1978

Sorry not to have posted the past couple of weeks. Things have been crazy. I missed the movie (Mississippi Masala) and film club two weeks ago. I watched last week’s pick (Hedwig and the Angry Inch — which was terrific, btw), but just didn’t have time to do much thinking about it or posting on it.

Things haven’t slowed down this week (maybe just the opposite). So I thought I would be brief about this week’s movie, Blue Collar.

I thought that I saw it when it came out in 1978. While elements were familiar, I can’t say that was the case.

Blue Collar stars Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel, and Yaphet Kotto. If you expect this to be a comedy because of Pryor, think again. The casting signals the film’s mix of humor, drama, and violence.

Director Paul Schrader‘s film — three autoworker buddies, put upon by their bosses and taken advantage of by their union officials, break into the union’s safe where they find just a handful of cash, but a ledger detailing union corruption — is humorous at times, rough at times, and ultimately bleak. The trio tries to stick it to the man but ends up stuck by the system instead.

Thematically, Blue Collar has many similarities to film noir: It’s gritty, its characters are marginalized, and it ends in hopelessness.

Blue Collar is a bit uneven and unpolished, but still makes its point.