Matewan (1987)

Quality: SD

Genre:Drama, History

Country: United States

Release Date: 28 Aug 1987

Staring:Chris Cooper, James Earl Jones, Mary McDonnell

Director:John Sayles

Rating: 7.9 (IMDb)

Runtime: 135 min

Storyline:

Matewan (1987) Mingo County, West Virginia, 1920. Coal miners, struggling to form a union, are up against company operators and the gun thugs of the notorious Baldwin-Felts detective agency. Black and Italian miners, brought in by the company to break the strike, are caught between the two forces. UMWA organizer and dual-card Wobbly Joe Kenehan determines to bring the local, Black, and Italian groups together. While Kenehan and his story are fictional, the setting and the dramatic climax are historical; Sid Hatfield, Cabell C. Testerman, C. E. Lively and the Felts brothers were real-life participants, and 'Few Clothes' is based on a character active several years previously.