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American Dream

Play trailer Poster for American Dream PG-13 Released Mar 18, 1990 1h 40m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
100% Tomatometer 13 Reviews 88% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
This acclaimed documentary focuses on a mid-1980s workers' strike at a Hormel meatpacking plant in Minnesota. After employees have both their wages and benefits cut, the local union endorses a strike, but complications arise when the national branch of the union doesn't follow suit. This divide in viewpoints has unexpected consequences for organized labor in the United States, and makes for intriguing depictions of workers' rights, strikes and union negotiations.

Critics Reviews

View All (13) Critics Reviews
Kenneth Turan Los Angeles Times Its focus on the smoldering economic fury of working-class Americans adroitly illuminates the reasons for the backlash that politicians of both parties are finding increasingly difficult to ignore. Aug 13, 2018 Full Review Janet Maslin New York Times Ms. Kopple's stirring, forthright film captures an American town, the strength of its traditions and the deep and permanent ways in which those traditions can be destroyed. Her work is as important as it is good. May 20, 2003 Full Review Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times Stories like the Hormel strike are too long and complicated to be told on a daily basis. Only a documentary like this has a canvas big enough for the whole picture. Rated: 4/4 Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Marya E. Gates Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack) A bleak portrait of class struggle and solidarity, that frankly left me incredibly depressed when it was over. Feb 13, 2024 Full Review TV Guide [An] ambitious, socially concerned documentary... Rated: 3/4 Aug 13, 2018 Full Review Murray Kempton The New York Review of Books [Kopple's] gift is to make us feel almost as kin to the few who quit as to the many who stuck it out. There is no cruelty quite like that which gives a man or woman no choice except the surrender of dignity for a job or of a job for dignity. Aug 13, 2018 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (18) audience reviews
Audience Member This documentary does a great job framing passionate works against ‘the man' the big wigs, the people with money. The workers believe they can force the company to cave in even when the international union in Washington refuses to back. They don't swallow the pill that they are given. The stand tall, they stand true even against worst odds. It is a documentary about the human spirit, that sounds cliche, but it is true. Standing up for your beliefs and what you feel is right no matter what the cost. The town of Austin MN becomes a town unrest and the economy of the town begins to crumble. The works stand true to what they believe is right still. I'm the end most of the workers get replaced by Hormel. But what Hormel can not replace is their dignity and there beliefs for what is right. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Audience Member A hard bitting & honest to the core documentary following the seemingly doomed Union Uprising against the Hormel Packed Meats corporation in the US in the mid 1980's. Follows both the workers & union activists in this journey & the dedication of the workers some oh strike as long as 60 weeks. Unfortunately there is no happy ending in the film keeping the story truthful & realistically quite tragic. A terrific documentary that captures the every day American working man struggle. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member This was a great movie about how the corporations and the government they own screw the workers and labor in general. This event with Hormel was a big blow to labor and was a big defeat for the honest, hard working men and women everywhere in America. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Audience Member Good doc, interesting emotions and strategies, and a close-up view of trade unions and U.S. blue collar workers' values at the time. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/12/23 Full Review Audience Member Right from its sarcastic title to its pitiful last scene, 'American Dream' is a powerful and sad documentary about a doomed union uprising that brings forth uncomfortable insights into capitalism, corporate philosophy and the state of the working class. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/11/23 Full Review Audience Member Generally interesting documentary. It began to sound like the same thing over and over, striking employees whining about the same thing. I didn't sympathize with them much, if they didn't like it they should get another job. They make it sound like it was unreasonable for Hormel to make a bigger profit. They are a business, their goal is to make as much profit as they can. The reduced wage put in place didn't seem that bad to me. I wouldn't have liked it either, but whining gets you nowhere, I just would have sought employment elsewhere if I was unhappy. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/30/23 Full Review Read all reviews
American Dream

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis This acclaimed documentary focuses on a mid-1980s workers' strike at a Hormel meatpacking plant in Minnesota. After employees have both their wages and benefits cut, the local union endorses a strike, but complications arise when the national branch of the union doesn't follow suit. This divide in viewpoints has unexpected consequences for organized labor in the United States, and makes for intriguing depictions of workers' rights, strikes and union negotiations.
Director
Barbara Kopple
Producer
Arthur Cohn
Distributor
Miramax Films, Home Vision Entertainment, Homegreen Films
Production Co
Cabin Creek
Rating
PG-13
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Mar 18, 1990, Original
Release Date (DVD)
Mar 2, 2004
Box Office (Gross USA)
$11.5K
Runtime
1h 40m