A trio of Detroit auto workers, two black—Zeke Brown (Pryor) and Smokey James (Kotto)—and one white— Polish-American Jerry Bartowski (Keitel)—are fed up with mistreatment at the hands of both management and union brass. Smokey is in debt to a loan shark, Jerry works a second job to get by and finds himself unable to pay for the dental treatment that his daughter needs, and Zeke cheats money out of the IRS in order to improve his family’s income.[5] Coupled with the financial hardships on each man's end, the trio hatch a plan to rob a safe at union headquarters. They commit the caper but find only a few scant bills in the process. More importantly, they also come away with a ledger which contains evidence of the union's illegal loan operation and ties to organized crime syndicates. They attempt to blackmail the union with the information but the union retaliates strongly and begins to turn the tables on the three friends. A suspicious accident at the plant results in Smokey's death, which Zeke and Jerry realize was a murder coordinated by the union bosses in retaliation for the trio's blackmail. Directed by Paul Schrader Produced by Don Guest Written by Paul Schrader Leonard Schrader Based on an article by Sydney A. Glass Starring Richard Pryor Harvey Keitel Yaphet Kotto Music by Jack Nitzsche Cinematography Bobby Byrne Edited by Tom Rolf