Labor Themes in the Movies and TV: UC Berkeley Media Resources Center

	Labor Themes in the Movies and on TV

	Labor Themes in the Movies Arsenal (1928-29) Directed by Alexander Dovzhenko. Based on an actual incident, this is a dramatic account of the Ukraine from the First World War through the February and October Revolutions, to the suppression of a workers' revolt in 1918. Dovzhenko presents harsh, realistic scenes of Czarist brutality and war's destruction, but his juxtapositions of the Russian workers and peasants are both impressionistic and symbolic. 75 min. DVD 8448; VHS 999:2101 (digitally mastered) Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database La Bataille du Rail (The Battle of the Rails) (France, 1946) Directed by René Clement. Cast: Marcel Barnault, Jean Clarieux, Jean Daurand, Tony Laurent, Lucien Desagneaux, François Joux, Pierre Latour. During the occupation of France by Nazi Germany, French railway workers bravely battled the Nazis on many fronts, from transporting forbidden mail to committing acts of sabotage. They became an invaluable part of the French resistance. 85 min. DVD 5097 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Blue Collar (1978) Directed by Paul Schrader. Cast: Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel, Yaphet Kotto. When Detroit auto workers Jerry, Smokey and Zeke find bills piling up and pressures bearing down, they decide to rob their corrupt union office. In a cruel twist, their small haul becomes a nightmare when the heist goes wrong and their once loyal friendships turn to fear, betrayal and murder. 114 min. 999:2393 Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database Zieger, Gay P. and Zieger, Robert H. "Unions On The Silver Screen: A Review-Essay On F.I.S.T., Blue Collar, And Norma Rae." Labor History 1982 23(1): 67-78. Bound for Glory (1976) Directed by Hal Ashby. Cast: David Carradine, Ronny Cox, Melinda Dillon, Gail Strickland, Randy Quaid. Set against the grim backdrop of depression America, this film joyously celebrates the life of Woody Guthrie, America's great folk balladeer and poet. As he traveled across America his buoyant spirit and soul-rousing music surrounded him with a quiet strength enabling him to do battle with the social injustice which surrounded him. Based on the Woody Guthrie autobiography, c1991. 149 min. 999:1749 Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database Brassed Off!(UK, 1996) Director Mark Herman. Cast: Pete Postlethwaite, Tara Fitzgerald, Ewan McGregor, Jim Carter, Sue Johnston, Stephen Moore, Ken Colley, Grimethorpe Colliery Band. "A small Yorkshire mining town is threatened with being shut down and the only hope for the town's men is to enter their Grimley Colliery Brass Band into a national competition. They believe they have no hope until Gloria (Tara Fitzgerald) appears carrying her Flugelhorn. At first mocked for being a woman, she soon becomes the only chance for the band to win. In joining the band she puts her relationship with her childhood sweetheart Andy (Ewan McGregor) on the line." [Internet Movie Database] 101 min. DVD 5841 Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database Bread and Roses(UK / France / Germany / Spain / Italy / Switzerland, 2000) Director Ken Loach. Cast: Pilar Padilla, Adrien Brody, Elpidia Carrillo, George Lopez, Alonso Chavez, Monica Rivas. Maya is an illegal alien who has crossed the U.S. border from Mexico to search for her sister Rosa, and to begin a new life. After being reunited, Rosa gets Maya a job with a janitorial service in a large office building. While working, Maya happens upon Sam Shapiro, a muckraking lawyer and union agitator whom the service-workers' union has assigned to bring its "justice for janitors" campaign to the building. Appalled at the work conditions and unfair labor practices, Maya and Sam team up to fight her employer. 110 min. DVD 5453 Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database Matthews, Peter. "Bread and Roses.(Review)." Sight and Sound 11.5 (May 2001): 36(4). Quart, Leonard, and William Kornblum. "Documenting workers.(workers on film)." Dissent 48.4 (Fall 2001): 117(4). Ruiz, Vicki L. "Bread and Roses.(Movie Review)." Labor History 43.4 (Nov 2002): 583(2). Cama Adentro. (Argentina, 2004) Directed by Jorge Gaggero. Cast: Norma Aleandro, Norma Argentina, Susana Lanteri, Claudia Lapaco, Marcos Mundstock. A wealthy woman and her live-in housekeeper must adjust their entrenched routines and relationship when Buenos Aires is plunged into an economic crisis. 83 min. DVD 6877 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Car Wash(1976) Director Michael Schultz. Cast: George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Franklyn Ajaye, Professor Irwin Corey, Ivan Dixon, Antonio Fargas, Jack Kehoe, Clarence Muse, Lorraine Gary, the Pointer Sisters. An irreverent but affectionate look at a typical day in a Los Angeles car wash. But what a day! There's a would-be robbery and an assembly line of the weirdest, baddest characters you've ever met and lots of booty-bumping music to pass the hours. 