{ "id": "ep69vhbjxs", "slug": "they-dont-wear-black-tie", "title": "They Don't Wear Black-Tie", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1980s", "label": "Drama films 1980s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1980s" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1980s.yr-1980-1985", "label": "Released 1980 to 1985", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1980s.yr-1980-1985" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Latin America and the Caribbean · 1946 to 2000: Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "path": [ { "id": "geo.latam", "label": "Latin America and the Caribbean", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t1946", "label": "Latin America and the Caribbean · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" } ] } ], "excerpt": "They Don't Wear Black-Tie (Eles não usam black-tie) is Leon Hirszman's 1981 Brazilian political drama, adapted from Guarnieri's 1958 Teatro de Arena play, about a father-son split during the ABC metalworkers' strikes; it won Venice's Special Jury Prize.", "snippet": "They Don't Wear Black-Tie (Eles não usam black-tie) is Leon Hirszman's 1981 Brazilian political drama, adapted from Guarnieri's 1958 Teatro de Arena play, about a father-son split during the ABC metalworkers' strikes; it won Venice's Special Jury Prize.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1980s.yr-1980-1985", "markdown": "# They Don't Wear Black-Tie\n\n*They Don't Wear Black-Tie* (Portuguese: *Eles não usam black-tie*) is a 1981 Brazilian political drama directed by Leon Hirszman, about a São Paulo metalworker's family torn apart by a strike during the final years of the military dictatorship. It premiered in Brazilian cinemas on 28 September 1981, with Gianfrancesco Guarnieri and Fernanda Montenegro in the leading roles, and it won major prizes at Venice, Havana, Valladolid, and Nantes.[1](https://www.gov.br/memoriasreveladas/pt-br/centrais-de-conteudo/destaques/eles-nao-usam-black-tie/lancamento-do-filme-eles-nao-usam-black-tie) • [2](https://bases.cinemateca.org.br/cgi-bin/wxis.exe/iah/?IsisScript=iah%2Fiah.xis&base=FILMOGRAFIA&exprSearch=ID%3D004027&format=detailed.pft&lang=p&nextAction=lnk)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Premiere | 28 September 1981, in São Paulo (Cine Gazetinha) and Rio de Janeiro (Palácio and five more theaters)[2](https://bases.cinemateca.org.br/cgi-bin/wxis.exe/iah/?IsisScript=iah%2Fiah.xis&base=FILMOGRAFIA&exprSearch=ID%3D004027&format=detailed.pft&lang=p&nextAction=lnk) |\n| Source | Adaptation of Gianfrancesco Guarnieri's play of the same name, first staged at the Teatro de Arena in 1958[3](https://memoriasdaditadura.org.br/cultura/eles-nao-usam-black-tie/) |\n| Setting | The metalworkers' strikes in the ABC region of São Paulo in 1979 and 1980, under the civil-military dictatorship[1](https://www.gov.br/memoriasreveladas/pt-br/centrais-de-conteudo/destaques/eles-nao-usam-black-tie/lancamento-do-filme-eles-nao-usam-black-tie) |\n| Principal cast | Gianfrancesco Guarnieri (Otávio), Carlos Alberto Riccelli (Tião), Bete Mendes (Maria), Fernanda Montenegro (Romana)[4](https://mostra.org/arquivo/filme/2767) |\n| Production | Leon Hirszman Produções, co-produced with the state company Embrafilme; cinematography Lauro Escorel Filho, editing Eduardo Escorel, music Radamés Gnattali[5](https://festivaldorio.s3.amazonaws.com/2024/catalogo/catalogo-programacao-festivaldorio-2024.pdf) |\n| Venice 1981 | Special Jury Prize (ex-aequo), FIPRESCI Prize, OCIC honorable mention, FICE Prize, and AGIS Award[2](https://bases.cinemateca.org.br/cgi-bin/wxis.exe/iah/?IsisScript=iah%2Fiah.xis&base=FILMOGRAFIA&exprSearch=ID%3D004027&format=detailed.pft&lang=p&nextAction=lnk) |\n| Censorship | Federal censorship certificate of 30 November 1981 prohibited exhibition to viewers under 16[2](https://bases.cinemateca.org.br/cgi-bin/wxis.exe/iah/?IsisScript=iah%2Fiah.xis&base=FILMOGRAFIA&exprSearch=ID%3D004027&format=detailed.pft&lang=p&nextAction=lnk) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nThe film follows Tião (Carlos Alberto Riccelli), a young factory worker who is dating his coworker Maria (Bete Mendes). When he learns she is pregnant, he decides to marry her, but the couple's finances are precarious. A strike then breaks out at the metalworks where Tião works alongside his father. Otávio (Gianfrancesco Guarnieri), a veteran union leader, joins the strike even though he considers the rank and file's decision precipitate; on the picket lines he clashes with police, is beaten, and is jailed. Tião, indifferent to his father's struggle and blaming his father's union militancy for the family's lifelong poverty, crosses the picket line for fear of losing his job, and the conflict explodes inside the family.