Working Stiffs, Union Maids, Reds, and Riffraff: An Expanded Guide to Films about Labor

by Tom Zaniello

Overview

The revised and expanded edition of Working Stiffs, Union Maids, Reds, and Riffraff offers 350 titles compared to the original edition's 150. The new book is global in scope, with examples of labor films from around the world. Viewers can turn to this comprehensive, annotated guide for films about unions or labor organizations; labor history; working-class life where an economic factor is significant; political movements if they are tied closely to organized labor; production or the struggle between labor and capital from a "top-down"—either entrepreneurial or managerial—perspective. Each entry includes a critical commentary, production data, cast list, MPAA rating (if any), suggested related films, annotated references to books and websites for further reading, and information about availability of films for rental and/or purchase. This edition addresses both historical and contemporary films and features many more documentaries and hard-to-find information about agitprop and union-financed films.Working Stiffs, Union Maids, Reds, and Riffraff: An Expanded Guide to Films about Labor features fifty-eight production stills and frame enlargements. It also includes a greatly expanded Thematic Index of Films. Two new sections will help the reader discover labor films in chronological order or by nationality or affiliation with certain cinematic movements. To read Tom Zaniello's blog on the cinema of labor and globalization, featuring even more reviews, visit http://tzaniello.wordpress.com.Praise for the earlier edition—"Zaniello has created a useful and far-reaching guide with abundant information.... These are the sorts of films that prove what James Agee wrote in these pages nearly fifty years ago: 'The only movies whose temper could possibly be described as heroic, or tragic, or both, have been made by leftists.'"—The Nation"Zaniello has done a monumental job identifying the films that should be included in this genre.... Working Stiffs, Union Maids, Reds, and Riffraff is sorely needed and long overdue."—Cineaste"An engaging and opinionated book.... Even though mining, trucking, Jimmy Hoffa, and class warfare are the book's major themes, what holds the project together is Zaniello's sense of fun and wit. [Zaniello is] a better writer than most major film critics."—Village Voice Literary Supplement

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801488511
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	06/02/2003
Edition description:	revised and expanded edition
Pages:	448
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Tom Zaniello is Director of the Honors Program at Northern Kentucky University and Adjunct Professor at the National Labor College, George Meany Center for Labor Studies. His books include Hopkins in the Age of Darwin and Explorations in Reading and Writing.

What People are Saying About This

Benjamin DeMott

Comprehensive, richly informed, sound in its judgments and highly entertaining, Working Stiffs is an invaluable reference tool for scholars in a wide variety of fields. It's also a treasure for non-specialist fans like myself who sometimes get lost without a paddle in video stores.

Barbara Kopple

With close attention to detail, Tom Zaniello has created a long overdue guide to films that tell entertaining and heartfelt stories of working people—stories that are as vital today as ever before. It would take years to find all the information contained in this one book. Working Stiffs, Union Maids, Reds, and Riffraff is a wonderful compilation of hidden treasures for audiences everywhere.

Linda Dittmar

Tom Zaniello's encyclopedic guide is an indispensable contribution to film and labor studies as well as to the community of labor activists and others concerned with labor issues. Its inclusive sweep is an inspiring reminder of the diversity and complexity of film's treatment of labor and working people, locally and globally. Zaniello's guide to important but hard-to-get or unavailable films celebrates social commitment in film and protests its erasure.

Editorial Reviews

Working Stiffs is an invaluable resource for folks with an interest in representations of working people.... By covering such a broad range of films, Zaniello implicitly illustrates the ways in which processes of selection, distribution and availability of media images effect our perceptions of labor and working people.

The Paper - Edward Burch

Working Stiffs is an invaluable resource for folks with an interest in representations of working people.... By covering such a broad range of films, Zaniello implicitly illustrates the ways in which processes of selection, distribution and availability of media images effect our perceptions of labor and working people.

--Edward Burch "The Paper"

Zaniello is an authority on the labor movement, not motion pictures, yet he manages to parlay his avocational cinematic knowledge into a highly entertaining collection of witty entries, well grounded in the principles of film aesthetics and criticism, and fully knowledgeable about the films' social and historical contexts.

-- "American Reference Books Annual 2004"

Zaniello's comments on the films are useful and perceptive, offering insight into the films' political and artistic strengths and weaknesses and supporting material that will prove invaluable to anyone trying to organize a film series or choose a film for a class. And the breadth of the selections should make it fairly easy to find a film for any purpose.

-- "ASR: Anarcho-Syndicalist Review"

From the Publisher

Zaniello (film history, Northern Kentucky Univ.) has revised and greatly expanded his seminal guide on American labor-themed films, published in 1996, creating a sweeping reference work with an international scope. Sure to be invaluable to any labor organization or academic department with an interest in labor issues, it covers 350 films (up from 150), which come from every continent and encompass feature films as well as documentaries-all subdivided into several different categories. For each, Zaniello offers a 350- to 1000-word summary, which not only features a brisk, witty description of the film but also discusses the production of the film, including, where relevant, the history and biographies of directors, actors, and producers. He also cross-references films where appropriate, allowing readers to find other films of interest, and includes a bibliography, making this a superb research tool. In addition, details about availability are included, which will make media librarians' jobs much less complex. Other books on the market discuss American or British films in relation to labor issues, but none covers as much ground as this. Highly recommended for academic, public, and special libraries where there is interest in labor issues, especially those that do not own the original edition. [For more on labor history and studies, see "A Collective Effort: Made in the U.S.A.," p. 49.-Ed.]-Andrea Slonosky, Long Island Univ., Brooklyn, NY Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Zaniello's comments on the films are useful and perceptive, offering insight into the films' political and artistic strengths and weaknesses and supporting material that will prove invaluable to anyone trying to organize a film series or choose a film for a class. And the breadth of the selections should make it fairly easy to find a film for any purpose.

ASR: Anarcho-Syndicalist Review

Zaniello is an authority on the labor movement, not motion pictures, yet he manages to parlay his avocational cinematic knowledge into a highly entertaining collection of witty entries, well grounded in the principles of film aesthetics and criticism, and fully knowledgeable about the films' social and historical contexts.

American Reference Books Annual 2004

"With close attention to detail, Tom Zaniello has created a long overdue guide to films that tell entertaining and heartfelt stories of working people—stories that are as vital today as ever before. It would take years to find all the information contained in this one book. Working Stiffs, Union Maids, Reds, and Riffraff is a wonderful compilation of hidden treasures for audiences everywhere."

Barbara Kopple

"Tom Zaniello's encyclopedic guide is an indispensable contribution to film and labor studies as well as to the community of labor activists and others concerned with labor issues. Its inclusive sweep is an inspiring reminder of the diversity and complexity of film's treatment of labor and working people, locally and globally. Zaniello's guide to important but hard-to-get or unavailable films celebrates social commitment in film and protests its erasure."

Linda Dittmar

"Comprehensive, richly informed, sound in its judgments and highly entertaining, Working Stiffs is an invaluable reference tool for scholars in a wide variety of fields. It's also a treasure for non-specialist fans like myself who sometimes get lost without a paddle in video stores."

Benjamin DeMott