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Blue Collar (film)

1978 film by Paul Schrader

Blue Collar is a 1978 film about three auto workers whose plot to break into the safe of their union results in little money, but a valuable ledger that reveals the union's illegal activities and ties to organized crime.

Directed by Paul Schrader. Written by Paul Schrader and Leonard Schrader.
Whatever became of the "American Dream"? (taglines)

Zeke Brown

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  • And when I take over your muthafuckin' job, know what I'm gonna do baby? Gonna get on my private jet and wing up to Palm Springs. Hang out with Eddie Knuckles, and hit a few golfballs with President Ford and Nixon and them muthafuckas.
  • [just before the union break-in] Maybe we should've robbed a liquor store like everybody else.
  • Man, flick my Bic!

Jerry Bartowski

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  • Credit's the only thing you can get free from the company. Got a house, fridge, dishwasher, washer-dryer, TV, stereo, motorcycle, car..."buy this shit, buy that shit." All you got's a buncha shit.

Dialogue

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Smokey James: Why do you go to the line every Friday?
Jerry Bartowski: Well ...
Smokey James: Because the finance man's gonna be at your house on Saturday, right? That's exactly what the company wants - to keep you on their line. They'll do anything to keep you on their line. They pit the lifers against the new boys, the old against the young, the black against the white - ANYTHING to keep us in our place.
Clarence Hill, Union Steward: Y'know I can't go to the Green Room with every little thing. I gotta wait for somethin' big, or a buncha little things. Now we can't let our power be dissipated by the, by the plant. . .
Zeke Brown: Plant my ass, man! That's all you talk about, "the plant"! Everybody know what "the plant" is. "The plant" just short for plantation!
Zeke Brown: I take home two-ten a week man, goddamn. I gotta pay for the lights, gas, clothes, food... every fuckin' thing, man. I'm left with about thirty bucks after all the fuckin' bills are paid. Gimme a break, will ya mister?
Mr. Bird, I.R.S. Man: Mister Brown, there's nothing I can do. I work for Uncle Sam . . .
Zeke Brown: Fuck Uncle Sam, man! They give the fuckin' politicians a break! Agnew and 'em don't pay shit! Working man's gotta pay every goddamn thing!
Mr. Bird, I.R.S. Man: You shouldn't say that about Uncle Sam . . .
Zeke Brown: Don't point at me, you muthafucka! Get out my house! I'll pay the goddamn money!
Mr. Bird, I.R.S. Man: [heads for the door] You bet you will, you'll pay it.
Zeke Brown: Yeah I know I'll pay it! If I had the Navy and Marines behind me, I'd be a muthafucka too!
Clarence Hill, Union Steward: [in the green room, after Zeke's confrontation with Dogshit Miller] It sounds like a simple misunderstanding to me. Now... Zeke'll buy Miller a bottle of Cutty, and we'll forget the whole thing.
Zeke Brown: ZEKE AIN'T BUYIN NOBODY A GODDAMN THING! And you ain't shit for a steward, Hill!
Clarence Hill, Union Steward: Maybe you don't belong in this union!
Zeke Brown: Maybe you're right!
Zeke Brown: [while watching "The Jeffersons"] Now that shit is pitiful. I dunno how in the fuck a nigga like that gets some money anyway. This is the dumbest shit - look at this muthafucka. Look like a muthafuckin' ostrich. Look at that shit . . .
Caroline Brown: If you hate it so much, why dontcha just turn it off?
Zeke Brown: Turn it off? Are you kiddin' baby? Took me three years to pay for that muthafucka. We gon' watch everything they show on it. All the shit they show. Even the snow when the muthafucka go off, I'm gonna sit here and watch that!
Zeke Brown: [after outlining their plan for blackmailing the union] Smoke, what if they don't wanna pay?
Smokey James: If they don't pay, then we're gonna cut'em a new asshole.

Taglines

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  • The company builds cars and destroys men
  • Whatever became of the "American Dream"?

Cast

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