Criterion Collection Edition #334 Barbara Kopple's Academy Award-winning HARLAN COUNTY USA unflinchingly documents a grueling coal miners' strike in a small Kentucky town. Considered one of the best documentaries ever made, Harlan County lives us to its reputation. It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary at the 49th Academy Awards.It was directed and produced by filmmaker Barbara Kopple, then early in her filmmaking career. As the strike dragged on for nearly a year, both sides eventually openly brandished their weapons. This is a documentary talking about the mine strikes of Harlan County, Kentucky in 1973 where the laborers and . It contains a famous scene where guns are fired at the strikers in the darkness before dawn, and Kopple and her cameraman are knocked down and beaten. Sudie Crusenberry, one of the most prominent women in the documentary says, I dont care who takes whose man, who lives with whose man or what they do. The cinematography is unbelievable, it doesn't look like a documentary. Our downtown is a grid pattern and making it an easy walk throughout our city where you can immerse yourself in our culture, our murals . Coming Soon. [2], When Kopple and her cameraman Hart Perry showed up on the picket line, the locals were suspicious of their intentions. Blair His wife, Annie, died about a decade ago. The number of miners murdered by mine guards remains unknown. Once the union finally elected Arnold . I don't think we'd have won it without the film crew. All rights reserved. It seems likely that she highlights the women in the movie not just because of their significance, but also because she is interested in documenting how this stressful, sometimes traumatic strike affected women, as well. Alas, catastrophe awaited, this time in the booming 50s. Last year, his administration announced $14.5 million in federal grants for job retraining and other initiatives to help displaced coal and power industry workers. Barbara Kopple's Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976) | International Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story: Season 1, Link to Marvel Movies Ranked Worst to Best by Tomatometer, Link to Asian-American Pacific Islander Heritage, Link to RT25: Celebrating 25 Years of Rotten Tomatoes. Which Side Are You On? was written in the immediate aftershock of a midnight raid on Reeces home and her children by Harlan County Sheriff J.H. memorial page for Etta Turner Harlan Cox (2 Jul 1902-27 Jun 1980), Find a Grave Memorial ID 54496195, citing Crownland Cemetery, Noblesville . Still, there is a spirit that lives in Harlan, along with the ghosts of battles past. The music used in Harlan County, USA was considered integral to conveying the culture of the miners. I dont intend on going back. Hes lived in Harlan County ever since. Music: https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music From Barbara Kopple's Harlan County USA. Youll either be a union man or a thug for J.H. Harlan County USA Trailer - YouTube Its not good, says Napier. In the 1970s, a strip-mining company asserted its ownership over the mineral rights for property he owned and forced him to sell the land. Chester Napier grew up in the 1940s in a one-room log house in the woods of Smith, Ky. As a boy, he learned to hunt squirrel, groundhog and deer from his father, Fred Napier. Actor, writer, and director Illeana Douglas has starred in Cape Fear (1991), To Die For (1995), Grace of My Heart (1996), Picture Perfect (1997), and Ghost World (2001). We dont have no money to pay nothing with, Bobby says. Kopple did provide facts and statistics about the companies and the workers. Analysis of the documentary Harlan County, USA. Richard Dick Aos, age 85, of Pine Lake near Gonvick, MN, passed away on Friday, June 22nd, at Sanford Hospital in Fargo, ND. Inc. town, 1884; city, 1912. CEO Don Blankenship was convicted of willfully violating safety standards and spent a year in prison. There are others, just as valid. A former VISTA volunteer, she had worked on other documentaries, especially as an advocate of workers' rights. Lyle Harlan Cassanova passed away on April 12,2010 at Appleton Medical Center. And while the topics of her documentaries vary, she is clearly interested in womens stories and contributions. The scene switches, and the women are at their own meeting having the same argument. Coal mining once provided a middle-class living. $30 for 12 issues. "Harlan County, U.S.A. movie review (2006)", "Complete National Film Registry Listing", "Sight and Sound Publishes Top 50 Documentaries List | IndieWire", "The Best Documentaries of All Time | Sight & Sound", "Barbara Kopple Reflects on Joys and Dangers of Filming Harlan County, USA", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harlan_County,_USA&oldid=1151376819, Norman