121m; U.S.
Director: David Swift
Cast: Robert Morse, Michele Lee and Rudy Vallee
Synopsis: Armed with a “How to…” manual, an ambitious window washer seeks to climb the corporate ladder.
Category Archives: Occupation/Type of Work
Hull House: The House that Jane Built (1991)
58m;
Director: Tim Ward
Synopsis: In 1889, amidst the slums of Chicago’s Near West Side, pioneer social worker Jane Addams (1860-1935) opened Hull House to aid the poor, largely immigrant residents of the neighborhood. Addams was joined by several other young women–college educated, politically progressive and highly motivated–whose collective efforts turned Hull House into a major center for social reform activities. This docudrama, featuring Ellen Burstyn as host/narrator, utilizes excerpts from the public writings and private papers of Addams and her associates to tell their remarkable story in their own words.
Hyenas (1992)
110m; Senegal
Director: Djibril Diop Mambéty
Cast: Ami Diakhate, Djibril Diop Mambéty and Mansour Diouf
Synopsis: A once-prosperous Senegalese village has been falling further into poverty year by year until the village’s elders are reduced to selling town possessions to pay debts. Linguère, a former resident and local beauty, now very rich, returns to this, the village of her birth. The elders hope that she will be a benefactor to the village. To encourage her generosity, they appoint a local grocer, Dramaan, as mayor–who once courted her and will now try to persuade her to help. In fact, Linguère has returned with the intention of sharing her millions with the village but only in return for an unexpected action. This plot twist brings human folly and cynicism into sharp focus.
I Always Do My Collars First: A Film About Ironing (2007)
25m;
Synopsis: Four Cajun women in Southwestern Louisiana on what ironing means to them.
Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
96m; U.S.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Warren William, Joan Blondell and Aline MacMahon
Synopsis (IMDB): Millionaire turned composer Dick Powell rescues unemployed Broadway people with a new play.
Going Private (Nachbeben) [2006]
98m
Director: Stina Werenfels
Cast: Michael Neuenschwander, Susanne-Marie Wrage, Bettina Stucky, Georg Scharegg
Synopsis (IMDB): Investment banker HP has allegedly ridden out the crash of the stock exchange. One evening, on a barbecue event with his banker friends and their wives, HP’s Danish au pair girl threatens to blow the whistle on her love affair with HP’s married boss. HP wants to please everybody but what was set out to be a gathering amongst friends spins out of control into a night of blackmail and intrigue.
Fun With Dick And Jane (2005)
90m; U.S.
Director: Dean Parisot
Cast: Jim Carrey, Téa Leoni and Alec Baldwin
Synopsis: The day before Globodyne’s stock tanks, a la Enron, and its pension fund evaporates, the corporation’s CEO and CFO set up middle manager Dick Harper to be the public face of the disaster. Jobless, and with no savings, pension, or home equity, Dick and his wife Jane sink slowly into poverty. He looks for work (as do all former Globodyne executives); he even tries day labor with the relatives of their Mexican nanny. A foreclosure notice sends Dick and Jane over the edge into a life of blue-collar crime. Then, as things finally look up, the report of an looming indictment pushes Dick and Jane toward a denouement with the real criminals, the white-collar guys
From Wharf Rats to Lords of the Docks (2006)
U.S.
Director: Haskell Wexler
Synopsis: A filmed version of a Ian Ruskin’s one man-play covering the life of International Longshoreman and Warehouse Union founder and labor radical Harry Bridges.
Contact: Ian Ruskin, theharrybridgesproject@comcast.net; http://www.theharrybridgesproject.org
From Sunrise to Sunset (1984)
42m
Director: Robin King
Synopsis (WorldCat): “Reminiscences of John Handcox, 79 year old black poet, songwriter, and former member of the 1930’s Southern Tenant Farmers Union in Arkansas.”
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