97 min. DVD 2573 Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database Class Dismissed: How TV Frames the Working Class Featuring interviews with media analysts and cultural historians, this documentary examines the patterns inherent in TV's disturbing depictions of working class people as either clowns or social deviants, stereotypical portrayals that reinforce the myth of meritocracy. Directed by Loretta Alper. c2005. 62 min. DVD 4912 Media Education Foundation catalog description Clockwatchers (1997) Directed by Jill Sprecher Cast: Toni Collette, Parker Posey, Lisa Kudrow, Alanna Ubach. Four temporary office workers; shy Iris, brash Margaret, wannabe starlet Paula and pampered Jane become fast friends while temping at a big company where looking busy is a full time occupation. But when their boss hires a new assistant, their jobs -- and their friendship -- are suddenly in danger. 96 min. DVD 1428 Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database Cradle Will Rock (2000) Directed by Tim Robbins. Cast: Hank Azaria, Ruben Blades, Joan Cusack, John Cusack, Cary Elwes, Philip Baker Hall, Cherry Jones, Angus MacFadyen, Bill Murray, Vanessa Redgrave, Susan Sarandon, Jamey Sheridan, John Turturro, Emily Watson. A kaleidoscopic look at the extraordinary events of 1930s America, from high society to life on the streets in Depression-era New York City. Based on the true story of Orson Welles' controversial musical about a steel strike that was closed down by government decree. 134 min. DVD 281 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Movie Review Query Engine Atkinson, Michael. "Hollywood Keeps Left." The American Prospect 11.5 (Jan 17, 2000): 54. UC users only Briley, Ron. "Cradle Will Rock." Journal of American History 88.3 (Dec 2001): 1202(2). Gross, Larry. "The Cradle Will Rock." Sight and Sound 5.n2 (Feb 1995): 38(1). Gustaitis, Joseph. "The cradle that ROCKED America.(Orson Welle's 1937 production of musical 'The Cradle Will Rock')." American History 34.6 (Feb 2000): 17. Mason, Terrence C. "The filmmaker as humanist.(Tim Robbins)." Social Education 64.1 (Jan-Feb 2000): 14(7). Strick, Philip. "Cradle Will Rock.(Review)." Sight and Sound 10.5 (May 2000): 40(4). Teachout, Terry. ""Cradle" of Lies.(Review)." Commentary 109.2 (Feb 2000): 51. Le Crime de Monsieur Lange (Crime of Monsieur Lange) (1936) Directed by Jean Renoir. Cast: René Lefevre, Florelle, Jules Berry, Marcel Levesque, Sylvia Bataille, Nadia Sibirskaia. A group of workers take over a publishing house when its crooked owner, Batala, absconds. Batala returns to resume control, but one of the workers, Lange, kills him to save the collective. 89 min.DVD 3494 (PAL); VHS 999:583 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Cry of the Children (Thanhouser Studios, 1912) Directed by George O. Nicholas An expression of the pre-World War One reform movement concerning child labor. The story contrasts scenes of the mill owner's home life with that of a poor working family. An unsuccessful strike, poverty, death and hardship threaten to tear the poor family apart. 29 min. DVD 5863; vhs 999:2838 A Day Without a Mexican (USA / Mexico / Spain, 2004) Directed by Sergio Arau. Cast: Yarelli Arizmendi, John Getz, Maureen Flannigan, Muse Watson, Fernando Arau, Eduardo Palomo. California awakens one day to discover that one third of its population has vanished. A peculiar pink fog surrounds the state and communication outside its boundaries has completely shut down. As the day progresses, it becomes apparent the sole characteristic linking the missing 14 million is their Hispanic heritage. Special features: the making-of 'A day without a Mexican'; filmmaker commentary; music video "Frijoleros" by Molatov; outtakes; music video "Sin decir adios" by Los Yoguis; the original short that inspired the film; original theatrical trailers & TV spots. Based on "A day without a Mexican, a mockumentary" by Yarelli Arizmendi and Sergio Arau. 95 min. DVD 3148 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Movie Review Query Engine The Deserter (Desertir) (Soviet Union, 1933) Directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin. A German shipyard laborer joins a worker's strike in defiance of a corrupt union and regardless of the company's violent reprisals. Starved, beaten and discouraged, he is sent in an envoy to the USSR and is rejuvenated by the spirit of cooperation and optimism of the idyllic workers' state. 100 min. DVD 8554; 999:1690 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database The Devil and Miss Jones (1941) Directed by Sam Wood. Cast: Jean Arthur, Robert Cummings, Charles Coburn, Edmund Gwenn, S. Z. Sakall, Spring Byington. J.P. Merric, the richest man in the world, a tyrannical department store tycoon, nicknamed "the devil" by his maltreated employees, meets Miss Jones and becomes a perfect angel. Hoping to root out labor discontent, J.P. goes underground posing as a shoe salesman in his own store. 