Matewan

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.

• 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