Runtime: 114 minutes
Directed by: Paul Schrader
Starring: Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel, Yaphet Kotto, Harry Bellaver, Cliff De Young
From: Universal
One benefit of having a goal in mind of what to view in the near future: it allows me to finally cross off some films that I've been meaning to see but have put off for years now. In this case, my run of heist movies gave me the inspiration to check out the first directorial effort from Paul Schrader... and almost his last. Apparently, he got Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel, and Yaphet Kotto to star in this as he told all three that they'd be the star. Once filming began, they weren't fans of the idea of this being an ensemble piece and they all feuded with each other. There were constant fights, Pryor allegedly pulled a gun on Schrader along with purportedly injuring a co-star on set... no wonder Paul nearly quit the business for good.
The heist is of a giant walk-in safe that is at the headquarters of the local UAW that represents the workers at Checker Motors; they are most famous for their Checker Marathon sedans that were mainly used as taxi cabs. That's the distinctive yellow cabs seen in New York City set films of the 60's through the 80's; the example that most will know is that this was what Travis Bickle drove in Taxi Driver. The end credits made clear that this was NOT actual life for the workers at Checker. Those workers for certain fit the title of the movie; none are happy with their union as among other things, a simple fix of someone's locker is not done for months, nor do the beverage machines in the break room operate properly. As Pryor and Keitel's characters are family men and are desperate for cash, they and Kotto's character decide to rob this safe. That is only a small part of Blue Collar, although its ramifications are felt for the rest of the runtime.
At first there are laughs; the longer it goes, though, the more serious and sober it becomes. The first act has Pryor cracking wise and there's literally a coke-fueled party shown... as legend tells it, this activity also occurred off-screen. The final act is tremendous-that is why the overall rating is quite high. It is a rather negative viewpoint of unions in general-to say the least-and I'll abstain from sharing my opinions on the topic as nothing good can come from talking to strangers on Letterboxd about it. In Blue Collar, the union commits illegal crimes and might as well be the Mob. It is the serious sort of picture that you best got in the 70's and it is appropriately gritty considering the inner-city Michigan setting. Considering the acrimonious relationship amongst the trio, all three are great in their roles. Pryor was the most impressive as his character gradually becomes more solemn and he played the role so well I wish he would have had the opportunity to be dramatic in worthwhile motion pictures like this one. Indeed, talk about an underrated picture; I wish more would have been said by even film fans to convince dopes like myself to give this a shot.
BTW, it was a nice blues-based score from Jack Nitzsche that was wholly appropriate for the film. The opening titles song (Hard Workin' Man) was quite the combo of Jack, Ry Cooder and Captain Beefheart... who has a rather unique singing voice and his music in general is too odd even for me but in this setting where he sang some ribald lyrics, it worked.
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