[2](https://bases.cinemateca.org.br/cgi-bin/wxis.exe/iah/?IsisScript=iah%2Fiah.xis&base=FILMOGRAFIA&exprSearch=ID%3D004027&format=detailed.pft&lang=p&nextAction=lnk) • [4](https://mostra.org/arquivo/filme/2767)\n\nThe drama sets collective action against individual escape: the film proposes antagonistic solutions for the workers' lives, hope in collective organization on one side and commitment to individual advancement on the other.[6](https://www.play-doc.com/en/peliculas/eles-nao-usam-black-tie/) Romana (Fernanda [Montenegro](https://www.edgepedia.org/montenegro)), Tião's mother, tries to hold the family together under the strain of her husband's union responsibilities.[6](https://www.play-doc.com/en/peliculas/eles-nao-usam-black-tie/)\n\n## From stage to screen\n\nThe play was written by Guarnieri, an actor and playwright, and first staged at São Paulo's Teatro de Arena in February 1958, where it ran for more than a year, unusual for Brazilian theater at the time. It was the debut play that opened the nationalist phase of the Teatro de Arena, committed to political and social art, and it introduced working-class and poor characters as protagonists in Brazilian drama.[3](https://memoriasdaditadura.org.br/cultura/eles-nao-usam-black-tie/) • [7](https://redeglobo.globo.com/globoteatro/bis/noticia/2013/09/bis-eles-nao-usam-black-tie-e-peca-de-estreia-de-gianfrancesco-guarnieri.html) • [8](https://www.record.com.br/products/eles-nao-usam-black-tie) The title refers to the audience of the Teatro Brasileiro de Comédia, the São Paulo company that imported directors and technicians and programmed for the box office; the workers of the play, by contrast, do not wear black tie.[3](https://memoriasdaditadura.org.br/cultura/eles-nao-usam-black-tie/)\n\nSources give different dates for the writing of the play: the National Archive's Memórias Reveladas project says 1959, the publisher Record says 1955, and a UFJF film-club essay says 1956; the 1958 first staging is consistently reported.[1](https://www.gov.br/memoriasreveladas/pt-br/centrais-de-conteudo/destaques/eles-nao-usam-black-tie/lancamento-do-filme-eles-nao-usam-black-tie) • [8](https://www.record.com.br/products/eles-nao-usam-black-tie) • [9](https://www2.ufjf.br/cinemovimento/sessao-ensaio-critico/2020-2/agosto/os-mundos-do-trabalho/)\n\nIn 1979 Hirszman moved from Rio de Janeiro to São Paulo to begin adapting and updating the play with its author, reworking the 1958 text for the early 1980s and drawing on the metalworkers' strikes in the ABC region (Santo André, São Bernardo, and São Caetano) of 1979 and 1980, when workers defied the military regime's ban on striking to demand wage adjustments and better working conditions.[1](https://www.gov.br/memoriasreveladas/pt-br/centrais-de-conteudo/destaques/eles-nao-usam-black-tie/lancamento-do-filme-eles-nao-usam-black-tie) • [9](https://www2.ufjf.br/cinemovimento/sessao-ensaio-critico/2020-2/agosto/os-mundos-do-trabalho/) The historian John D. French of Duke University, writing in *International Labor and Working-Class History*, describes the film as a reconfiguration of the 1958 play's politics and content for an era when the metalworkers' strikes placed São Paulo on the front lines of the fight against the dictatorship.[10](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-labor-and-working-class-history/article/abs/they-dont-wear-blacktie-intellectuals-and-workers-in-sao-paulo-brazil-19581981/03D5C7D1F30D42084ED4BF453CAB9989) Earlier attempts to film the play had failed after the regime categorically banned circulation of Guarnieri's play, which remained in limbo from 1964 to 1977.