92 min. 999:3609 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database The Devil Wears Prada(2006) Directed by David Frankel. Cast: Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci, Simon Baker, Emily Blunt, Adrian Grenier. Miranda, editor of "Runway" magazine, is a terror to everyone around her. Her first assistant strives to please her, but can't quite pull it off. Enter Andy, a young woman who knows nothing of the fashion industry and has never read the magazine. Nonetheless, Miranda, hires her as second assistant. When Miranda demands that she obtain the next unpublished Harry Potter manuscript, it forces Andy to dig it up in order to please her boss. With the help of one of the magazine's fashion editors, she gets a complete makeover and new security, and as she is whisked away to Paris with Miranda, Andy faces all of the glamor that could be hers and is forced to make the decision of where she wants to be in her life. Special features: Deleted scenes; commentary by director David Frankel, producer Wendy Finerman, costume designer, Patricia Field, screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna, editor Mark Livolsi and director of photography, Florian Balhaus; "A trip to the big screen" featurette. 110 min. DVD 7488 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database The Efficiency Expert (Spotswood)(Australia, 1992) Directed by Mark Joffe. Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Ben Mendelsohn, Alwyn Kurtz, John Walton, Tony Collete, Russell Crowe, Daniel Willie. The Ball's Moccasins company is cash poor, but efficiency expert Erroll Wallace has come to rescue the eccentric family-run enterprise. With his charts, stopwatch and clipboard at the ready, Wallace aimes to streamline this, and maximize that, but can a bunch of cuckoos run a factory like clockwork? 97 min. 999:3167 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database F. I. S. T. (FIST) (1978) Directed by Norman Jewison. Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Rod Steiger, Peter Boyle, Melinda Dillon. Closely paralleling history, this film recounts the rise and fall of union leader Johnny Kovak from his beginnings as an idealistic blue collar worker to head of the Federation of Inter-State Truckers. To achieve his dream of justice for the working man, Kovak must accept the muscle of organized crime. Untimately, it is a story of idealism corrupted and betrayed. 145 min. DVD 6236 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Zieger, Gay P. and Zieger, Robert H. "Unions On The Silver Screen: A Review-Essay On F.I.S.T., Blue Collar, And Norma Rae." Labor History 1982 23(1): 67-78. Germinal (France, 1993) Directed by Claude Berri. Cast: Miou-Miou, Renaud, Jean Carmet, Judith Henry, Jean-Roger Milo, Gerard Depardieu. Recreates the gut-wrenching poverty and intense struggles of striking French coal-miners in 1884 at the Voreux mines through the bitter toils of Maheu and his family and Etienne, an organizer for the miner's new union. As conditions in the mines worsen, Etienne convinces Maheu to organize a a miner's strike but when the miners finally do strike the owners send in armed soldiers to defend the mines. Based on a novel by Emile Zola. 166 min. 999:3286 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Grapes of Wrath (1940) Directed by John Ford. Cast: Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, Charley Grapewin. The migration of the Joad family to California from their dust-bowl farm in Oklahoma during the Great Depression. c1987. 100 min. DVD 2434; vhs 999:508 Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database Gung Ho (1986) Directed by Ron Howard. Cast: Michael Keaton, Gedde Watanabe, George Wendt, Mimi Rogers, John Turturro. A young American auto exec persuades a Japanese auto firm to reopen his home town's defunct auto factory, but when the Japanese hire him to enforce their policies among his American co-workers, he goes from hero to zero in seconds flat. 112 min. DVD 1772 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Haiku Tunnel (2001) Directors, Jacob Kornbluth, Josh Kornbluth. Cast: Josh Kornbluth, Warren Keith, Helen Shumaker, Amy Resnick, Brian Thorstenson, June Lomena, Sarah Overman. When young, commitment phobic Josh goes from "temp" to a permanent position at a San Francisco law firm, his happy, unstructured life begins to unravel. Soon, an unforgettable interoffice adventure begins involving the ice queen manager, a dangerous armed guard, a sexy criminal lawyer and seventeen seemingly unmailable letters. 