See
Tom Zaniello, Red, Riffraff and Rackets,
1st and expanded edition—and 2nd edition, gives a
complete listing of all films and documentaries that concern labor;
indispensable.
Other, annotated sites: http://www.rebelgraphics.org/workingclassmovies.html
See also this terrific site with
comprehensive list of documentaries
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/LaborVid.html
for Labor themes in the movies Labor Themes in the Movies
A midwife’s tale see website by the same name on my
site for more information
Daughters of Free Men
Doing As they Can American Social History Project, slavery
1877: The Grand Army of
Starvation 1877 railroad strike and inequality in late 19th century
America at Work,
America at Leisure 150 films accessed from the Library of Congress
collections, digitized, 1890s-1915
Andrew Carnegie: The Richest Man in
The River Ran Red (you can also get a
terrific high-school curriculum package with this);
Palace Cars and
Clockwork (scientific
management)
The Organizer (Italian, but shows
how class consciousness, solidarity is achieved)
Bullet Bargaining at
Matewan (W. Virginia Mine
Wars, 1920) John Sayles – good when paired with Stephen Norwood’s book , Strikebreaking and Intimidation
The Wobblies –documentary, 1970s,
interviews and classic footage; available on DVD now for low cost
Even the Heavens
Wept. PBS account of the massive coal miners
strike in
Mine Wars (2004) on Matewan and its larger context, available for $17 from Bill Richardson,
Northern Lights (farm-labor organizing,
Los Mineros (Mexican-American
Copper Miners)
The Killing Floor (packinghouses,
Chicago, black migration, race riot); no women in this one
Modern Times Charlie Chaplin—life
in the assembly line, good for use on Taylorism
A
Job at Ford’s-from the Great Depression series by Blackside
Production; one of my favorites. Moving depictions of assembly line work and
unemployed movement; connects Ford to fascism
Mean Things Happening Another in
the Great Depression Series by Blackside, shows lack
of success in organizing black sharecroppers vs. “success” in Northern Steel;
memorial day Massacre. One of my favorites
Labor's Turning Point.
Documentary on the dramatic 1934 Teamsters strike in Minneapolis. Thousands of truckers and vigilantes battle
for control of the streets.
Union Maids (1930s, Chicago, focuses on 3 women in different industries)
The Uprising of
1934 textile workers strike, a powerful moving film using oral histories; one
of the best for introducing students to the role of memory and power
The Great Sit Down
With Babies and Banners (Flint, Michigan 1937
sit-down strike, role of women); one of my favorite scenes are the grandmothers
who talk about having hidden blackjacks…
Our Land Too!: The STFU (Southern Tenant Farmers Union)
Seeing Red (labor and the red
scare); discussions of role in labor
The Life and Times of Rosie
the Riveter (women in World War II)
Deadline for Action This is terrific for
showing the postwar sitdowns and what it meant to
have radicals in the labor movement: an interpretation of global domination by
US corporations
H2 worker farmworkers, seasonally on contract in the US since 1943
Salesmen
(1968). Bible
salesmen! A classic.. This is one of the best to
discuss worker alienation
Salt of the Earth (suppressed 1950s film
about strike in Mine-Mill; Mexican-American workers, community basis to strikes,
proto-feminist themes!) nice when paired with Jim Lorence’s
book on Suppression of Salt of the Earth
Trade Secrets depicts the
international corporate conspiracy to deny right to know about chemical dangers
to workers; moving depiction of the suffering that came as a consequence;
1950s-present
Norma Rae. organizing a Southern textile
mill in the 1960s , based on true story of organizing J.P. Stevens
At the River I Stand Labor and Civil Rights
(Memphis garbage strike of 1968 and Martin Luther King)
Harlan
County USA. The use of corporate
power and violence to intimidate coal miners' strike in the 1970s
Struggles in Steel black steelworkers in
Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Alabama from the 19th –20th
century; focuses on 1960s-70s struggle for equity, and then disinvestment
Women of Steel (women steelworkers)
The Global Assembly
Line
Silkwood –pretty good Hollywood
depiction of Karen Silkwood as working class woman
and attempt to expose workplace dangers in plutonium processing plant
Controlling Interest (1970s
“globalization”-corporate assault); one of my favorites, for a quote from a
banker who says they look for dictatorships for stable investments; connects
globalization to domestic labor issues, features for instance a UE shutdown and
US foreign policy repression in Brazil.
Business of America steel shutdowns, 1980s
Shout Youngstown (campaign against shutdowns)
one of my favorites
Diana Kilmury:
Teamster. Drama based on the efforts of
Canadian Teamster to develop a democratic union in the face of goonish violence.
Set in the 1980s.
Mouseland. Labor politics, in Canada, but very
applicable to U.S. issues – 10 minutes
Company Town, Struggling Unions
Roger and Me (Michael Moore, GM, downsizing and its affect on communities)
American Dream (Academy award winner about Hormel strike of mid 1980s; unfortunate
depiction of that strike, but one that can nicely be paired with Peter Rachleff’s book)
Poverty Outlaw --very moving, Kensington
Welfare Rights Organization organizing, poor women organizing for rights and
the systems response
Deadly Corn (1994) – Staley workers, Decatur Illinois their struggles against unsafe
working conditions and 12 hour days; eye opening regarding the lack of safety
in modern US plants
Struggle in the Heartland (Staley workers lockout of 1994-96)
Bread and Roses Ken Loach—modern day service sector
Brassed Off –
British, but a great film about politics and its affect on labor, and affect on
community of downsizing
The Corporation terrific
expose, segments on relationship to labor
Brass Valley
Miles of Smiles, Years of Struggle (black Pullman porters, covers 100 years)