At a time when discussion around organised labour is finding newfound fervour in the face of a summer of strikes across the UK, we are joined once again by podcasting brother in arms Jack to discuss acclaimed screenwriter and long-time Martin Scorsese collaborator Paul Schrader's directorial debut, 1978's "Blue Collar". Starring Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel and Yaphet Kotto as Detroit auto workers at the tail end of the era of Reaganomics which destroyed the backbone of the American unions, the film takes a rather more jaded look at organised labour than the current Mick Lynch mania would suggest, as the three friends decide to rob their own union, and everything goes wrong. An uncompromising look at the daily hardships of American working class and the tragedy of how the insidious structures of capitalism find their way to undermine worker solidarity, Blue Collar is also something of an anomaly within Paul Schrader's filmography, as Jack and Connor get deep into.
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