90 min. DVD 1311 Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database Hoffa (1992) Directed by Danny DeVito. Cast: Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito, Armand Assante, J.T. Walsh, Robert Prosky. Traces Jimmy Hoffa's turbulent career from 1935, when he first solicits truck drivers to join the fledgling International Brotherhood of Teamsters, to his disappearance in 1975. The film traces Hoffa's passionate struggle to shape the nation's most influential labor union, his relationship with the mob, and his subsequent conviction and prison term at the hand of Robert Kennedy. 137 min. DVD 6238 Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database How Green Was My Valley (1967) Directed by John Ford. Cast: Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, Anna Lee, Donald Crisp, Roddy McDowall, John Loder, Sara Allgood, Barry Fitzgerald, Patric Knowles. A man looks back on his life as a boy in a small Welsh mining town. His reminiscences reveal the disintegration of his closely knit family, while capturing the sentiments and issues of their time. 119 min. DVD 306 Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967) Directed by David Swift. Cast: Robert Morse, Michele Lee, Rudy Vallee, Anthony Teague, Maureen Arthur. A musical comedy that follows J. Pierpont Finch as he makes a meteoric rise from mailroom to junior executive, captures the heart of a pretty office worker and the admiring eye of the president -- all in the morning of his second day at work. It's only a matter of hours 'til his sights are set on the company boardroom. 121 min. DVD 568 Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database Kameradschaft (Comradeship) (Germany, 1931) Director, G.W. Pabst. Based on an actual incident in which German miners crossed the border to go to the assistance of French miners trapped by an explosion. 90 min. 999:151 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Berman, Russell A. "A Solidarity of Repression: Kameradschaft." In: The Films of G. W. Pabst: An Extraterritorial Cinema / edited by Eric Rentschler. pp: 116-24. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, c1990.(Main Stack PN1998.3.P34.F5 1990; Moffitt PN1998.3.P34.F5 1990) Killer of Sheep (1977) Directed, written, produced by Charles Burnett. Cast: Henry Gayle Sanders, Kaycee Moore, Charles Bracy, Angela Burnett, Eugene Cherry, Jack Drummond. This gripping portrait of Stan, a Black man employed in a Los Angeles slaughterhouse, is internationally regarded as a film classic. Stan's grueling work--gutting and cleaning the sheep carcasses--infects his entire life, including his relationships with his wife, children and friends. The film hauntingly evokes the physical detail and bittersweet emotions of working class life with compassion and honesty. Declared a National Treasure in 1990. Bonus features on DVD 8738: Charles Burnett's acclaimed short films, Several friends (1969), The horse (1973), and When it rains (1995) ; Killer of Sheep commentary track with Charles Burnett and Richard Pena, Program Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center. 79 min. DVD 8738; also DVD 6940; vhs 999:1729 Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database Hozic, Aida A."The House I Live In: An Interview with Charles Burnett." Callaloo. 17(2):471-91. 1994 Summer Kim, Sojin; Livengood, R. Mark. "Killer of Sheep." (movie reviews) Journal of American Folklore v111, n439 (Wntr, 1998):69 (5 pages). Thompson, Cliff. "The Devil Beats His Wife: Small Moments and Big Statements in the Films of Charles Burnett." Cineaste. 23(2):24-27. 1997 The Killing Floor. (1985) Originally produced as motion picture in 1985 for American Playhouse television program. Cast: Damien Leake, Alfre Woodard, Clarence Felder, Moses Gunn. This story tells of events that led to the Chicago race riots of 1919. A young black sharecropper leaves the South during World War I and becomes a laborer in the Chicago stockyards, and, along with other little-known stockyard workers of different ethnic backgrounds, he attempts to form an interracial industrial union in the face of growing conflict. 118 min. 999:1178 Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database Maid in Manhattan (2002) Directed by Wayne Wang. Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Ralph Fiennes, Natasha Richardson, Stanley Tucci, Tyler Garcia Posey, Frances Conroy, Chris Eigeman, Amy Sedaris, Bob Hoskins. A struggling single mom takes a job as a chambermaid at a luxury hotel in New York. She meets and falls in love with a sauve and sophisticated heir to an American political dynasty, who mistakes her for a society woman. When her real identity is revealed, the reality about their seperate lives sets in. 105 min. DVD 2885 Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956) Directed by Nunnally Johnson. Cast: Gregory Peck, Jennifer Jones, Fredric March, Gene Lockhart, Marisa Pavan, Lee J. Cobb, Ann Harding, Keenan Wynn. An veteran of World War II (still haunted by its memories) gets a job in a public relations firm. With added tension at work and increasing personal problems, the rising young executive must decide as his boss did--what is the most important thing in life, family or success? This exceptional drama, acclaimed for its extraordinary realism is a classic commentary on the American Dream. 