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| Kam-Hung Soh... |
 Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 11:15 am |
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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 |
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