Comments on: Blue Collar: A 1978 Film for 2009 http://therumpus.net/2009/06/blue-collar-a-1978-film-for-2009/ Books, Music, Movies, Art, Politics, Sex, Other Sun, 27 May 2012 03:50:37 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Jeremy Hatch http://therumpus.net/2009/06/blue-collar-a-1978-film-for-2009/comment-page-1/#comment-3939 Jeremy Hatch Thu, 11 Jun 2009 01:31:08 +0000 http://therumpus.net/?p=21566#comment-3939 Hey Mark, thanks for the interesting notes! I can just imagine the negative audience reaction: "What was that crap? It was supposed to be a comedy, but it wasn't funny AT ALL. Don't see it." Hey Mark, thanks for the interesting notes! I can just imagine the negative audience reaction: “What was that crap? It was supposed to be a comedy, but it wasn’t funny AT ALL. Don’t see it.”

]]> By: Mark Pritchard http://therumpus.net/2009/06/blue-collar-a-1978-film-for-2009/comment-page-1/#comment-3936 Mark Pritchard Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:18:13 +0000 http://therumpus.net/?p=21566#comment-3936 <i>Blue Collar</i> is a wonderful film, and one of the most political Hollywood features ever made that isn't also about Hollywood. It shows the common workingman at the mercy of both management and unions; it's utterly cynical about the worker's plight. Filmed at the about-to-close Checker Marathon plant, it shows a Detroit that's already falling apart. It flopped in the marketplace, because the studio had absolutely no idea how to market it, so they used that frame from the heist scene where Kotto, Pryor and Keitel are wearing masks, and marketed it as a Richard Pryor comedy -- which it is, but only about 20% of it. Blue Collar is a wonderful film, and one of the most political Hollywood features ever made that isn’t also about Hollywood. It shows the common workingman at the mercy of both management and unions; it’s utterly cynical about the worker’s plight. Filmed at the about-to-close Checker Marathon plant, it shows a Detroit that’s already falling apart.

It flopped in the marketplace, because the studio had absolutely no idea how to market it, so they used that frame from the heist scene where Kotto, Pryor and Keitel are wearing masks, and marketed it as a Richard Pryor comedy — which it is, but only about 20% of it.

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