Blue Collar

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Blue Collar ★★★ 1978 (R)

Funny-man Pryor (in one of his best film roles) offers most of the laughs in this very serious drama of how three Detroit auto assembly workers (Pryor, Kotto, and Keitel), feeling the strain of family life and inflation, hatch a plan to rob their corrupt union office only to stumble into a bigger crime that later costs them dearly. Schrader makes his directorial debut in this searing study of the working class and the robbing of the human spirit, which is made memorable by the strong performances of its three leads. Filmed entirely in Detroit and Kalamazoo, Michigan. 114m/C VHS, DVD . Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel, Yaphet Kotto, Ed Begley Jr., Lane Smith, Cliff DeYoung; D: Paul Schrader; W: Paul Schrader, Leonard Schrader; C: Bobby Byrne; M: Jack Nitzsche.