Working Stiffs, Union Maids, Reds, and Riffraff

by Tom Zaniello

Explores the history of the portrayal of the working class in motion pictures

Genres: Film

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Noah Soudrette · Rating 4 out of 5]

An unusual and compelling filmography of films that meditate on the theme of labor. This is a relatively unstudied and not-so-noted micro-genre of film. However, even if it seems not so interesting on the surface, it's easy to get into the themes and depths of some of these films. I must admit however, that I do know the author, so I'm a bit biased.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great reference book of movies about labor and working people.

[John Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a significant resource book with an amazing collection of films about – in some way – labor. Zaniello provides a great service in providing so many books in a super organized way. This, his second collection, is expanded to 350 films, under five criteria: films about labor or labor groups, labor history, covering working-class life, or struggles between labor and capital. As a labor activist my entire life, I had only consumed about two dozen in his collection.

Zaniello’s method is perfect. He includes the name of the film, the year it was released, the country, the length of the film, the rating, director, screenplay and cast, then gives a detailed but concise summary. If that isn’t enough, he also provides how available the film is to access, connects it with similar films, and provides some further reading. His reviews are excellent and packed with history and information. The book also includes websites where one might find distributors for specific films, a chronology of his collection, and a thematic index. This is a book I will leaf through occasionally to increase to select more films on labor that I would like to now watch, especially in the winter or on rainy days.

In addition to classic hits, I’ve watched (9-to-5, East Side Story, Hoffa, Norma Rae, Roger & Me, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and Working Girl) or more hard core labor history films I’ve enjoyed (Angel City, Matewan, Union Maids), this book highlights so many films that look interesting. These include: A Philip Randolph: For Jobs and Freedom, Chaos, Coalmining Women, Computers in Context, Fury, Land of Promise, Never Steal Anything Small (staring James Cagney), Shout Youngstown, Sit Down and Fight: Walter Reuther and the Rise of the Auto Workers’ Union, Sunday Too Far Away, and To Kill a Priest. Just those films I listed touch nine decades, at least three continents, various languages, and dissimilar struggles. This book is a classic.

[Julio The Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is there a rarer image in American cinema than the prole? Actually, yes: The female worker and the Black proles, male and female. Tom Zaniello, who makes no bones about being sympathetic to labor and the left, has compiled his own critical analysis of hundreds of American, British, and European, though only a few Asian, and two African,of Senegal and Guinea-Bissau, portraits of labor in the movies. This review will focus on English-language films. The most persistent trope in American films on working class life shows the worker trying to enter the middle class, what we see in OF MICE AND MEN, A RAISIN IN THE SUN, A STREET CAR NAMED DESIRE and much later, OCTOBER SKY and WORKING GIRL. British kitchen sink dramas at first avoided this cliche, in sturdy films such as SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING, but later embraced it in EDUCATING RITA and MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE. Marrying the boss is a common fantasy in these films (THE PAJAMA GAME) and so is the boss marrying down into the working class (THE DEVIL AND MISS JONES). Labor organizers in America were presumed to be Reds, or mobsters or both, per the loathsome ON THE WATERFRONT. SALT OF THE EARTH, made by blacklisted writers in 1954, the same year as WATERFRONT, provides a healthy antidote. Martin Ritt's THE MOLLY MAGUIRES is one of the few American films to depict armed conflict between owners and workers, in this case Irish miners in the coal country of Pennsylvania. Across the pond, British cinema blamed both labor and management for pursuing selfish interests that tore up the nation (I'M ALRIGHT JACK). Women in the labor ranks are rare in American cinema; NORMA RAE (Martin Ritt again; he wasn't blacklisted for nothing) is the exception, not the rule. Female proles tend to be drifters (Barbara Loden's, WANDA) or targeted for removal by the bosses (Mike Nichols', SILKWOOD). Black workers are dealt with sensitively in NOTHING BUT A MAN and THE KILLING FLOOR, but have become less common over the years. African-American female workers have been scarce. One notable exception is Cicely Tyson in SOUNDER and THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MISS JANE PITTMAN, both set in Louisiana. Zaniello has a hearty appetite for documentaries too. HARRY BRIDGES: A MAN AND HIS UNION shows successful union organizing by a Communist fellow traveler could be accomplished, among dockworkers yet. THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ROSIE THE RIVETER features white farm hands, Black maids and Jewish middle class women entering the factories and joining the ranks of labor during World War II, only to be forced out after victory came in 1945. I am puzzled by the omissions in this book. Why not examine Warren Beatty's REDS, covering both the American and Russian working classes, or Bob Rafelson's FIVE EASY PIECES? Jack Nicholson's Bobby Dupre is a working class stiff who hates himself, his girlfriend and his family, just not his boss at the oil rig, and the scene at the diner pits him against an overworked waitresses, or worker fighting worker. WORKING STIFFS is a handy, thought-provoking and funny guide to the ultimate American taboo, class struggle.

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

The expanded version of this book is good, but not comprehensive. I picked up this book while doing research on movies about working, but was surprised to discover that the author does not seem to feel that retail work is considered 'labor'. This didn't surprise me at first, when I considered that this book might just be about blue collar work (such as factory work and mining), which are what we often consider to be labor intensive jobs. I was surprised then to discover that both 'Office Space' and 'Clockwatchers' are featured here. At the very least what is missing are 'Clerks' and 'Safety Last,' which depict retail work just as thoroughly as those other two depict white collar office jobs. Both of these films are influential in the genre of films about working (more so, I might argue, than 'Newsies,' which is also listed here). I was unfortunately disappointed to see that they were missing.