14 best labor union movies to watch at home

It’s a hot labor summer. It’s never a bad time to celebrate organized labor and collective action, but it just feels right This June. So we’ve collected a group of movies on that topic and theme for you to enjoy at home.

The most famous labor movies are like Matewan And Norma Rae) aren’t currently available to watch at home, as well as Monsieur Lange and the Crime of Lange (ed note: one of Pete’s all-time favorite movies). But there’s still no shortage of great labor- and union-focused movies available on streaming platforms and digital VOD services. We’ll start with some movies explicitly about labor unions before moving onto others that fit for thematic or narrative reasons.

Strike

Image: The Criterion Collection

Sergei Eisenstein, a Soviet legend is best remembered for developing montage and his masterpiece in 1925. Battleship Potemkin. But PotemkinAfter his powerful and impressive feature debut in 1925, this was his second movie. Strike.

This movie depicts a factory strike at the beginning of the 20th Century and the harsh measures taken by the owners to try to stop the workers’ collective action. Eisenstein’s vivid imagery is a powerful reminder of Eisenstein’s visionary work. Many times, Eisenstein compares workers’ treatment to cattle treatment, with one famous scene in which violence toward workers is interspersed by the slaughter of cattle. It is an amazing work by one the greatest and most influential film-makers to ever have lived. Strike They are still as powerful almost a century after their creation. —Pete Volk

StrikeIt is free to stream online on Kanopy and Criterion Channel.

Harlan County USA

Janus Films

One of the finest American documentaries ever made, Barbara Kopple’s Harlan County USA follows a 1973 strike by coal miners in Kentucky, the brutal measures the company takes to break the strike, and the community effort led by the miners’ wives to win better working conditions.

Kopple, along with her team, spent many years living alongside the workers and their families. They meticulously crafted a vivid portrait of their lives as well as their struggle. The film is a moving portrait of workers oppression, as well as some amazing events that were featured in national media. Harlan County USA is, quite simply, a masterpiece. —PV

Harlan County USAYou can stream it on HBO Max, Criterion Channel and Criterion Channel.

My Valley Was Green

Image: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

John Ford is best known for making Western movies with John Wayne. However, this 1941 family drama could be his greatest work. My Valley Was GreenThe Morgan family is followed by their neighbours in a Welsh village. Many miners are confronted with cruel treatment by the mine owner as well as the inability to adapt to the new world. Powerful performances from Maureen O’Hara, Roddy McDowall, and the rest of the cast are coupled with beautiful imagery from the gorgeous Welsh countryside and a moving, sentimental script to create an unforgettable classic movie that is undeniably human to its very core.

My Valley Was GreenBeating out Citizen KaneFor Best Picture 1941 and because I love both films: the Academy got it right! —PV

My Valley Was Green You can stream it on Criterion Channel.

The Killing Floor

Image: Criterion Collection

Bill Duke’s 1984 film The Killing FloorThis powerful film portrays the interconnected forces of class and race at the beginning of the 20th Century. Originally broadcast on PBS via the “American Playhouse” series, Duke’s film follows the story of two Black sharecroppers who journey from Mississippi to Chicago in the wake of WWI in search of jobs. After gaining a job at a meatpacking plant, Frank Custer (Damien Leake) is asked to join a union — a privilege which many of his fellow Black workers had previously been denied — right as racial tensions across the city begin to flare in the months and weeks leading up to the Chicago race riot of 1919.

Frank has to decide between the union-busting schemes of the plant owners or the animosities that linger among his Black coworkers. Frank’s animating concept is at the core of The Killing Floor can be summed up in a sentence spoken to Frank near the beginning of the film: “Any worker who fails to join the forces of organized labor has a grudge against himself.” —Toussaint Egan

The Killing FloorIt is free to stream online on Kanopy and Criterion Channel.

