The Garment Jungle

1957
Approved
1h 28m

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

1.3K

YOUR RATING

Play trailer2:36

1 Video

30 Photos

Film Noir Crime Drama Thriller

The struggle of a lady's garment workers' organization to unionize a New York clothing sweat shop; the owner of which is determined to keep the union out of his business at any cost.The struggle of a lady's garment workers' organization to unionize a New York clothing sweat shop; the owner of which is determined to keep the union out of his business at any cost.The struggle of a lady's garment workers' organization to unionize a New York clothing sweat shop; the owner of which is determined to keep the union out of his business at any cost.

Directors
- Vincent Sherman
- Robert Aldrich
Writers
- Lester Velie
- Harry Kleiner
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

1.3K

YOUR RATING

Directors
- Vincent Sherman
- Robert Aldrich
Writers
- Lester Velie
- Harry Kleiner
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
A good depiction of a "sweat shop" that used the "piece work" method of pay. An employee was paid a very low hourly wage in the "piece work" system that paid by the unit. If the worker made enough "pieces" at a certain rate, they would be paid the higher of the two: the hourly rate or the rate based on the number of pieces they produced. They system encouraged employees to work fast and to not take breaks. The "piece work" system was common across the manufacturing industry until unions put an end to it.

Goofs
About half way through, when the truck drives forward into the alley past the union 'picketers' towards the elevator. After they kill Tulio the truck is inexplicably turned-around (without room in the alley to turn around) and drives forward out of the alley the same way it came in.

Quotes
Lee Hackett: [commenting, in a Long Island Lock-jaw accent, on clothes modeled in a fashion show] Do notice the movement in the back. It really talks. Backtalk is terribly important this season.
Buyer: Do you think that back will talk?
Lee Hackett: Even in Scranton.

Connections
Referenced in The Exiles (1961)

User reviews28

Review

Featured review

8/10

"Stay out of it...or it's your baby's legs next"

The struggle for the worker to get a decent living wage with a few benefits has been removed from the consciousness of the proletariat since Ronald Reagan broke the ATC union in the eighties. Since then the populace has been persuaded into believing that the worker is best left to the trickle down generosity of the employer.

This film is a throwback to that struggle and has a message packed with a powerhouse persona of greed, violence, and suppression. It utilizes realistic on location street photography to give a hard boiled and bitter verisimilitude. There are other flashes of "realism" not usually found in typical Hollywood films.

Some very slick indoor photography and gripping performances throughout deliver this expose in a package marked "stay out of it, or its your baby's legs next". Tough stuff for the conservative, establishment, 1950's.