#LaborOscars2024: 55 Labor Movies to Watch Before the Oscars

As the Academy Awards selections and ceremony approach, the Power At Work Blog is proud to shine a light on the films that feature worker power and unions, labor leaders, and workers' collective action.

We've curated a list of 55 labor films you should watch from several different genres that have addressed these important issues over many decades. Watch as many of these films as you can over the next few weeks leading up to the Academy Awards show because the Power At Work Blog is planning to ask your opinions about labor in films very soon.

Photo from Pixabay

To start a conversation about your favorite and least favorite labor films, to recommend these films to your friends or union siblings, or to add films to our list, post on Twitter/X, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and LinkedIn and don't forget to include #LaborOscars2024 and tag us using @PowerAtWorkBlog. 

Subscribe to the Power At Work Blog for more information about upcoming events, polls, and activities related to labor films! 

Photo from Pixabay

55 Labor Movies to Watch Before the Oscars:

1. 1. Strike (1925), dir. Sergei Eisenstein

   2. Metropolis (1927), dir. Fritz Lang

   3. Black Fury (1935), dir. Michael Curtiz

   4. The Devil and Miss Jones (1941), dir. Sam Wood

   5. How Green Was My Valley (1941), dir. John Ford 

   6. On the Waterfront (1954), dir. Elia Kazan

   7. Salt of the Earth (1954), dir. Herbert J. Biberman

   8. Inside Detroit (1956), dir. Fred F. Sears

   9. The Pajama Game (1957), dir. George Abbott & Stanley Donen

   10. The Organizer (1963), dir. Mario Monicelli

   11. The Land (1970), dir. Youssef Chahine

   12. The Molly Maguires (1970), dir. Martin Ritt

   13. Joe Hill (1971), dir. Bo Widerberg

   14. Boxcar Bertha (1972), dir. Martin Scorsese

   15. The Union (Il Sindacalista) (1972), dir. Luciano Salce

   16. Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976), dir. Barbara Kopple

   17. Union Maids (1977), dir. Julia Reichert & Jim Klein

   18. F.I.S.T. (1978), dir. Norman Jewison

   19. Northern Lights (1978), dir. John Hanson & Robert Nilsson

   20. Blue Collar (1978), dir. Paul Schrader

   21. Norma Rae (1979), dir. Martin Ritt

   22. The Wobblies (1979), dir. Stewart Bird & Deborah Shaffer

   23. Silkwood (1983), dir. Mike Nichols

   24. The Killing Floor (1984), dir. Bill Duke

   25. Final Offer (1985), dir. Sturla Gunnarsson & Robert Collison

   26. Matewan (1987), dir. John Sayles

   27. American Dream (1990), dir. Barbara Kopple

   28. Hoffa (1992), dir. Danny Devito

   29. Newsies (1992), dir. Kenny Ortega

   30. Germinal (1993), dir. Claude Berri

   31. At the River I Stand (1993), dir.  David Appleby, Allison Graham, & Steven Ross

   32. Out at Work (1997), dir. Kelly Anderson & Tami Gold 

   33. Bread & Roses (2000), dir. Ken Loach

   34. American Standoff (2002), dir. Kristi Jacobson

   35. 10,000 Black Men Named George (2002), dir. Robert Townsend

   36. The Take (2004), dir. Avi Lewis

   37. Where Do You Stand? Stories from an American Mill (2004), dir. Alexandra Lescaze

   38. North Country (2005), dir. Niki Caro

   39. Maquilapolis (2006), dir. Vicky Funari

   40. Made in Dagenham (2010), dir. Nigel Coles

   41. Brothers on the Line (2012), dir. Sasha Reuther

   42. Pride (2014), dir. Matthew Warchus

   43. The Hand That Feeds (2014), dir. Robin Blotnick & Rachel Lears

   44. Caesar Chavez (2014), dir. Diego Luna

   45. Still the Enemy Within (2014),  dir. Owen Gower

   46. Pencils Down! The 100 Days of the Writers Guild Strike (2014), dir. Brian S. Kalata

   47. The Factory (2015), dir. Rahul Roy 

   48. Blood on the Mountain (2016), dir. Jordan Freeman & Mari-Lynn C. Evans

   49. Union Time (2016), dir. Matthew Barr

   50. We The Workers (2017), dir. Wenhai Huang

   51. Divided We Fall (2017), dir. Victoria Acosta

   52. Sorry to Bother You (2018), dir. Boots Riley 

   53. The Irishman (2019), dir. Martin Scorsese

   54. 9 to 5: The Story of a Movement (2021), dir. Julia Reichert & Steven Bognar

   55. Rustin (2023), dir. George C. Wolfe

Photo from Pixabay