153 min. DVD 4690; vhs 999:222 Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database Matewan(1954) Directed by John Sayles. The story of a bitter clash between union and coal company in West Virginia in the 1920's. 100 min. DVD 3720; VHS 999:508 Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database Metropolis (Germany, 1926) Directed by Fritz Lang. Screenplay, Thea von Harbou; Special effects, Eugen Schufftan; hotography, Karl Freund, Gunther Rittau . Cast: GBrigitte Helm, Alfred Abel, Gustave Frolhich, Rudolph Klein-Rogge, Heinrich Georg. The story of a 21st century city run by a "super trustee" and his collaborators who live in a paradise-like garden. Workers are totally enslaved by machines and condemned to live underground. In the midst of this misery, a young woman, Maria, arises and attempts to inspire the workers to throw off their oppressors. Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database DVD 1574 Restored authorized ed., digitally remastered by Kino. Restored under the supervision of the Murnau Foundation and with the original 1927 orchestral score by Gottfried Huppertz. Plus special features, 43 min. documentary, audio commentary. Special features: 43 min. documentary: The making of Metropolis by Enno Patalas; featurette of the digital restoration; photo galleries featuring production stills, missing scenes, architectural sketches, poster artwork ; cast and crew biographies; Audio commentary in English. 124 min. vhs 999:512 (Kino - restored version) 90 min. vhs 999:513 Reconstructed and adapted" videocassette release, re-edited with color and music by Giorgio Moroder. 107 min. Modern Times (1936) Directed by Charlie Chaplin, featuring Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Henry Bergman, Stanley Sandford, Chester Conklin, Hank Mann, Allan Garcia, Stanley Blystone, Dick Alexander, Cecil Reynolds, Myra McKinney. The Little Tramp is an oppressed assembly-line factory worker who is used as a guinea pig for his employer's test of a new "Automatic Feeding Machine". He battles it out with technology, unemployment, jail, burglars, demanding customers and bosses. In the midst of his tribulations, he meets up with the girl of his dreams, "The Gamin". They win some and lose more but, at the end, they walk undaunted into the sunrise. 103 min. DVD 195; VHS 999:47 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database The Molly Maguires (1970) Directed by Martin Ritt. Cast: Richard Harris, Sean Connery, Samantha Eggar, Frank Finlay, Anthony Zerbe, Bethel Leslie, Art Lund. James McParlan is an operative working for the Pinkerton Detective Agency, who is hired by a major coal company to infiltrate and expose an underground terrorist organization, the "Molly Maguires". The Mollies operate within the improverished mining communities of Pennsylvania and are mostly Irish emigrants. McParlan is selected to infiltrate the organization to pose as a new member, but it quickly becomes apparent that the working conditions are truly wretched. The lawman's loyalties become divided between the law and his fellow countrymen. 123 min. DVD 8445; vhs 999:2353 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database The Navigators (UK / Germany / Spain, 2001) Directed by Ken Loach. Cast: Dean Andrews, Tom Craig, Joe Duttine, Sean Glenn, Steve Huison, Venn Tracey, John Aston, Juliet Bates, Charlie Brown. In South Yorkshire, as big business takes hold of the British Rail industry, a local depot gang is forced to either adapt to the new managerial double-talk or take chances with receiving severance pay. Agreements set long ago are suddenly undermined by a new managing director who wipes the slate clean. Tensions mount when the men show up at the depot only to find there is no work for them. 95 min. DVD 5675 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database 9 to 5 (Nine to Five) (1980) Directed by Colin Higgins. Cast: Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, Dabney Coleman, Elizabeth Wilson, Sterling Hayden. Three female office workers combine forces to kidnap their deceitful, egotistical, and thoroughly chauvinistic boss and raise office efficiency to an all-time high during his absence. 110 min. DVD 949 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Norma Rae (1979) Directed by Martin Ritt; Cast: Sally Field, Ron Leibman, Beau Bridges, Pat Hingle, Barbara Baxley. Norma Rae, a textile worker in a small Southern town discovers that she has a social consciousness when a labor organizer arrives at her mill to establish a union. c1990. 