Matewan
| Matewan | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | John Sayles |
| Produced by | Peggy Rajski Maggie Renzi |
| Screenplay by | John Sayles |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Mason Daring |
| Cinematography | Haskell Wexler |
| Edited by | Sonya Polonsky |
| Distributed by | Cinecom Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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132 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $4,000,000 (estimated) |
| Box office | under $2 million (US). |
Matewan (/ˈmeɪtwɒn/) is a 1987 American drama film written and directed by John Sayles, and starring Chris Cooper (in his film debut), James Earl Jones, Mary McDonnell and Will Oldham, with David Strathairn, Kevin Tighe and 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. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography.
It was 1920 in the southwest West Virginia coal fields, and, as the narrator recalls, "things were tough." In response to efforts by miners to organize into a labor union, the Stone Mountain Coal Company announces it will cut the pay miners receive, and will be importing replacement workers into town to replace those who join the union. The new workers are African Americans from Alabama and are coming in on the train, but the train is stopped outside town and the black men are told to get off. Derided as "scabs", they are then attacked by the local miners, but manage to get back on the train and continue their journey.
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