THE WORKING MAN, CHARLIE!
"Now I can afford to make some promises. The working man, the working man and the slum child know they can expect my best efforts in their interests. The nation's ordinary citizens know that I'll do everything in my power to protect the underprivileged, the underpaid, and the underfed."
Charles Foster Kane makes a political campaign pledge but his best friend knows that in Kane's newspapers he doesn't follow those principals hence this list title as spoken by Jed Leland.
As someone in the life's trenches, this is a comprehensive list about the working class, men, women and children who try to earn a living in the most extreme circumstances and situations. Feel free to present me more titles.
Charles Foster Kane makes a political campaign pledge but his best friend knows that in Kane's newspapers he doesn't follow those principals hence this list title as spoken by Jed Leland.
As someone in the life's trenches, this is a comprehensive list about the working class, men, women and children who try to earn a living in the most extreme circumstances and situations. Feel free to present me more titles.
List activity
165 views
• 1 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
44 titles
- DirectorJohn FordStarsHenry FondaJane DarwellJohn CarradineAn Oklahoma family, driven off their farm by the poverty and hopelessness of the Dust Bowl, joins the westward migration to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless in the Great Depression.
- DirectorJames FoleyStarsAl PacinoJack LemmonAlec BaldwinAn examination of the machinations behind the scenes at a real estate office.
- DirectorGregory NavaStarsZaide Silvia GutiérrezDavid VillalpandoErnesto Gómez CruzAfter their family is killed in a government massacre, siblings Enrique and Rosa flee Guatemala and embark on a perilous journey to "El Norte": the United States.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinPaulette GoddardHenry BergmanThe Tramp struggles to live in modern industrial society with the help of a young homeless woman.
- DirectorLeon HirszmanStarsGianfrancesco GuarnieriFernanda MontenegroCarlos Alberto RiccelliUnion leader's son doesn't want to engage in a strike, because his wife is pregnant, thus disregarding his father's tradition of political activism.
- DirectorMike NicholsStarsMeryl StreepKurt RussellCherA worker at a plutonium processing plant is purposefully contaminated, psychologically tortured and possibly murdered to prevent her from exposing worker safety violations at the plant.
- DirectorMartin RittStarsSally FieldBeau BridgesRon LeibmanA young single mother and textile worker agrees to help unionize her mill despite the problems and dangers involved.
- DirectorLeon HirszmanStarsLélia AbramoLuiz Inácio Lula da SilvaVinicius de MoraesA detailed look at the events that led to the continuous strikes that shut down many factories during the still repressive days of the military regime. The workers union, led by syndicalist Lula, demanded better work conditions and better payments, fighting not only against their exploitative bosses but also the political establishment of the time. Crowds were gathered, protests and marches were planned, constantly followed by the police but the workers bond and strategy was so strong and efficient that everything turned out in their favor, with peaceful movements and no casualties on both sides.
- DirectorJames BridgesStarsJane FondaJack LemmonMichael DouglasA reporter finds what appears to be a cover-up of safety hazards at a nuclear power plant.
- DirectorElio PetriStarsGian Maria VolontèMariangela MelatoGino PerniceA conscientious factory worker becomes embroiled in political activism after accidentally cutting off his finger while working a machine.
- DirectorHerbert J. BibermanStarsJuan ChacónRosaura RevueltasWill GeerMexican workers at a zinc mine call a general strike. It is only through the solidarity of the workers, and importantly the indomitable resolve of their wives, mothers, and daughters, that they eventually triumph.
- DirectorJohn SaylesStarsChris CooperJames Earl JonesMary McDonnellA labor union organizer comes to an embattled mining community brutally and violently dominated and harassed by the mining company.
- DirectorBarbara KoppleStarsJohn L. LewisCarl HornNorman YarboroughA heartbreaking record of the thirteen-month struggle between a community fighting to survive and a corporation dedicated to the bottom line.
- DirectorNiki CaroStarsCharlize TheronJeremy RennerFrances McDormandA fictionalized account of the first major successful sexual harassment case in the United States, Jenson vs. Eveleth Mines, where a woman who endured a range of abuse while working as a miner filed and won the landmark 1984 lawsuit.
- DirectorKen LoachStarsDave JohnsHayley SquiresSharon PercyAfter surviving a heart-attack, a 59-year-old carpenter must fight bureaucratic forces to receive Employment and Support Allowance.
- DirectorKen LoachStarsPilar PadillaAdrien BrodyElpidia CarrilloTwo Latina sisters work as cleaners in a downtown office building, and fight for the right to unionize.
- DirectorJohn FrankenheimerStarsRaul JuliaCarmen ArgenzianoSonia BragaBased on the true story of a Brazilian rubber tapper who leads his people in protest against government and developers who want to cut down their part of the rainforest for a new road and ranch land. The rich and the powerful will stop at nothing, and frequently resort to murder.
- DirectorMatthew WarchusStarsBill NighyImelda StauntonDominic WestU.K. gay activists work to help miners during their lengthy strike of the National Union of Mineworkers in the summer of 1984.
- DirectorHal AshbyStarsDavid CarradineRonny CoxMelinda DillonThe early life of Woody Guthrie as a vagabond folk singer.
- DirectorPaul SchraderStarsRichard PryorHarvey KeitelYaphet KottoWhen three automotive factory workers who're struggling financially try to steal from their own labor union, they discover corruption, and reluctantly decide to use this information for blackmail.
- DirectorMichael MooreStarsMichael MooreRoger B. SmithRhonda BrittonAfter General Motors closes its factory in Flint, Michigan, eliminating 35,000 jobs, filmmaker Michael Moore undertakes a quixotic quest to interview General Motors' chairman, Roger B. Smith.