Latest News

Image: Disney Plus

Kenny Ortega’s 1992 movie Latest News is one of the all-time great illustrations of how generational tastes change and how that affects a film’s popularity. Latest News flopped at the box office and was derided by critics, based on the mildly ridiculous conceit of a musical retelling of the New York City newsboys’ strike of 1899, and Ortega’s squeaky-clean, energetic Disney-musical execution. These very same factors made the movie a beloved cult classic years later. And many more years later That, kids who grew up watching the clips online — after being primed by High School Musical Glee to love exactly this flavor of heart-on-the-sleeve sing-along entertainment — embraced Latest News Unironically, this film is about all of the positivist energy and purity of vision and ideallism that viewers earlier found to be too treacly sincere. Wee baby 17-year-old Christian Bale stars as an NYC newspaper hawker who helps organize a strike of the city’s child workers after New York WorldJoseph Pulitzer is trying to help his clients shift rising business costs. It’s a perfect Disney story: The poorest kids in the city take on its powerful media moguls win, thanks to some dancing and singing (with songs by The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the BeastAlan Menken, songwriter) and good-old-fashioned solidarity. It’s the perfect movie for reaching kids about unions and labor disputes, and also selling them early on sincerity and heart in their screen stories. —Tasha Robinson

Latest NewsYou can stream it on Disney Plus.

Brassed off

Image: FilmFour Distributors

Like the miners at the center of its story, Mark Herman’s Brassed off faced circumstances beyond its control — this poignant film about the devastating reverberations of the pit closures in Britain was marketed in the U.S. as a zany romantic comedy (by Miramax and, ugh, Harvey Weinstein) after opening the Sundance Film Festival in 1997. There was overlap with The Full Monty, which was its own critique of Margaret Thatcher, probably didn’t help matters.

The truth is, however. Brassed offThis alternately sad and joyful story tells of small and meaningful protests in opposition to monetarist practice and government indifferent towards the destruction of community. The great cast includes Ewan McGregor and Tara Fitzgerald — whose chemistry makes the marketable ploy somewhat understandable but ultimately unforgivable — as well as Pete Postelthwaite, whose final-act speech found its way into “Tubthumping.” —Danette Chavez

Brassed off You can rent it on Amazon, Apple, or Vudu.

Please support the girls

Magnolia Pictures

Andrew Bujalski (Computer ChessThis day in the life comedy is about three women working at Hooters. The movie’s central character is general manager Lisa (Regina Hall, in a terrific leading performance), whose main priority is the welfare of the girls that work for her (and fending off her idiotic boss, who is constantly threatening her job).

Funny and inspirational movie about solidarity at work, and finding communities in times of struggle. Please support the girlsYou will also find memorable performances by Haley Lu Richardson (AJ Michalka), Brooklyn Decker, Shayna McHayle and Shayna McCHayle (also known under the name Junglepussy). —PV

Please Support the GirlsShowtime has it streaming. It’s free to watch with a Kanopy library card or Hoopla library card, and free with the ads on Pluto TV, Plex, or both.

Modern Times

Image by United Artists

Charlie Chaplin is perhaps best known for his famous shot of him moving through the gears on a machine. Modern Times? It’s a perfect encapsulation of what made him one of the greatest movie stars that ever graced our planet: a deeply silly gag that doubles as an apt metaphor for a very human struggle.

Modern Times, Chaplin’s famous Tramp character suffers a nervous breakdown from poor working conditions on an assembly line. After accidentally participating in a Communist demonstration, he is arrested and accidentally escapes jail. He forms a strong bond with Paulette Goddard (an orphan who had been in a relationship at that time and was later married to Chaplin). They are both wanted for theft of bread.

Modern Times was Chaplin’s last time playing The Tramp, and it was the first time his voice was heard in a movie. It’s one of his many masterpieces, and its reputation as one of the greatest films ever made is more than well earned. It’s also just a straight-up hilarious time, filled with unforgettable gags and Chaplin’s unique screen presence that has not been equaled since. —PV

Modern TimesIt is streaming on HBO Max, Criterion Channel and Free with a Kanopy Library Card.

Miss Jones and The Devil

Image: RKO Radio Pictures/Olive Films

One kind of fiction Covert BossThe central conflict is in the situation Miss Jones and The Devil. John P. Merrick (Charles Coburn), is the wealthiest man in the entire world. A department store is one of his many assets, and its employees are currently unionizing.

It is not as sharp or as well-made, but it’s still entertaining. The ending feels like an unwritten studio rule. Miss Jones and The Devil It is a funny and uplifting comedy that promotes worker sentiments for most of the running time. Directed by Sam Wood, who worked on some of the Marx Brothers’ movies, you can expect some joyous slapstick scenes to go along with Jean Arthur’s delightful performance as the charismatic store clerk Mary Jones. —PV

Miss Jones and The DevilYou can rent it on Amazon, Apple, or Vudu.

