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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An in-your-face gem about life on the assembly line!, December 3, 2001
This 1978 underrated classic is about three autoworkers. There's an honest and gritty realism to this story and the four-letter words and curses have a ring of authenticity to them, especially those of Richard Pryor whose foul language has been compared to raw sewage mixed with social insight. He's cast in the role of Zeke Brown, who owes money to the IRS and struggles to support his wife and three children. Harvey Keitel plays Jerry Bawtowski, who also has trouble meeting his bills and can't even afford braces for his daughter. And Yaphet Kotto, a physically imposing black man who is actually the son of a Cameroonian crown prince, plays the role of Smoky James, an ex-con who throws wild parties with drugs and women which serve as escape for the growing frustration of the men. All three see the union as corrupt and decide to rob the union office. They hope to get a few thousand dollars apiece. Instead they get more than they bargained for and the series of events that follow lead to betrayal, and murder.
This is the directional debut for writer/director Paul Shrader, known for writing Taxi Driver, and he does a masterful job. He puts the viewer right there on the assembly line, with the harsh clanging of heavy machinery and the constant pressure of the foreman to work faster and faster. I could almost feel the heat and smell the machine oil and sweat of the workers. Along with the physical labor, there's constant stress and this goes on day after day after day. The subject is serious and the story real but the wisecracks provide comic relief and the story is fast paced and gripping. An excellent blues musical score enhancing the action underscores all this. And all the performances were so good that I forgot they were acting. Eventually, the dramatic unsettling conclusion leaves a lot to think about.
I loved this film and give it one of my highest ratings. It's not pleasant or comfortable to watch but it sure is real. And I learned more about the lives of assembly line workers than I ever thought I wanted to know. It's especially poignant seeing it now because Kalamazoo has closed many of these plants since 1978 and this story now has historical perspective. But this tight, riveting story that's an in-your-face gem about life on the assembly line says something important about the American Dream. Don't miss it.
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27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
DVD-R????, March 6, 2010
This review is for the product - the film is an under-rated gem that deserves a full restoration and proper DVD release, but instead Universal has relegated it to this garbage "Vault Series" line. What you get when ordering any film in this series is a DVD-R, not a commercially made DVD - with a basic case/cover that anyone could make at home. It's despicable and following on the heals of Warner Bros. similar attempts, a rather frightening portent of what's to come. The only recourse we have is to send a message that this is NOT ACCEPTABLE. Don't pay $20 for a 25 cent PC pressed copy! Universal should be ashamed of themselves!
To be perfectly clear, what you get is essentially a home-pressed DVD COPY, not a commercial DVD. There are no menus - you put it in and the film starts, that's it. No extras, no subtitles, and non-anamorphic middling transfers. Lost is the excellent Paul Schrader commentary from the long out of print Anchor Bay disc. Putting excellent films like this, Tell Them Willie Boy is Here, A Bronx Tale, and others - many of which were previously already available on DVD! - is absolutely insulting! They aren't worth the cost of shipping them, but they have the audacity to charge $20 a pop? Absolutely appalling greed that depends on uninformed consumers ordering blindly. Boycott these and they will go away!
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Tough, uncompromising look at the American working man, February 17, 2003
"Blue Collar" is one of the great underrated American films of the 1970s. It tells the story of three desperate, powerless men who work in a Detroit auto plant. When they're not being suppressed by their soulless company, they're being duped by their arrogant, corrupt labor union. Their collective desperation leads them to conduct an almost laughably amateurish robbery of the union safe. Instead, what they find is evidence of widespread union corruption. When they decide to blackmail the union, they find that three working men are no match for a ruthless, powerful labor union (and--in a larger sense--the American capitalist system). Director Paul Schrader (who co-wrote the film with his brother Leonard) presents this tale in a gritty, realistic fashion. Its bleak message is timeless, but the film is very much of the late 1970s, both in the sets (note the ugly orange sofas!) and in its infusion of drama and socio-political commentary. Filmed in Detroit, Kalamazoo, and Los Angeles, you really get the sense of the hopeless desperation of these three men, who are dying to make a better life for themselves and their families, but are trapped in soul-crushing jobs at the factory. Harvey Keitel and Yaphet Kotto are their usual brilliant selves. The true surprise for most viewers will be Richard Pryor in one of the very few dramatic roles he ever played. He's hilarious, tragic, sympathetic, and--in the end--despicable all rolled into one. The DVD version of "Blue Collar" contains interesting bios of the three stars and of Schrader, and a commentary from the director and a female journalist (who spends much of the time swooning over Keitel...particularly when he's in his underwear!). Anyway, from the commentary, we learn that the 35-day shoot was an absolutely brutal one, especially since this was Schrader's first film as a director, and the fact that the three leads absolutely *HATED* each other. Physical altercations and set walk-offs were apparently the norm here. The fact that these three guys come off seeming like friends (for a time) illustrates their considerable acting ability and the magic of movies. The commentary itself is helpful, but Schrader starts running out of steam (it's clear he doesn't really like this movie very much) toward the end. The movie, however, never lets up. "Blue Collar" is a terrific analysis of the American working man, and the illusory nature of the so-called "American Dream".
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