Union Scene - 'Matewan' Film By John Sayles, WVa Mine Wars

[appalachiablue]

- In 1920 coal miners tried to bring a union to West Virginia, but coal operators and their gun thugs were dead set against it. The West Virginia Mine Wars, early 20th century.

- Matewan is a 1987 American drama film written & directed by John Sayles, & starring Chris Cooper (in his film debut), James Earl Jones, Mary McDonnell & Will Oldham, with David Strathairn, Kevin Tighe & Gordon Clapp in supporting roles. The film dramatizes the events of the Battle of Matewan, a coal miners' strike in 1920 in Matewan, a small town in the hills of West Virginia.

- Plot: Joe Kenehan (Chris Cooper), is an organizer for the United Mine Workers. He arrives in Matewan, West Virginia in 1920 to organize miners against the Stone Mountain Coal Company. His introduction to the town is his witnessing of a mob of miners angry at wage cuts beating up black miners who intended to cross the picket line. He takes up residence at a boarding house run by a coal miner's widow, Elma Radnor (Mary McDonnell), & her son, Danny (Will Oldham), who is also a miner and a budding preacher.
The miners are reluctant to bring the imported workers, both black & Italian into their union, a cause not helped by C. E. Lively, a spy for the company within the union, who tries to goad the miners into violence & secretly informs the Baldwin–Felts Detective Agency of the "red" Kenehan's presence...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matewan

[montanacowboy]

1. You NEVER see this film on TV

You would think it would be on one of the movie channels but I have never seen it and I wonder why.

[appalachiablue]

2. Now that I think of it I haven't seen it on TV since

the 1990s, never more recently on any channels. Only online. Too 'controversial maybe,' like other labor films, Norma Rae, The Grapes of Wrath and works about environmental and nuke disasters. Although I did see Silkwood and Erin Brokovich on TV, more than 10-15 years ago.

Talk about not hearing of something, I'm from the region and never heard any of this story until the film came out, thanks to John Sayles.

[Mr. Evil]

3. Matewan is an excellent movie.

I've seen it a number of times but, not recently. I would highly recommend it and would gladly watch it again. Haven't seen Silkwood and Norma Rae in probably 15 years. Another great movie. I saw GoW again about a year ago. Just watched EB for about the 458th time just a few days ago. All great movies!

[ashredux]

4. This film is excellent...not well known but I think it was Sayles best

[doc03]

5. Excellent movie every working person should see. I

worked in a steel mill for 40 years. The companies still
use the same tactics calling unions communists and dividing workers by race, gender and ethnicity to this day. The sad part today workers have been brainwashed against unions since that SOB Reagan. The downfall of unions IMO was when they failed to back the air traffic controllers.

[appalachiablue]

6. You covered it succinctly, much struggle, then progress

and later demise from Reagan and Co. Working in a steel mill you must have experienced a good deal regarding unionization and labor strife. The desire and need for organized labor is rising again and I hope I live to see some of it realized, much less bloody this time, although who knows.

Matewan is an excellent movie, my sister met actor Bob Gunton who plays CE Lively, the infiltrator- rat spy for the coal company wearing spectacles in this scene. The area is where half of our family came from yet we heard little to nothing about the mine wars and unions in school or elsewhere growing up, clearly there was a lot of suppression.