Blue Collar

Name: Blue Collar
Genre: Drama, Crime
Released: February 10, 1978
Duration: 114 min
Rating: 77
Cast: Borah Silver, Cliff De Young, Ed Begley Jr., George Memmoli, Harry Bellaver

1978

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Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 10 Ratings

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7.3

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7.3	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 10 Ratings

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Blue Collar

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Movie Details & Credits

Universal Pictures | Release Date: February 10, 1978 | R

Starring: Borah Silver, Cliff De Young, Ed Begley Jr., George Memmoli, Harry Bellaver, Harvey Keitel, Lane Smith, Lucy Saroyan, Richard Pryor, Yaphet Kotto

Summary: Three workers, Zeke (Richard Pryor), Jerry (Harvey Keitel), and Smokey (Yaphet Kotto), are working at a car plant and drinking their beers together. One night, when they steal away from their wives to have some fun, they get the idea to rob the local union's bureau safe. First they think it is a flop, because they get only six hundredThree workers, Zeke (Richard Pryor), Jerry (Harvey Keitel), and Smokey (Yaphet Kotto), are working at a car plant and drinking their beers together. One night, when they steal away from their wives to have some fun, they get the idea to rob the local union's bureau safe. First they think it is a flop, because they get only six hundred dollars out of it, but then Zeke realizes that they also have gotten some "hot" material. They decide to blackmail their union. The best reason for that is the union itself. All three are provoked by the fact that the union claims to have lost ten thousand dollars by their robbery.… Expand

Director: Paul Schrader

Genre(s): Drama, Crime

Rating: R

Runtime: 114 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

IndieWire Sergio

Pryor’s best film and his best performance and that’s not taking anything anyway from his co-stars Harvey Keitel and Yaphet Kotto. Read full review

100

Staff (Not Credited)

Paul Schrader's directorial debut is an artistic triumph. Schrader has transformed a carefully researched original screenplay penned by him and his brother Leonard into a powerful, gritty, seamless profile of three automobile assembly line workers banging their heads against the monotony and corruption that is the factory system. Read full review

100

Roger Ebert

It is an angry, radical movie about the vise that traps workers between big industry and big labor. It's also an enormously entertaining movie; it earns its comparison with On the Waterfront. And it's an extraordinary directing debut for Paul Schrader, whose credits include Taxi Driver and Rolling Thunder. Read full review

Empire William Thomas

Suffused with the pessimism of Taxi Driver, Blue Collar is one of the most brutally honest films to have come out of 70s Hollywood. Read full review

Ben Sachs

The movie is affecting as a social portrait as well as a psychological drama. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not Credited)

The three leads--particularly Pryor, in an essentially non-comedic role--are remarkable. Read full review

Vincent Canby

Is Blue Collar an action film or a meditation upon the American Dream? I suspect it wants to be both though it's not very serious at being either. Read full review

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