Insomnia and 300 Channels of the same shit, your bound to see something you never have. That's exactly the story behind how I saw "Blue Collar". As a child I came to know Richard Pryor in a similar fashion. My sister and I would always watch whatever Richard Pryor movie we had on VHS or was coming on TV. Once we found Richard Pryor records belonging to my Granny & snuck to listen to them, not understanding his mostly adult act, we knew that shit was funny. So when I turned on "Blue Collar" a few nights ago, I knew this movie was going to be hilarious.
Much to my surprise, it never got funny. It had funny moments, but the movie was very serious. Yaphet Kotto, Pryor and Harvey Keitel starred as Detroit Autoworkers, all struggling to make ends meet, all looking to come up. Two of the three (Keitel & Pryor) had family issues and mounting bills, and enlisted the help of (Kotto) to assist them in a robbery. After successfully robbing their Union office for a few hundred dollars, they stumble upon a classified ledger (illegally kept by the union heads). The decisions they made after the discovery of the ledger are what great movies are made of. Their struggle mirrors the very same problems many of us have still today. Under or unemployed, struggling in this economy. Shit, at least they still had Car plant jobs. They painted a picture of hopelessness and despair in this film. Honestly, not much has changed for many American families today.
Do yourself a favor.
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