Pajama Game

Warner Bros.

The sexual politics in George Abbott and Stanley Donen’s 1957 musical Pajama GameThey are both creepy and infinitely primval. The songs range from embarrassing to unmemorable. But oddly enough, its look at labor negotiations is a real highlight, and they’re fun to watch even when the rest of the film gets dreary. Doris Day single-handedly drags the whole movie toward functionality as a union rep at a pajama factory where the workers are edging toward a strike to try to secure the seven-and-a-half-cent-per-hour raise that would give them parity with other workers in their industry. John Raitt plays the management stiff who romances Doris in the grabbiest, grossest, “consent in this era means the woman damn well better consent to whatever the man wants” way possible, while being baffled and sulky whenever she doesn’t want to get cozy with the guy who’s helping block union efforts for a living wage.

Look past their unromantic, icky romance. (And the jealous stalker’s repeated attempts at beating and killing his ex) are just a sideshow!You can find it here: Pajama Game Bob Fosse choreographed some of the most memorable sequences. A great rendition of the song is where the pajama-makers decide to slow down and sew in slow and balletic fashion. The union rally finale, in which the entire ensemble sings how a raise would affect their blue-collar lives, is an aural delight. It’s bizarre to think about labor action being the highlight of a comedy musical, but it’s absolutely true here. —TR

Pajama GamePrime Video can stream it for free and with ads on Tubi.

9 to 5

Image by United Artists

Colin Higgins’ 1980 comedy about three women who secretly kidnap and imprison their sexist, abusive boss and run their office in his stead certainly wasn’t planned as an answer to Pajama GameThese two movies make for a fascinating double feature. Dolly Parton’s endlessly catchy theme song “9 to 5” easily outpaces any of the songs in the 1957 musical, but otherwise, this film feels like an answer to the sexist assumptions about women’s wants and roles in the earlier movie. 9 to 5 came out early in the era of the women’s lib movement hitting the mainstream, and modern audiences may have a hard time believing how radical it seemed at the time as a fantasy about women seeking equal treatment in the workplace, rising to executive positions, and even introducing radical innovations like flextime and day care for employees. It’s culturally dated, but it’s still funny and resonant, with Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, and Jane Fonda’s friendship and alliance against bad boss Dabney Coleman feeling like the conceptual grandmother of the Girlboss movement. —TR

9 to 5You can rent it on Amazon, Apple, or Vudu.

Outland

Warner Bros.

Here’s something different. A science fiction labor drama. This Peter Hyams movie is hilarious and stars Sean Connery (Timecop) space Western set on one of Jupiter’s moons. Connery is William O’Niel, a federal marshal who is assigned to the mining outpost on the moon. The moon’s harsh conditions make it difficult for miners to work, and the boss Peter Boyle is content with the record-breaking productivity. Miners start having psychotic breaks, and O’Niel investigates (against his disgruntled boss’s wishes).

O is a Western that’s both stylish and practical, with an excellent director and cast.utland Introvision was used for the first time, which is a temporary technology that was later used elsewhere. Be there for me And Army of DarknessThere are many others. Introvision, a type of front projection that Hyams used in place of a bluescreen, allowed Hyams to use smaller sets, which better immersed the characters within the sets. —PV

OutlandYou can rent it on Amazon, Apple, or Vudu.

A Bug’s Life

Image: Pixar

Now, I’m Not saying this animated children’s movie is an allegory for class warfare perpetrated by the wealthy and unscrupulous and a demonstration of the necessity of solidarity and collective action as a bulwark against tyranny, but I’m also not notThat is what I said. —TE

A Bug’s LifeYou can stream it on Disney Plus.

We are sorry to bother you

Photo: Annapurna Pictures

All Cassius Green (LaKeith Stanfield) wanted was a paying gig so he wouldn’t get kicked out of his uncle’s garage. However, when Green takes on a job for an unscrupulous telemarketing company, he gets way more than he ever bargained for — including a much-needed lesson in class solidarity and the importance of unions. Boots Riley’s directorial debut is full of hilarious nuggets of wisdom, but my absolute favorite is the line spoken to Cassius after he fails to publicly condemn his former employer and bring them to justice: “If you get shown a problem but have no idea how to control it, then you just decide to get used to the problem.” —TE

Sorry to Bother YouNetflix has it available for streaming.