It’s Labor Day weekend, a great time to take in a movie. Hollywood has always incorporated the working class, depicted on the silver screen. Let’s take a look at the best of the best…
“Working Girl” starring Melanie Griffith, Sigourney Weaver, and Harrison Ford is the most interesting backstory of a single woman in the world of finance and marketing. “The Devil Wears Prada” starring Anne Hathaway needs to be on this list.
“Norma Rae” starring Sally Field and “Office Space” are terrific movies about the typical workplace. Horrible bosses resonated with everyone doing a ‘9 to 5,’ while there are two movies about being an intern; one starring Robert De Niro called ‘The Intern,’ the other starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson called ‘The Internship.’
Teachers are represented on the silver screen with a few memorable films, including “Teacher” in 1984, “Stand and Deliver” starting Michelle Phillips and “Blackboard Jungle” starring Glen Ford in 1955 raised a few eyebrows relating to the class, in the school, and outside the building. “To Sir with Love” broke box office records and racial stereotypes in the mid-60s starting Sidney Poitier.
Policemen and law enforcement rode the waves with a bevy of incredible films, including “The Departed” starring Jack Nicholson and Leonard DiCaprio, including all the Clint Eastwood franchise films, “Dirt Harry,” “Magnum Force” and “Blood Work.” “LA Confidential” is a classic starring Kevin Spacey and Russell Crowe, and must be on this list, as do all the “Die Hard” films starring Bruce Willis.
Scientists have always been the subject of Hollywood films, typically present in an autobiographical theme. “A Beautiful Mind” starring Russel Crowe is memorable, as is the recent “The Theory of Everything (depicting Stephen Hawking). The 1936 film “The Story of Louis Pasteur” starring the legendary Paul Muni is an early day film centered on science.