114 min. 999:2419 Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database Zieger, Gay P. and Zieger, Robert H. "Unions On The Silver Screen: A Review-Essay On F.I.S.T., Blue Collar, And Norma Rae." Labor History 1982 23(1): 67-78. Toplin, Robert Brent. "Norma Rae : "a female rocky" In: History by Hollywood : the use and abuse of the American past Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 1996. (Main Stack PN1995.9.H5.T66 1996; Moffitt PN1995.9.H5.T66 1996; PFA PN1995.9.H5.T66 1996) North Country (2005) Directed by Niki Caro. Cast: Charlize Theron, Elle Peterson, Thomas Curtis, Frances McDormand, Sean Bean, Woody Harrelson, Jeremy Renner, Richard Jenkins, Sissy Spacek. Josey Aimes needs a job and goes to work at a Minnesota steel mine after splitting with her violent husband. But the job proves to be almost as harrowing as her marriage. The male miners are resentful of women taking their jobs, so the men verbally abuse and play humiliating pranks on the female miners. After being physically assaulted by a coworker, Josey tries to fight against the harassment, but none of the other women will join her case for fear that things will only get worse. A dramatization of the first major successful sexual harassment case in the U.S. - Jenson vs. Eveleth Mines, where a woman who endured a range of abuse while working as a miner filed and won a landmark 1984 lawsuit. 123 min. DVD 5207 Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database Movie Review Query Engine The Office (The Complete First Series, 2001) Cast: Ricky Gervais, Martin Freeman, Mackenzie Crook, Lucy Davis, Stirling Gallacher, Oliver Chris. The complete first season of a British television comedy set in a paper company located in a suburb of London. Meet the staff: David, a petty, pathetic little man who is worse than your boss. David's yes-man is Gareth, who is extremely irratating. Tim is the apathetic sales rep, who can be quite witty. Dawn, the lovely receptionist, is far more endearing than your back-sassying secretary. Work is a pain, but one man's misery is another man's entertainment. 210 min. DVD 2323 Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database The Office (The Complete Second Series, 2002) Cast: Ricky Gervais, Martin Freeman, Mackenzie Crook, Lucy Davis, Patrick Baladi, Stacey Roca. The complete second season of a British television comedy set in a paper company located in a suburb of London. The show revolves around David Brent, the oblivious general manager who instigates petty office Originally broadcast by the BBC in 2002. 180 min. DVD 2628 Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database The Office: Complete Series One & Two and The Special (UK, 2001-2002) Cast: Ricky Gervais, Martin Freeman, Mackenzie Crook, Lucy Davis, Patrick Baladi, Stacey Roca. The complete series (plus extensive special features) of a British television comedy set in a paper company located in a suburb of London; a hilarious, biting look at everyday office life. The special features : The office : closed for business documentary ; Golden globes featurette ; "If you don't know me by now" full song and video ; The making of "freelove freeway" ; director's commentary ; documentary: "How I made the office" ; Wernham Hogg News ; "Slough slang" ; the local lingo ; Wernham Hogg Personnel file ; character bios ; deleted scenes ; outtakes ; video diary. Originally broadcast by BBC2 in 2001-2002. 500 min. DVD 7923 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Office Space (1999) Directed by Mike Judge. Cast: Ron Livingston, Stephen Root, Jennifer Aniston, Gary Cole. In this screwball comedy, an office drone decides that work sucks and actively tries to get fired. Instead, his "straight-shooting" attitude gets him promoted where he can play out his grand embezzling scheme, but can he pull it off before all corporate hell breaks loose? c1990. 90 min. 999:2844 Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database On the Waterfront (1954) Directed by Elia Kazan. Cast: Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, Pat Henning, Eva Marie Saint. Mob-connected union boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb) rules the waterfront with an iron fist. The police know that he's been responsible for a number of murders, but witnesses play deaf and dumb ("plead D & D"). Washed-up boxer Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) has had an errand-boy job because of the influence of his brother Charley, a crooked union lawyer (Rod Steiger). Witnessing one of Friendly's rub-outs, Terry is willing to keep his mouth shut until he meets the dead dockworker's sister Edie (Eva Marie Saint). "Waterfront priest" Father Barry (Karl Malden) tells Terry that Edie's brother was killed because he was going to testify against boss Friendly before the crime commission. Because he could have intervened, but didn't, Terry feels somewhat responsible for the death. When Father Barry receives a beating from Friendly's goons, Terry is persuaded to cooperate with the commission. [description from All-Media Guide]c1985. 