Yarborough - Eastover Mining president, John Corcoran - Consolidation Coal president, John O'Leary - former US Bureau of Mines director, Donald Rasmussen - Black Lung Clinic, West Virginia, "Forty-Two Years", written and sung by Nimrod Workman, instrumental by Kenny Kosek, "Come All You Coal Miners", written and sung by, "Black Lung", written and sung by Hazel Dickens, "Cold Blooded Murder", written and sung by Hazel Dickens, "Miners Life", traditional instrumental performed by David Morris's Band, "Which Side Are You On", written and sung by Florence Reece (as Florence Reese), additional lyrics by Joshua Waletzky (as Josh Waletzky), "This Little Light of Mine", written by Harry Dixon Loes (uncredited), sung by, "Trouble Among Yearlings", instrumental by Country Cookin', "Lone Prairie", by Roscoe Holcomb and Wade Ward, "They'll Never Keep Us Down", written and sung by Hazel Dickens, accompanied by Lamar Grier, John Katarakis, John Otsuka, and Gary Henderson, In 1990, the film was selected for the United States, Gail Pellet, "The Making of Harlan County, USA: An Interview with Barbara Kopple,". . The community is not only suffering, says Chester Napier, 75, a former mining company driver. Verified reviews are considered more trustworthy by fellow moviegoers. Chester found work in a gear factory, but home beckoned a dozen years later when one of his children died just three days after being born. They formed a club which organized womens involvement in the strikes and, eventually, the strikes themselves. A county where the average man lived in constant fear that there would not be a constant and or adequate income; where the only way to see change was to unite and to revolt by any means to force people to see the intolerable conditions that they live in. Environmental groups say other factors, such as the abundance of cheap natural gas, are behind coals slump. In this documentary about labor tension in the coal-mining industry, director Barbara Kopple films a strike in rural Kentucky. Kopple initially intended to make a film about Kenzie[citation needed], Miners for Democracy and the attempt to unseat Tony Boyle as president of the UMWA. In 1969, Tony Boyle was challenged for the UMWA presidency by Jock Yablonski, who promised democracy in the union. Using a translator, the Spanish-speaking miners told their story. Thank God for them; thank God they're on our side. Mine workers in Harlan won living wages and benefits following a series of strikes and violent clashes with scabs and mine owners in the 1930s that earned the county the nickname Bloody Harlan.. In the southern Appalachian fields stretching from West Virginia to Alabama, there was no union at all. [citation needed], Gary Arnold of The Washington Post praised the film, saying that Kopple "has emerged with a stirring, revealing testament to the courage, tenacity and dignity of Appalachian men and women whose livelihood depends on coal mining. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. The strikers and management finally agreed to come to the bargaining table after his death. Harlan | Kentucky, United States | Britannica There miners and union organizers fought the coal bosses for nearly a decadefor the right to have a union in a county where all but three incorporated towns were owned by the coal companies. We wont be able to verify your ticket today, but its great to know for the future. Harlan County | Encyclopedia.com Featuring a haunting soundtrackwith legendary country and bluegrass artists Hazel Dickens, Merle Travis, Sarah Gunning, and Florence Reecethe film is a heartbreaking record of the thirteen-month struggle between a community fighting to survive and a corporation dedicated to the bottom line. On an overcast Friday in mid-March, Levi Burkhart watches from his hilltop home in Coldiron, Ky., as a stream of coal trucks rumbles by. Cinemark . I aint been back, he says of Chicago. Get more of what the mainstream media leaves out. The company insisted on having a no-strike clause in the proposed new contract. Synopsis. Arm's length is not director Barbara Kopple's style; she puts us right alongside these Kentucky miners and their families, striking Harlan County's . If you look at it from the road, youd think it was booming, says Burkhart, 56, a former coal tipple operator who has also developed black lung. When the documentary Harlan County, USA came out in 1976, the people of Appalachia had been having a moment. Wayne Burgess of Tennessee was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison in the death of his girlfriend's 1-year-old daughter, Nakeavia Rivers, who died Aug. 8, 1997, after being . Dirt roads, no plumbing, wages lower than the standard living condition rates, abused mentally and physically by a large monopolistic corporation, and