighting throughout the shoot. The tension became so great that at one point Richard Pryor (supposedly in a drug-fueled rage) pointed a gun at Schrader and told him that there was "no way" he would ever do more than three takes for a scene.[4]
Schrader states that during the filming of one take, Harvey Keitel became so irritated by Pryor's lengthy improvisations that he made eye contact with the camera and flung the contents of an ashtray into its lens, to make the take containing Pryor's ad libbing unusable. Pryor and his bodyguard responded by pinning Keitel to the floor and pummeling him with their fists.[6]
Jack Nitzsche'sblues-flavored score includes "Hard Workin' Man", a collaboration withCaptain Beefheart.[7]
Blue Collar was universally praised by critics. The film holds a 96% "Fresh" rating on thereview aggregate websiteRotten Tomatoes based on 46 reviews. The site's consensus states: "Paul Schrader'sBlue Collar offers a searing, darkly funny indictment of labor exploitation and rampant consumerism that's fueled by the outstanding work of an excellent cast."[8] BothRoger Ebert andGene Siskel lauded the film; Ebert awarded the film four stars[9] and Siskel placed the film fourth on his list of the ten best of 1978.[10]
FilmmakerSpike Lee included the film on his essential film list "Films All Aspiring Filmmakers Must See".[11]The New York Times placed the film on itsBest 1000 Movies Ever list.[12]
In his autobiographyBorn to Run,Bruce Springsteen namesBlue Collar andTaxi Driver as two of his favorite films of the 1970s.[13]
