New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Admit it, you probably hate your job. Actually, let's go further: you might be reading this page from the very place you work, and why? Well, excepting a few lucky folks who get paid to scour the Internet for pages such as this, you may not want to be working right now. You may even be counting down the hours until the upcoming national holiday, Labor Day. What better way to get ready for that holiday, which celebrates the hard work labor unions have been doing in America for centuries, than a look at some movies that are all about terrible jobs?

Now, not everyone hates their job, but it's pretty common among most people to at least have a healthy dislike for what they do. Movies have been skewering the common man and his daily drudgery for many decades; whether it's a quick scene in a Pixar film like The Incredibles or the out-and-out hatred three women have for their misogynistic boss in 9 to 5, Hollywood is not deaf to the infamous claim the downtrodden employee makes to his or her supervisor: Take this job and shove it. Today's A-List will focus on five films from different decades, all of which feature main characters who either hate their jobs, or just have some of the worst jobs a person could be cursed to perform. At the very least, none of these movies feature professions you may be likely to join once you've sat through their ordeals.

This list is, by no means, considered final or complete. As mentioned above, the list features one film per decade, reaching back to the 1950s. One of the films is so recent and pressing that it's in theaters as this article is being published. All of the films focus on people who are dedicated, in sometimes perverse ways, to their jobs, but none of the films are inspirational in the labor being shown and performed. The glamour that may be often indicative of Hollywood is not present in any of these films, even if some of the characters go to places as diverse as the docks of New Jersey, the United Nations, or a world of imagination. So, onto this week's A-List.

On The Waterfront

To be fair, it could be argued that having a job on the docks of any city, let alone the city of Hoboken, isn't that great. However, with the 1954 classic drama On The Waterfront, it's pretty easy to see that Terry Malloy doesn't have it any easier, dockworker job or not. Terry was a potentially awesome boxer in the past, but now works as a lowly longshoreman under the iron fist of Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb), thanks to the machinations of his brother, Charley (Rod Steiger). After a dockworker is murdered because he planned on testifying against Johnny's union-breaking plans, Terry feels more and more compelled to speak out. What kind of good job is it where, ethics or not, you have to stand up against your own family? Then again, what kind of good job is it where you only work because your brother encouraged you to throw a boxing match?

Continued:       1       2       3