Labor Day

It seems it’s been about 6 months since I’ve been inspired to do a blog post but today, being Labor Day, I’ve been inspired due to my futile efforts to find labor-related movies on TV.  TCM is the only network that’s offering anything appropriate for the holiday and even their three meager offerings (George Clooney’s white collar satire “Up In the Air,” the mockumentary “Roger & Me,” and Arthur Miller’s classic American Dream tragedy “Death of a Salesman”) are all on after midnight so they don’t really count. 

                So today I have spent some time looking at a compendium of movies themed on the American workforce and have come up with my own list of films that I would program for Labor Day if I had my own TV channel.  My list is divided into two groups:  (a) films about white collar, management, entrepreneurship, or stock trading and (b) films about the blue collar and skilled labor force.  I make the distinction because they make for two completely different kinds of storytelling and because I don’t go along with the Oliver Stone view of economics that white collar professionals and management do not contribute to prosperity since, in his view and paraphrasing from his film, “Wall Street,” they (specifically those who work in the stock market) don’t actually make anything, don’t actually produce anything. 

                I believe that white collar and blue collar workers both make essential contributions.  While it is quite true that blue collar skilled workers are the ones who actually make the products that come out of our factories, it is also quite true that white collar workers, management, entrepreneurs and particularly the stock traders are the ones that create the capital that is used to build and operate the factories where those products are made.  Quite simply, my view is that neither group can exist without the other and it has always been a concern to me that as a society we like to pit the two against each other. 

                With that said, here is my list of the best films that have been made about the American worker:

                WHITE COLLAR:

                Jerry Maguire, Joy, Office Space, The Pursuit of Happyness, The Social Network, Wall Street, Boiler Room, Enron: The Smartest Guys In the Room, The Devil Wears Prada, Tucker, Glengarry Glen Ross, Erin Brockovich, Inside Job, Trading Places, Up In the Air, Barbarians at the Gate, Other People’s Money, Working Girl, The Intern, The Solid Gold Cadillac, Executive Suite, The Money Changers.

                BLUE COLLAR:

                Norma Rae, On the Waterfront, The Devil and Miss Jones, The Grapes of Wrath, 9 to 5, North Country, Killer of Sheep, Modern Times, Roger and Me. 

                SPECIAL NOTES:

                You will note that there is a very broad mix of drama, comedy, satire, and tragedy in these titles.  I would like to make special comments about four of the titles:  Other People’s Money, The Intern, The Solid Gold Cadillac, and The Money Changers. 

                Other People’s Money:       This Danny DeVito comedy about the hostile takeover of a long established family owned manufacturing business (owned by Gregory Peck) which is very much opposed by the community of workers that this company employs is probably one of the best articulations for lay people of how the world of high finance works and the fact that they were able to do this within the framework of a comedy was nothing short of genius.  Danny DeVito's long monologue at the stock holders meeting near the end of the movie is probably the single greatest lecture on how the economy works that's ever been in a mainstream Hollywood film.  The good news is that since it’s a comedy it has the obligatory happy ending where, though the hostile takeover succeeds, they work out a deal that everyone gets to keep their jobs.  This may be fantasy but it’s awfully entertaining, and also awfully educational. 

                The Intern:            Robert DeNiro is a senior who manages to snare an internship at Anne Hathaway’s company in order to start a new post-retirement career.  As always, DeNiro’s performance is stellar and it is one of the few examples of him playing a thoroughly nice-guy character.  But his character is to be studied for his behavioral nuances for not only how he manages to get the job but also rise to eventually become Hathaway’s right arm in the company.  This is an excellent comedy/drama that provides a really nice focus on how to beat ageism. 

                The Solid Gold Cadillac:    Judy Holliday plays a blue collar young lady who owns but a single share of stock in this huge conglomerate.  When she discovers that the company’s management are all a bunch of crooks save for the lonely ethical and embattled CEO (Paul Douglas), this excellent comedy shows how she sets out on a quest to use this one share of stock to eventually take over the company, rescue the good-guy CEO and (of course) marry him.  In the end, her thank you/wedding gift from Paul Douglas is a solid gold Cadillac. 

                The Money Changers:        This 1970s miniseries based on the Arthur Hailey novel was first introduced to me by my finance professor at USC who told us, “You really should read Arthur Hailey’s book The Money Changers.  It’s a very entertaining read and I think you’ll find that all of the principles and concept of business and finance that you’ve been studying here the past two years are all encapsulated in this book.  It is an excellent summary of the MBA.”  I read the book over spring break and I had to agree.  The film stars Kirk Douglas as the president of a major bank going through an extreme financial crisis and is an extraordinarily instructive account of how the banking industry and, by extension, all industry works.