Retrospective: Blue Collar (1978)

[Kam-Hung Soh]

Blue Collar (1978)
A review by Kam-Hung Soh 2009

Zeke (Richard Pryor), Jerry (Harvey Keitel) and Smokey (Yaphet Kotto) 
are three friends who work in the assembly floor of a Detroit car 
company. The work is hard, and Zeke, the youngest of the three, is 
frustrated with the unwillingness of the auto workers union to help 
their members, while his older friends are more equanimous. When Zeke 
runs into money problems, he convinces his friends to help him burgle 
the local union office, an act which starts a chain of violent events.

This film has a surprising and effective performance by comic Richard 
Pryor, sans moustache, in the dramatic role as the voluble and vocal 
Zeke, who uses colourful language to get his point across. His co-stars 
don't have such flashy roles: Yaphett Kotto's Smokey is a quiet ex-con 
while Harvey Keitel's Jerry is an established family man.

The beginning of the film is interesting because it sets the scene to 
explore some of the social issues of the working class in America, a 
topic that seems to be completely ignored by mainstream American films. 
However, once writer-director Paul Shrader and co-writer Leonard 
Schrader introduce an FBI investigation into union corruption, the 
premise is effectively forgotten and the film turns into an OK low-key 
thriller.

3 out of 5 stars.

-- 
Kam-Hung Soh
http://vibogafi.blogspot.com