108 min. DVD 899; VHS 999:18 Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database Our Daily Bread (1934) Directed by King Vidor. Cast: Tom Keene, Karen Morley, Barbara Pepper, Addison Richards. Depression movie about a collective farm and its development as a rural community of the unemployed. The unemployed portrayed include a jobless city couple, a Swedish farmer and his family, and other victims of the industrial-financial collapse. 1984. 100 min. DVD 691; vhs 999:65 Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database The Pajama Game (1957) Directed by George Abbott and Stanley Donen. Cast: Doris Day, John Raitt, Carol Haney, Eddie Foy Jr., Reta Shaw, Barbara Nichols. Labor and management at the Sleeptite Pajama Factory aren't getting much sleep lately: a proposed 7 1/2 cent hourly wage increase is the reason--and a job action just may be the result. But not to worry: negotiating strategies here involve snappy stars, terrific tunes and dynamic dances, all part of one of the most infectiously joyful stage/screen musicals ever. c1990. 102 min. DVD 5723; vhs 999:1996 Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database Pitfall (Otoshiana)(Japan, 1962) Directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara. Cast: Hisashi Igawa, Kunie Tanaka, Hideo Kanze, Kazuo Miyahara, Sumie Sasaki, Kanichi Omiya, Kei Sato, Sen Yano, Ton Shimada, Shigeru Matsuo, Kikuo Kaneuchi. When a miner leaves his employer and treks out with his young son to become a migrant worker, he finds himself moving from one eerie landscape to another, intermittently followed (and photographed) by an enigmatic man in a clean, white suit, and eventually coming face-to-face with his inescapable destiny. 97 min. DVD DVD 9080 Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database The Proud Valley (UK, 1940) Director, Pen Tennyson. Cast: Paul Robeson, Edward Chapman, Edward Rigby, Simon Lack, Janet Johnson, Rachel Thomas. Paul Robeson plays a sailor who comes to a Welsh coal mining town and helps re-open the mine at the cost of his life. Special features include a radio interview with Paul Robeson from 1958. 76 min. DVD 7283 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Ressources Humaines (France / UK, 1999) Director, Laurent Cantet. Cast: Jalil Lespert, Jean-Claude Vallod, Didier Emile-Woldemard, Danielle Melador, Lucien Longueville. Frank's dad, a laborer, saved his whole life to give Frank a good education. Now back home with a college degree and a management job at his dad's company, Frank is torn between his old life and new responsibilities. Thinking he understands both sides, he gets in the middle of a union dispute that risks his reputation and his father's future. VHS SECAM format; VHS in French, no subtitles (DVD has subtitles). 100 min. DVD 1845; vhs 999:3519 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Salt of the Earth (1987) Directed by Herbert J. Biberman. A semidocumentary of the year-long struggle by Mexican-American zinc miners in New Mexico. When an injunction is issued against the workers, the wives take up the battle with a fury, leaving the husbands to care for home and children. 1987. 94 min. DVD 682; VHS 999:266 Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database A Crime to Fit the Punishment (documentary on the making of Salt of the Earth) Video/C 9289 >P> Silkwood (1983) Directed by Mike Nichols. Cast: Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell, Cher, Craig T. Nelson, Diana Scarwid, Fred Ward, Ron Silver. Based on a true story. When Karen Silkwood becomes contaminated with plutonium at her job and voices her protest at the indifference and denial of her company, she becomes a threat to the entire nuclear industry and the government agencies that monitor it. 131 min. DVD 8913 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Strike (Stachka) (Soviet Union, 1924) Directed by Sergei Eisenstein. The first full-length feature project of pantheon Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein, Strike is a government-commissioned celebration of the unrealized 1905 Bolshevik revolution. The story is set in motion by a series of outrages and humiliations perpetrated on the workers of a metalworks plant. The Czarist regime is unsympathetic to the workers, characteristically helping the plant owners to subjugate the hapless victims. Finally, the workers revolt, staging an all-out strike. Here is where Eisenstein's theory of "the montage of shocks" was given its first major workout. While the notion of juxtaposing short, separate images to heighten tension and excitement was not new, Eisenstein was the first to fully understand the value of using sudden-shock images (a bloody face, a fired weapon, a descending club) to make his dramatic and sociological points. Playing to mixed reviews and small audiences in Russia, Strike proved a success worldwide, assuring Eisenstein complete creative freedom on his next project, the immortal Potemkin. (Hal Erickson, All-Movie Guide).c2000. 