[11](https://chuva-inc.github.io/compos-static-files/teses-e-dissertacoes/trabalhos_arquivo_8SRZM6SP4OBXIX2W63TO_501__10_03_2015_18_45_10.pdf)\n\n## Surveillance and censorship\n\nConfidential reports of the Serviço Nacional de Informações (SNI), the dictatorship's intelligence agency, held in the National Archive, classified *Eles não usam black-tie* as political-ideological propaganda by communists. The film's reception in the press, on television, and at festivals abroad was a source of concern for the repressive organs of President João Figueiredo's government; one SNI report accused communist militants of using every means to pursue doctrination work.[1](https://www.gov.br/memoriasreveladas/pt-br/centrais-de-conteudo/destaques/eles-nao-usam-black-tie/lancamento-do-filme-eles-nao-usam-black-tie) The film nonetheless received a federal exhibition certificate, with the 30 November 1981 censorship decision barring viewers under 16.[2](https://bases.cinemateca.org.br/cgi-bin/wxis.exe/iah/?IsisScript=iah%2Fiah.xis&base=FILMOGRAFIA&exprSearch=ID%3D004027&format=detailed.pft&lang=p&nextAction=lnk)\n\n## Reception and awards\n\nAt the 1981 [Venice Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/venice-film-festival) the film won the Special Jury Prize (ex-aequo with *Sweet Dreams*), the FIPRESCI Prize, the AGIS Award, an OCIC honorable mention, and the FICE Prize, and was nominated for the [Golden Lion](https://www.edgepedia.org/golden-lion).[2](https://bases.cinemateca.org.br/cgi-bin/wxis.exe/iah/?IsisScript=iah%2Fiah.xis&base=FILMOGRAFIA&exprSearch=ID%3D004027&format=detailed.pft&lang=p&nextAction=lnk) • [12](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082317/awards) It also took the Golden Spike for best film at [Valladolid](https://www.edgepedia.org/valladolid), the Grand Prix at the Third World Festival of Nantes (Golden Montgolfière, tied with *The Scar*), and the Grand Coral first prize at Havana, all in 1981.[2](https://bases.cinemateca.org.br/cgi-bin/wxis.exe/iah/?IsisScript=iah%2Fiah.xis&base=FILMOGRAFIA&exprSearch=ID%3D004027&format=detailed.pft&lang=p&nextAction=lnk) • [12](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082317/awards) Guarnieri won the APCA Trophy for best actor, and the film took critics' and audience awards for best film at the SESC Film Festival in 1982.[12](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082317/awards)\n\nThe film was a critical and commercial success and circulated internationally; after its considerable success in the United States, where it was distributed as *They Don't Wear Black Tie*, it was re-released in Brazil on 15 August 1983.[6](https://www.play-doc.com/en/peliculas/eles-nao-usam-black-tie/) • [2](https://bases.cinemateca.org.br/cgi-bin/wxis.exe/iah/?IsisScript=iah%2Fiah.xis&base=FILMOGRAFIA&exprSearch=ID%3D004027&format=detailed.pft&lang=p&nextAction=lnk) A labor-film retrospective describes it as a landmark of the new Brazilian cinema, greeted in 1981 as the return of Cinema Novo, and compares its chronicle of workers' struggle against dictatorship to [Andrzej Wajda](https://www.edgepedia.org/andrzej-wajda)'s Polish film *[Man of Iron](https://www.edgepedia.org/man-of-iron)*.[13](https://laborfilms.org/they-dont-wear-black-tie/)\n\n## Style and legacy\n\nHirszman, one of the founders of Cinema Novo, shot the film in a realist, anti-baroque style that set it apart from the mannerist tendencies of Brazilian cinema in the early 1980s.[5](https://festivaldorio.s3.amazonaws.com/2024/catalogo/catalogo-programacao-festivaldorio-2024.pdf) • [9](https://www2.ufjf.br/cinemovimento/sessao-ensaio-critico/2020-2/agosto/os-mundos-do-trabalho/) Scholars read the father-and-son conflict as a personification of the social conflicts of Brazil's pre-democratic reorganization, with the film arguing for cautious, disciplined militancy against more radical postures.[14](https://revista.uninga.br/uningareviews/article/view/3765) • [11](https://chuva-inc.github.io/compos-static-files/teses-e-dissertacoes/trabalhos_arquivo_8SRZM6SP4OBXIX2W63TO_501__10_03_2015_18_45_10.pdf) The play has remained in repertory, with a new staging premiering in São Paulo in 2001 and further productions marking the text's anniversaries.[7](https://redeglobo.globo.com/globoteatro/bis/noticia/2013/09/bis-eles-nao-usam-black-tie-e-peca-de-estreia-de-gianfrancesco-guarnieri.html) • [15](https://www.dgabc.com.br/Noticia/138048/estreia-eles-nao-usam-black-tie-)\n\nReported running times differ among catalogs: the Cinemateca Brasileira and the Mostra Internacional de Cinema em São Paulo list 123 minutes, the [Venice Biennale](https://www.edgepedia.org/venice-biennale) archive 122 minutes, and some Brazilian sources 134 minutes.