Film & TV
Paul Schrader
born 1946 · screenwriter, film director, critic
Michigan-born writer of Taxi Driver whose directing debut, Blue Collar (1978), was shot in Detroit and at the Ford Rouge plant about three autoworkers robbing their union.
- Born
Grand Rapids, Michigan
age 80- Birth name
- Paul Joseph Schrader
- Detroit years
- 1977–1978
- Field
- Film & TV
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Schrader grew up in a strict Calvinist household in Grand Rapids, studied at Calvin College and film at UCLA, and became famous as the writer of Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver. For his first film as director he went back to Michigan: Blue Collar (1978), written with his brother Leonard, follows three Wayne County autoworkers, played by Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel and Yaphet Kotto, who rob their own union local and uncover its corruption. It was filmed at locations around Detroit, including the Ford River Rouge Complex in Dearborn and the MacArthur Bridge to Belle Isle, and at the Checker plant in Kalamazoo. The shoot was stormy, with fights among the stars that Schrader later said nearly ended his directing career, but the film is now regarded as one of the sharpest American portraits of factory labor and union politics. He went on to write Raging Bull and direct First Reformed.
Highlights
- Directed and co-wrote Blue Collar (1978), set among Detroit autoworkers
- Filmed at the Ford River Rouge Complex and on the MacArthur Bridge to Belle Isle
- Starred Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel and Yaphet Kotto
- Wrote Taxi Driver (1976) and Raging Bull (1980)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Related place · 1977
Ford River Rouge Complex
Ford's giant Dearborn plant, used as a location for the factory scenes of Blue Collar.
Related place · 1977
MacArthur Bridge (to Belle Isle)
The bridge to Belle Isle, one of the film's Detroit locations.