Matewan

Plot Outline: Mingo County, West Virginia, 1920. Coal miners, struggling to form a union, are up against company operators and gun thugs. Black and Italian miners, brought in by the company to break the strike, are caught between the two forces. Union activist and ex-Wobbly Joe Kenehan, sent to help organize the union, determines to bring the local, Black, and Italian groups together. Drawn from an actual incident, the characters of Sid Hatfield, Cabell Testerman, C. E. Lively, and Few Clothes Johnson were based on real people.

DVD Release: 8/14/2001

Rated: PG-13

Directed by:
John Sayles

Starring:
Chris Cooper
James Earl Jones
Mary McDonnell
Will Oldham