Take This Job and Shove It (film)

Plot

A corporate conglomerate called "The Ellison Group" acquired four breweries, all of them experiencing financial trouble. Enter Frank Macklin (Robert Hays), a young manager hired by Ellison to help reorganize one of the ailing breweries. The only thing, though, was that brewery was a major employer in his home town. Originally, his old friends, who were working at the brewery, gave him a cold welcome, as they thought he would be unable to revitalize the brewery. But when Frank informed them that the brewery was drowning in red ink, and that they may be losing their jobs soon, they welcomed him with open arms, and ramped up the brewery's sales and production. The brewery has improved so much, that The Ellison Group decided to sell it to a Texas oil millionaire, who doesn't know the first thing about running a brewery—or apparently—running a business.

Production

Most of the movie was shot in Dubuque, Iowa and the Dubuque Star Brewery, also some minor scenes were shot in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

This movie was the first film to feature monster trucks. Bob Chandler's Bigfoot #1 is seen throughout the movie as Ray's pick-up truck. Everett Jasmer's USA-1, credited as "Thunderin' Lightning", is the blue truck at the starting line that, in the script, broke down when the race started. Jasmer's daily delivery truck was used as the rival truck to Bigfoot, known as Silver Bullet. Neither USA-1 nor Bigfoot look like a modern monster truck, as they have only the 48-inch tires that then were the standard "Monster" tire. Bob Chandler is seen as the flagman at the beginning of the race, and his family can be seen throughout the picnic sequences.

The Dubuque Star Brewery still stands today in the same location. It has been renovated and is now a private bar and grill.

Cast

Release

The film was released by Avco Embassy in the United States on May 15, 1981 and became somewhat of a sleeper hit. The film's final box office total was $17,569,027.