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Category Archives: Working Class

Nothing But A Man (1964)

20 Apr

95m; U.S.

Director: Michael Roemer

Cast:  Ivan Dixon, Abbey Lincoln and Julius Harris

Synopsis (IMDB): Born in Birmingham, Duff Anderson, the father of a male toddler, who lives with a nanny, re-locates to a small town to work on the railroad. He meets with and is attracted to Josie much to the chagrin of her preacher father. The marriage does take place nevertheless, both re-locate to live in their own house and he gets a job in a mill. He decides not to bring his son to live with them. Challenges arise when the Mill Foreman finds out that Duff is attempting to unionize the workers, forcing Duff to quit, and look for work elsewhere. Unable to reconcile himself to working on a daily wage of $2.50 picking cotton nor even as a waiter, he gets a job at a garage. He is enraged at a customer for belittling him and Josie, and is let go. Unemployed, unable to support his wife and son, he gets abusive and leaves – perhaps never to return.

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in A: Highly Recommended Labor Films, Blacks, Class, Collective Bargaining, Drama, Farm & Food, Organizing, Unemployment-Wages, Working Class

 

OUVRIERES DU MONDE(Working Women of the World) [2001]

20 Apr

53m; Belguim

Director: Marie-France Collard

Synopsis: Women and labor.

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Documentary, Women, Working Class

 

Oblivion (2008)

20 Apr

93m; 

Director: Heddy Honigman

Synopsis: Focuses on Peru’s capital city of Lima, revealing its startling contrasts of wealth and poverty, and how many of its poorest citizens have survived decades of economic crisis, terrorism and government violence, denial of workers’ rights, and political corruption.

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Documentary, War, Working Class

 

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October Sky (1999)

20 Apr

108m; U.S.

Director: Joe Johnston

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, Laura Dern, Chris Owen

Synopsis: This popular film is based on the true story of Homer Hickam, Jr., the introspective son of a West Virginia mine superintendent who nurtures his dream of sending rockets into outer space. Homer’s boyhood dreams become reality, changing his life and the lives of everyone living in Coalwood, McDowell County, in the late 1950’s. This fictionalized autobiography is based on the book Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam, Jr.

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Drama, Technology, Working Class

 

Of Mice and Men (1992)

20 Apr

115m; U.S.

Director: Gary Sinise

Cast: John Malkovich, Gary Sinise and Ray Walston

Synopsis (IMDB): Based on John Steinbeck’s 1937 classic tale of two travelling companions, George and Lennie, who wander the country during the Depression, dreaming of a better life for themselves. Then, just as heaven is within their grasp, it is inevitably yanked away. The film follows Steinbeck’s novel closely, exploring questions of strength, weakness, usefulness, reality and utopia, bringing Steinbeck’s California vividly to life.

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Drama, Migrant workers, Unemployment-Wages, Working Class

 

Off to War (2005)

20 Apr

80m; U.S.

Director: Brent Renaud, Craig Renaud

Synopsis (IMDB): Members of an Arkansas National Guard unit are transformed from weekend warriors to full-fledged soldiers for the war in Iraq.

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Documentary, War, Working Class

 

Office Suite (2007)

20 Apr

16m; U.S.

Director: Robert Todd

Synopsis: Trilogy filmed on beautiful 16mm in and around Todd’s office, portraying the rhythm of the (working) day.

Contact: Director Robert Todd, Robert_Todd@emerson.edu (http://www.roberttoddfilms.com/office.htm)

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Documentary, Working Class

 

Oliver Twist (2005)

20 Apr

130m; U.S.

Director: Roman Polanski

Contact: Barney Clark, Ben Kingsley and Jeremy Swift

Synopsis (IMDB): An adaptation of the classic Dickens tale, where an orphan meets a pickpocket on the streets of London. From there, he joins a household of boys who are trained to steal for their master.

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Children, Class, Drama, Working Class

 

On a Clear Day (2005)

20 Apr

98m; U.K.

Director: Gaby Dellal

Cast: Peter Mullan, Brenda Blethyn and Billy Boyd

Synopsis (IMDB): After decades of laboring as a Glasgow shipbuilder, Frank Redmond, a no-nonsense 55-year-old working-class man, suddenly finds himself laid off. For the first time in his life, he is without a job or a sense of direction, and he’s too proud to ask for guidance. His best mates – rascally Danny, timid Norman and cynical Eddie – are there for him, but Frank still feels desperately alone. An offhand remark from Danny inspires Frank to challenge himself. Already contemplating the state of his relationships with loving wife Joan and all-but-estranged son Rob, Frank is determined to shore up his own self-confidence. He will attempt the near impossible – swimming the English Channel. As Frank plunges headlong into his new daily life, his astonished friends are swept along with him. Prodded by stalwart fish-and-chips shop owner Chan, the men support Frank, train him – and keep their goal secret from his wife and son.

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Children, Class, Drama, Romance, Sports, Unemployment-Wages, Working Class

 

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On the Right Track (1981)

20 Apr

97m; U.S.

Director: Lee Philips

Cast: Gary Coleman, Maureen Stapleton and Norman Fell

Synopsis (IMDB): Lester is a homeless shoeshine boy living in a railway station. He’s got this funny knack for picking the winning horses’ names out of the paper while shining shoes. When word gets around, though, everyone wants a piece of the action.

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Comedy, Working Class

 
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