a lack of a full education are all factors that led to the strike of the minors in Harlan County. This is the Harlan County USA movie trailer. Today, U.S. coal comes mostly from the Western plains, dug out by huge earth-moving machinery and carried to the coasts on mile-long, dust-spewing trains. Analysis of the documentary Harlan County, USA Simpson spent 37 years in the mines to support his wife and 14 children. . All weve got down here is grocery stores and restaurants.. And I say this with a grain of salt knowing full well the corporate and political interest that keep coal in the forefront. But Harlan is also an emblem of the hard times that have fallen on coal country. Cinema 5 Distributing, Production Co: After that, Lois, another strong, prominent woman in the group, asks to speak. Interviews with many of the miners and company executives tell the story without the narration that we see in many of today's documentary, in which the documentarian is a central character in the film. Harlan County USA - The Criterion Channel I said [the work] would be gone in a year, and I was right, Blair said. Work it out, and the Gatorade represents 10 percent of a daily wage. We do them no favor when we dont show them where the trends are going, he said. This 10-digit number is your confirmation number. It contains a famous scene where guns are fired at the strikers in the darkness before dawn, and Kopple and her cameraman are knocked down and beaten.It received Academy Awards: Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature (Oscar)1976.Los Angeles Film Critics Association: Special Award, Barbara Kopple; 1977, Belgian Film Critics Association: Grand Prix, Barbara Kopple; 1979 and many more awards.Directed by Barbara KoppleProduced by Barbara KoppleMusic by Hazel Dickens Merle Travis David MorrisCinematography Kevin Keating Hart Perry Tom HurwitzEdited by Nancy Baker Mary LampsonDistributed by First Run FeaturesRelease date October 15, 1976 (New York Film Festival)My Copyright Disclaimer:Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for \"fair use\" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Which side are you on? Im after a contract. He doesnt want to have to depend on anyone. A third of the community lives in poverty; a quarter of working-age residents are disabled. Overall, this documentary is wonderful in its ability to immerse the audience in the feeling, look, and culture of Harlan County. They were two of the towns founding families who had feuds that lasted for generations. with updates on movies, TV shows, Rotten Tomatoes podcast and more. Jones was well liked, young, and had a 16-year-old wife, and a baby. May 23, 2006, Runtime: She continues to harangue them, saying that theyre there to support the men, but they wont keep doing it if the men dont show up. Hamilton County, Indiana, USA will be saved to your photo volunteer list. Ive been trying to keep it going, but when you dont draw much, it dont go far.. On breaks, he came home to see his fiance, Lauren Blair. Sitting on a couch in his grandfathers home, Rowlett explained that he had been willing to pay the physical price of working in the mines in order to be close to home. Miners in Harlan County, Kentucky, have drawn national attention with their direct actionoccupying a railroad track to halt a coal train until the miners get paid the wages they are owed for digging it up. Kate and Laura Mulleavy founded Rodarte in Los Angeles, California, in 2005. Grace Elizabeth Hale. Many of the issues have changed, but the exploitation of coal miners, the corruption of the union, and the dangerous nature of the work have remained horrifyingly similar as the recent mine accidents attest. Barbara Kopple's Academy Award-winning Harlan County USA unflinchingly documents a grueling coal miners' strike in a small Kentucky town. For example, when the strike breakers and others hired by the company show up early in the filmthe strikers call them \"gun thugs\"the company people tried to keep their guns hidden from the camera. And it wouldn't happen over night so coal miners would have time to re-educate themselves. The first section of the film traces the immediate history of the strike and shows how the Kentucky miners were first invoiced in democratizing the corrupt United Mine Workers Union, then headed by Tony Boyle. It contains a famous scene where guns are fired at the strikers in the darkness before dawn, and Kopple and her cameraman are knocked down and beaten. She was the daughter of a Kentucky coal miner and married to Sam Reece, an organizer for the radical National Miners Union, then embroiled in the bloody 1931 Harlan County war. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. I. Im not after a man. First of all, they were tired of the way the media portrayed thema familiar feeling today, but even worse back then. Lifelong Harlan County resident Priscilla Stephens, 66, recalls the death of her father, Charlie Simpson, from black lung disease in 1966. Rodarte is known for its artistic mixture of high couture, California influences, and explorations into other art forms. Danny Stewart, 30, is a fifth-generation miner who began working in the industry shortly after graduating from high school in 2004. Unemployment has hovered at 13.5 percent, one of the highest rates in the state, steadily forcing people out. This article was most recently revised and updated by. Things are good for the moment, says Judy, 52, who recently moved from part- to full-time status at Walmart. Harlan Country, U.S.A. Id like to see the next president go in on coal, he says. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlan_County,_USAHarlan County, USA is a 1976 American documentary film covering the "Brookside Strike", a 1973 effort of 180 . You're almost there! Mr. Blanton explained the reasoning behind coal camps. The Brookside strike is vividly recounted in Barbara Kopples masterpiece, the documentary Harlan County, USA.. He described the film as "One of the better and more rousing labor strike films that calls attention to class war in America, though it doesn't offer enough analysis or balance on the issues (it sees the struggle solely through the miners' eyes)The film does a good job chronicling the plight of the miners and telling their personal stories in a moving way, and the meaningful catchy coal mining songs add to the emotional impact of the historical event. Harlan U. Parde, 84, of Beatrice, died Sunday morning, August 21, 2016 at the Beatrice Good Samaritan Center. Organizers were shot at, their homes gassed. For nearly a century, Harlan County, K.Y., has occupied an outsized place in the American consciousness. Gage County, Nebraska, USA . So when this strike came up, I saw the opportunity and I jumped right in there. And jump right in they did. I visited Harlan in 1974 with a contingent from the British miners union. , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes. Tom Hansell, Patricia Beaver and Angela Wiley, This page was last edited on 23 April 2023, at 17:21. Coming Soon. Robert and his wife, Judy, live on a plot of land off Route 568 in the tiny town of Cranks. Priscilla Stephens ticks off a list of companies that have come and gone: a furniture factory, a long-time furniture store, a sock factory. Born in Columbia, Maury, Tennessee, USA on 10 September, 1880 to Moses Mcclellan and Josephine Alice Mangrum. Kopple and her crew spent years with the families depicted in the film, documenting the dire straits they encountered while striking for safer working conditions, fair labor practices, and decent wages. "[6], The film received a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the aggregator site. "The personal is political" was a rallying cry of second wave feminism. Rather than using narration to tell the story, Kopple chose to film the words and actions of the people themselves. You are now the manager of this memorial. Cal Winslow takes a look back. http://dochouse.org/cinema/screenings/harlan-county-usaIn a small Kentucky town in 1976, a coal miners' strike is underway. A lot of people get hung up on using coal because if we stopped we would lose so many jobs..yada yada But coal is a finite resource and eventually we will run out of it and have to make the transition anyway. Review and analysis: Harlan County U.S.A. - Widescreenings Here was a combination of the whole thing, you see: you had to bump against the whole combination of them. Most residents havent been so lucky. Only late in 1939 did intransigent Harlan coal masters reluctantly sign on with the union. Writer, teacher, and performer Susie Bright is a trailblazer in the academic study of pornography and eroticism in mainstream cinema. The music acted as a narator, and we followed along almost dismally as the plot seemed to turn down a darker and more corrupt path every minute. This tactic is successful in scaring the men off, but not the women. One detail struck me with curious strength. The community there was already known as "Mount Pleasant", apparently owing to a nearby Indian mound.A post office was established on September 19, 1828, but called . Coming Soon, Regal The most shocking moment in Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976) looks at first like an abstract painting. As the strike dragged on for nearly a year, both sides eventually openly brandished their weapons. Although Stewart says hes not much for politics, he harbors hope that Novembers presidential election will bring Donald Trump to the White House and mark a change for him and his family.
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