- DirectorSteve RogersIt is filmed in split screen and depicts one day in the contrasting lives of two children from opposite sides of the world: a young boy in the West from an affluent, developed area, and another young boy in the East forced to work in a sweatshop which produces shoes. Towards the end of the video, it is revealed that the first boy's shoes are a product of the sweatshop in which the second boy works.
- DirectorRuy GuerraNelson XavierStarsNelson XavierLeonidas BayerCarlos Alberto BaíaThis sequel to "Os Fuzis" follows the story of a hard working operator who dies on a work related accident due to the precarious conditions established in the place. But when his superiors decide to hide the fact and try to bribe his family, one of his relatives, with the help of a lawyer and a journalist, tries to fight for justice.
- DirectorRuy GuerraStarsÁtila IórioNelson XavierMaria GladysIn an extremely poor region in the Northeast of Brazil, a group of soldiers try to stop the population from sacking a food deposit.
- DirectorWalter RogérioStarsChiquinho BrandãoMaitê ProençaFernanda TorresFactory workers get fired for kissing during work hours.
- DirectorBarbara KoppleCathy CaplanThomas HanekeStarsLewie AndersonR.J. BergstromRon BergstromRecounts the 1985-86 strike against the Hormel Foods Corporation in Minnesota after its employees' wages and benefits were cut.
- DirectorSergei EisensteinStarsGrigoriy AleksandrovMaksim ShtraukhMikhail GomorovA group of oppressed factory workers go on strike in pre-revolutionary Russia.
- DirectorErkko KivikoskiStarsUrpo PoikolainenAarne HakulinenPentti ViljakainenThe events surrounding a factory in a small town are gone through in documentary style.
- DirectorBille AugustStarsPelle HvenegaardMax von SydowErik PaaskeWhen his wife dies, Lasse takes his 12-year-old son, Pelle, from their home in Sweden to Denmark in search of a better life.
- DirectorElia KazanStarsMarlon BrandoKarl MaldenLee J. CobbAn ex-prize fighter turned New Jersey longshoreman struggles to stand up to his corrupt union bosses, including his older brother, as he starts to connect with the grieving sister of one of the syndicate's victims.
- DirectorNorman JewisonStarsSylvester StalloneRod SteigerPeter BoyleA rebellious Cleveland warehouse worker rises through the ranks of a trucking industry union to become union president but his organized crime links cause his eventual downfall.
- DirectorDanny DeVitoStarsJack NicholsonDanny DeVitoArmand AssanteThe story of the notorious American labor union figure Jimmy Hoffa, who organizes a bitter strike, makes deals with members of the organized crime syndicate and mysteriously disappears in 1975.
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsJerzy RadziwilowiczKrystyna JandaMarian OpaniaA few years after the events of Man of Marble (1977), a journalist investigates Mateusz Birkut's son Maciek Tomczyk, now an activist leading a shipyard strike.
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsKrystyna JandaJerzy RadziwilowiczTadeusz LomnickiA young Polish filmmaker sets out to find out what happened to Mateusz Birkut, a bricklayer who became a propaganda hero in the 1950s but later fell out of favor and disappeared.
- DirectorFernando León de AranoaStarsBenicio Del ToroTim RobbinsOlga KurylenkoA group of aid workers work to resolve a crisis in an armed conflict zone.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsBrigitte HelmAlfred AbelGustav FröhlichIn a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working-class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.
- DirectorLuchino ViscontiStarsLuchino ViscontiAntonio PietrangeliAntonio ArcidiaconoIn rural Sicily, the fishermen live at the mercy of the greedy wholesalers. One family risks everything to buy their own boat and operate independently.
- DirectorKen LoachStarsKris HitchenDebbie HoneywoodRhys McgowanHoping that self-employment through gig economy can solve their financial woes, a hard-up UK delivery driver and his wife struggling to raise a family end up trapped in the vicious circle of this modern-day form of labour exploitation.
- DirectorStéphane BrizéStarsVincent LindonKarine de MirbeckMatthieu SchallerAt the age of 51 and after 20 months on unemployment, Thierry starts a new job that soon brings him face to face with a moral dilemma. How much is he willing to accept to keep his job?
- DirectorClaude BerriStarsRenaudGérard DepardieuMiou-MiouIn mid-nineteenth-century northern France, a coal mining town's workers are exploited by the mine's owner. One day, they decide to go on strike, and the authorities repress them.
- DirectorEduardo CoutinhoSérgio GoldenbergStarsFrancisco MilaniLuis AlbanoJuarez AntunesA short documentary that chronicles the events of the strike that took place at the metallurgic Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN) in November 1988, which claimed the lives of three workers when the army and police forces invaded the place.
- DirectorBo WiderbergStarsPeter SchildtKerstin TideliusRoland HedlundDuring a strike strike-breakers are being transported to Lunde, where they are assaulted by the strikers. The military are sent in. On the 14th May 1931 there is a confrontation between demonstrators and the military who open fire and five people are killed and five injured.
- DirectorRoberto GervitzSergio ToledoStarsOthon BastosSão Paulo, 1978. Three slates vie for leadership of the Metalworkers' Union of São Paulo, the largest in Latin America, with 300,000 members, and chaired by a "pelego" (aligned with the bosses), since the military coup of 1964. Amid election, hatch the first workers' strikes that would change the country.
- DirectorRenato TapajósStarsVagner Lino AlvesOthon BastosExpedito Soares BatistaDocumentary about the strikes taking place in São Bernardo do Campo, in the State of São Paulo, Brazil, circa 1979/1980. That moment was of utmost importance, since it revealed a Union leader, Luís Inácio "Lula" da Silva, who later was to become the President of Brazil. It was also the moment when PT, the Party of Workers became a relevant political force in Brazil.