[2](https://bases.cinemateca.org.br/cgi-bin/wxis.exe/iah/?IsisScript=iah%2Fiah.xis&base=FILMOGRAFIA&exprSearch=ID%3D004027&format=detailed.pft&lang=p&nextAction=lnk) • [4](https://mostra.org/arquivo/filme/2767) • [16](https://asac.labiennale.org/attivita/cinema/6706)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Lançamento do filme \"Eles não usam black-tie\", Memórias Reveladas, Arquivo Nacional](https://www.gov.br/memoriasreveladas/pt-br/centrais-de-conteudo/destaques/eles-nao-usam-black-tie/lancamento-do-filme-eles-nao-usam-black-tie)\n2. [FILMOGRAFIA – Eles não usam black tie, Cinemateca Brasileira](https://bases.cinemateca.org.br/cgi-bin/wxis.exe/iah/?IsisScript=iah%2Fiah.xis&base=FILMOGRAFIA&exprSearch=ID%3D004027&format=detailed.pft&lang=p&nextAction=lnk)\n3. [Eles não usam black-tie, Memórias da Ditadura](https://memoriasdaditadura.org.br/cultura/eles-nao-usam-black-tie/)\n4. [Eles Não Usam Black-Tie (1981), Mostra Internacional de Cinema em São Paulo](https://mostra.org/arquivo/filme/2767)\n5. [Eles Não Usam Black-Tie, Festival do Rio catalog, A Cinemateca é Brasileira (2024)](https://festivaldorio.s3.amazonaws.com/2024/catalogo/catalogo-programacao-festivaldorio-2024.pdf)\n6. [ELES NÃO USAM BLACK-TIE | Play-Doc](https://www.play-doc.com/en/peliculas/eles-nao-usam-black-tie/)\n7. [Bis!: 'Eles não Usam Black-tie', a estreia de Gianfrancesco Guarnieri, Rede Globo](https://redeglobo.globo.com/globoteatro/bis/noticia/2013/09/bis-eles-nao-usam-black-tie-e-peca-de-estreia-de-gianfrancesco-guarnieri.html)\n8. [Eles não usam black-tie, Editora Record](https://www.record.com.br/products/eles-nao-usam-black-tie)\n9. [Os mundos do trabalho, Cineclube Movimento, UFJF](https://www2.ufjf.br/cinemovimento/sessao-ensaio-critico/2020-2/agosto/os-mundos-do-trabalho/)\n10. [John D. French, \"They Don't Wear Black-Tie: Intellectuals and Workers in São Paulo, Brazil, 1958–1981\", International Labor and Working-Class History 59 (2001)](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-labor-and-working-class-history/article/abs/they-dont-wear-blacktie-intellectuals-and-workers-in-sao-paulo-brazil-19581981/03D5C7D1F30D42084ED4BF453CAB9989)\n11. [Tese digital, Programa de Pós-Graduação (Hirszman research)](https://chuva-inc.github.io/compos-static-files/teses-e-dissertacoes/trabalhos_arquivo_8SRZM6SP4OBXIX2W63TO_501__10_03_2015_18_45_10.pdf)\n12. [They Don't Wear Black Tie (1981) – Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082317/awards)\n13. [They Don't Wear Black Tie, Introducing Labor Films](https://laborfilms.org/they-dont-wear-black-tie/)\n14. [Brener Neves Silva, \"The Conflict Personification in Eles Não Usam Black-Tie (1981)\", Uningá Review 36 (2021)](https://revista.uninga.br/uningareviews/article/view/3765)\n15. [Estréia 'Eles Não Usam Black-Tie', Diário do Grande ABC (2001)](https://www.dgabc.com.br/Noticia/138048/estreia-eles-nao-usam-black-tie-)\n16. [Scheda film, Eles não usam Black-Tie, ASAC, La Biennale di Venezia](https://asac.labiennale.org/attivita/cinema/6706)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 1980s › Released 1980 to 1985*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/they-dont-wear-black-tie", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/they-dont-wear-black-tie.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"They Don't Wear Black-Tie\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/they-dont-wear-black-tie. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[They Don't Wear Black-Tie](https://www.edgepedia.org/they-dont-wear-black-tie)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/they-dont-wear-black-tie](https://www.edgepedia.org/they-dont-wear-black-tie). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"They Don't Wear Black-Tie\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/they-dont-wear-black-tie. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "They Don't Wear Black-Tie is Leon Hirszman's 1981 Brazilian political drama, adapted from Guarnieri's 1958 Teatro de Arena play, about a father-son split during the ABC metalworkers' strikes; it won Venice's Special Jury Prize." }