The shop received packages from Australia and Germany today. Among the titles enclosed were one new addition to the shop’s inventory, Paul Schrader’s “Blue Collar,” plus restocks of Jack Arnold’s “Tarantula” and “The Incredible Shrinking Man,” as well as Lars von Trier’s “Dancer in the Dark” and Prince’s “Sign ‘o’ the Times.”
According to director Paul Schrader, within a week of filming the stars of “Blue Collar” couldn’t stand each other, and within three weeks they weren’t even speaking. In something of a happy accident, the actors’ unwillingness to be around each other resulted in a lack of coverage that necessitated longer takes that gave the performances in this story a more visceral, naturalistic feel.
Between first time director Schrader’s inexperience (he’s self-effacingly said that he didn’t know what he was doing until “Breathless,” his third picture), the constant threat of one of the film’s stars walking off at any moment, and Richard Pryor’s supposed cocaine use during the film’s production, the shooting of “Blue Collar” — the story of three frustrated auto workers who rob their union — was a high-wire act that miraculously came together to produce one of the seminal works of 70s Hollywood.