Harlan County, U.S.A. - Criterion Collection From:Norman Yarborough , Houston Elmore , Phil Sparks , John Corcoran , John O'Leary , Image Entertainment , Barbara Kopple , Criterion ,
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Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Image Entertainment
EAN: 0037429208328
Format: Color
Format: DVD-Video
Format: Widescreen
Format: NTSC
Weight: 100 hundredths-pounds
Label: Criterion
Audio Format: Dolby Digital 1.0
Manufacturer: Criterion
Number Of Items: 1
Packaged Height: 58 hundredths-inches
Packaged Length: 710 hundredths-inches
Packaged Weight: 18 hundredths-pounds
Packaged Width: 542 hundredths-inches
Publisher: Criterion
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2006-05-23
Running Time: 103 minutes
Studio: Criterion
Theatrical Release Date: 1976
Product Description:
This film documents the coal miners' strike against the Brookside Mine of the Eastover Mining Company in Harlan County, Kentucky in June, 1973. Eastovers refusal to sign a contract (when the miners joined with the United Mine Workers of America) led to the strike, which lasted more than a year and included violent battles between gun-toting company thugs/scabs and the picketing miners and their supportive women-folk. Director Barbara Kopple puts the strike into perspective by giving us some background on the historical plight of the miners and some history of the UMWA.
Customer Reviews:
2 of 2 customers found the following review helpful:
 HardLuck County, USA, 2008-05-26
I remembered this film winning the Oscar for Best Ducumentary back in the 1970's. I remember really wanting to see it but, especially back then, it was pretty hard to come across documentaries on TV (forget about movie theaters). Thus it was with great pleasure that I noticed it on the April schedule of the Independent Film Channel. My politics have changed over the years so I haven't rushed out to join a union or volunteer to parade in a pickett line after watching "Harlan County, USA". However, I was fascinated with the up-close and personal film that told a very compelling story. The glimpses of the mines, the miners in their squalid homes, the anger and determination, the tedium and the violence all brought together the sort of documentary that underlines the adage "Truth is Stranger than Fiction".
This film excels by bringing the story to life through the people that live it. There are a number of men and women who seem to take the lead and a number of men and women who tell the story of what happened a couple of generations earlier. There are side stories about Black Lung disease and the Yablonski murders (that I remember well). There is a sort of epilogue that suggests a mixed future for the mine workers.
I read a couple of reviews by indiviuals who said that they were from the area and could attest first-hand to the short-comings of the documentary. I couldn't help but notice a telling scene or two where the strike-breakers were armed with guns and the strikers were armed with clubs. I also noticed that there were at least a couple of scenes where the union leaders were advocating calm and reason in the wake of violence by the strike-breakers. I knew better than to take this at face value and I appreciated those reviews that confirmed that there was violence on both sides. The issue of unionizing and striking are not simple ones especially in a society that celebrates individuality. The strike-breakers were portrayed as evil which is very debatable (and there was no look at the strike-breakers view by the makers of "Harlan County, USA"). They had families to feed as well. I would grant them that they chose to continue on in order to take care of those they were responsible for. I know of plenty of tales in other parts of the country where violence was more prevalent on the union side than the other and the lack of seeing any other point of view just confirms my suspicions of the bias in this film. That said, I came away from the movie with the sense that neither side was faring very well in the conditions they worked in. It was illuminating to finally see the story that I followed in the newspapers back then.
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