- HD 1080
- Runtime: 132m.
- Status: Released
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- Languages: en
- Country: United States of America
- Director: John Sayles
- Stars: Chris Cooper, James Earl Jones, Mary McDonnell, Will Oldham, David Strathairn
- keywords: traitor, based on true story, west virginia, gun battle, racism, preacher, double cross, labor organizer, labor union, coal mining, workers union, 1920s, coal miner, worker's rights, miners strike, mining company, slit throat, union struggle, company town, authoritarian company, italian diaspora, gun death, hired goons
- Production_studio: Cinecom Entertainment Group, Film Gallery, Goldcrest, Red Dog Films, Winwood Productions
- Slogan: It takes more than guns to kill a man.
- The Matewan is featured in the top rankings of 1987
- #22 in Top Drama Movies of 1987
Filmed in the coal country of West Virginia, "Matewan" celebrates labor organizing in the context of a 1920s work stoppage. Union organizer, Joe Kenehan, a scab named "Few Clothes" Johnson and a sympathetic mayor and police chief heroically fight the power represented by a coal company and Matewan's vested interests so that justice and workers' rights need not take a back seat to squalid working conditions, exploitation and the bottom line.