80 min. DVD 353; VHS 999:2100 (94 min., digitally mastered); VHS 999:695 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Swing Shift (1984) Directed by Jonathan Demme. Cast: Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell, Christine Lahti, Fred Ward, Ed Harris, Holly Hunter. In this vivid look at the wartime conditions during WWII that stood society on its head, Kay Walsh and her neighbor, Hazel, go to work in a factory to help in the war effort. Kay Walsh had never held a wrench before but you're never too pretty to learn. 100 min. DVD 3143 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Take This Job and Shove It (1981) Directed by Gus Trikonis; featuring Robert Hays, Barbara Hershey, Art Carney, David Keith, Tim Thomerson. A man is sent to his home town to reorganize a failing brewery. His old buddies are reluctant to have him for their boss and he can't save them all from severe changes. When he does too good of a job at reorganizing, the owners decide to sell the brewery. 100 min. DVD 2412 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database 10,000 Black Men Named George (2002) Director, Robert Townsend. Cast: Andre Braugher, Karen Eyo, Charles S. Dutton, Mario Van Peebles, Ardon Bess, Carla Brothers, Kedar Brown, Amanda Brugel, Joel Gordon. A dramatization of the true story of the formation of the first black-controlled union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Asa Philip Randolph, a black journalist establishes a voice for the forgotten workers of the Pullman Rail Company, where all black porters were simply named "George", after George Pullman, the first person to employ emancipated slaves. 95 in. DVD 1850 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database They Drive by Night (1940) Directed by Raoul Walsh; featuring George Raft, Ann Sheridan, Ida Lupino, Humphrey Bogart, Gale Page, Alan Hale, Roscoe Karns. Paul Fabrini and his brother Joe are wildcat drivers-- men who buy their trucks on installment plans and then worry that loan sharks will repossess their trucks. As they drive their truck over rough California roads, night after night, their rough life gets even tougher when they get involved with murder and the mob. 94 min. DVD 3905; vhs 999:2532 Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database Tout va Bien (Italy / France, 1966) Directed by Jean-Luc Godard. Cast: Yves Montand, Jane Fonda, Vittorio Caprioli,Elizabeth Chauvin, Castel Casti, Eric Chartier, Louis Bugette, Yves Gabrieli, Pierre Duory. The story of a wildcat strike at a sausage factory in France, as witnessed by an American reporter and her has-been New Wave film director husband. Culminates in a free-range assault on consumer capitalism and ineffective leftists. A caustic critique of society, marriage, and revolution in post-1968 France. Special features: "Letter to Jane (1972)", Jean-Luc Godard and Jean-Pierre Gorin's postscript film to 'Tout va bien'; 1972 video interview excerpt with Jean-Luc Godard; new video interview with Jean-Pierre Gorin; includes a booklet including essays by film critics J. Hoberman and Kent Jones and Godard biographer Colin MacCabe and an excerpted interview with Gorin and Godard from 1972. 96 min. DVD 3549 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database The Trace of Stones (Spur der Steine)(1966) Directed by Frank Beyer. The Party's construction foreman, loved and supported by his workers, is king of the building site. When the new Party Secretary and a young female engineer arrive, the foreman changes his view of life. The hero's swaggering pose is reminiscent of Hollywood's Western heroes. After its release in 1966, this film was banned for 25 years by East Germany. Based on the novel of the same title by Erik Neutsch. 134 min. 999:2540 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Description of film from DEFA Film Library Trading Places (1983) Directed by John Landis. Cast: Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, Denholm Elliott, Jamie Lee Curtis. The rich Duke Brothers wager on whether a born loser like Billy Ray Valentine, a hustler from the ghetto, can become as successful as Winthorpe, a wealthy investment executive, if put in the proper environment--and would a prig like Winthorpe turn to a life of crime if he were to lose it all. 116 min. DVD 3779 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Working Girl (1988) Directed by Mike Nichols. Cast: Harrison Ford, Sigourney Weaver, Melanie Griffith, Joan Cusack, Alec Baldwin. A young secretary in New York named Tess McGill has the brains, looks and charm to make it big. All she needs is the right haircut, clothes and job. The opportunity arises when her classy, seductive and treacherous boss breaks a leg skiing. Tess steps into her job, her apartment and her clothes, and all sorts of witty and romantic things follow! 116 min. DVD 718 Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database

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Labor Themes in the Movies and on TV