Ry Cooder Movies

Paul Schrader's directorial debut examines the trials of Detroit autoworkers living at the mercy of a heartless corporation and a corrupt union. Surviving from paycheck to paycheck, Checker Cab assembly linemen Zeke (Richard Pryor), Jerry (Harvey Keitel), and Smokey (Yaphet Kotto) scrape by and take pleasure in a few rounds of beer or bowling (and occasional illicit amusements). But when their money troubles pile up, Jerry and Smokey join Zeke in a desperate plan to steal cash from their local union office. Along with a piddling $600, they unexpectedly swipe evidence of union corruption. Deciding to use it for blackmail, the men discover instead how powerfully malevolent the union can be in a system that counts on petty divisiveness to keep the larger power structure intact. Inspired by stories of real-life disillusionment, Schrader and his brother/co-writer Leonard Schrader took on politically difficult issues of race and corporate labor, infusing the indictment of unions with a suggestion of post-Watergate paranoia about forces beyond the union that keep workers in their place. From the opening sequence of the assembly line to the final evocative freeze-frame, Schrader maintains an atmosphere of gritty realism, with the lead trio lending low-key dramatic force to a situation beyond their control. Too downbeat for a late '70s audience increasingly drawn to happier fare, Blue Collar flopped, yet it did earn Schrader critical accolades. Although he has reportedly since disowned the film, Blue Collar remains one of Schrader's best works, with Zeke and Jerry powered by the same sense of simmering frustration that would explode so effectively in Affliction two decades later. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

Yuppie-type Michael Berger (Edward Bell) and his bitter wife Lee (Linda Marsh) can barely stand each other as it is. Things don't get much better when they move to Puerto Rico to a house he just inherited from his brother, and the circumstances aren't all that auspicious. It seems his brother murdered his wife before committing suicide. Since they don't see much future in their marriage anyway, they agree to try the then-popular sport of wife-swapping. In this movie, however, more than just wives are swapped, as explicit sexual references and lesbian encounters also take place. Michael goes ballistic from time to time, and his wife is a real queen of sarcasm. Their dislike of each other grows throughout the film, but the bonds which hold them together have never seemed more unbreakable. This movie was produced in 1970 and went commercially unreleased for almost 20 years. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide