Blue Collar

Look at the career of Paul Schrader, and you'll see that it's filled with films that constantly challenged what Hollywood was churning out in the mainstream. And funnily enough, Schrader very frequently used famous actors and crew that worked on those Hollywood projects. "Blue Collar" was the first film he directed, and still stands as a shining star in his oeuvre, a story about the working class in revolt in ways that are both huge and small. Now available on Blu-ray in the U.S. (finally) from Kino Lorber and their Studio Classics label, "Blue Collar" is a film that deserves to be seen and seen again.

Zeke (Richard Pryor), Jerry (Harvey Keitel), and Smokey (Yaphet Kotto) are close friends who all work at a Detroit auto plant. With the bills and work-related bullshit piling up, the trio decides to rob their corrupt union office. The heist goes awry and the three are turned against one another, resulting in a violent and brutal confrontation.

Many films have been made about the plight of the working class, some of which fail to get into the headspace of the characters they study. Schrader, in a way, was the perfect person to tell this story, as he held an incredible number of jobs before becoming a filmmaker. His workmanlike qualities are genuine, and the things he has experienced in life inform the film in great ways. Plus, when you cast Richard Pryor in a rare dramatic role during a time when he was at the height of his powers, something special is bound to happen.

Schrader opens the film by focusing on the rhythm of men working away at the auto plant, with a blues song playing in the background. The sequence syncs many of the physical motions with the music, but it's the stunning realism that makes it and the rest of the film truly shine. The director focuses on the disparity between corporations and their employees with a distance that makes everything even more heartbreaking. Look at the way the camera focuses on a billboard ticker, contrasted with how the characters move in the same motions they're forced to use on the job.

The new 1080p presentation is stunning, as it maintains the grit of Schrader's original aesthetic without making it look overly digital. Even better, the audio commentary included with Schrader and author, Maitland McDonagh, really opens the film up beautifully. It's a true pleasure to hear Schrader talk about the challenges of casting Pryor, Keitel, and Kotto in a film they individually thought they were leads in. The tension behind the scenes between the trio and Schrader almost makes the movie even better, as each character seems only one micro-aggression away from truly losing it. Other special features include:

� Theatrical trailer

"Blue Collar"
Kino Lorber Blu-ray
$29.95
https://www.klstudioclassics.com/product/view/id/6545