Movie · 1987 · Drama, History · 2h 12m · PG-13 · English
Curator score: 9.0/10 (26.7K ratings)
It takes more than guns to kill a man.
Overview
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.
Ratings
Curator score: 9.0/10
IMDb: 7.9/10
Letterboxd: 4.15/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 94%
Metacritic: 73
TMDB: 7.4/10
Director
John Sayles
Production
Cinecom Entertainment Group, Film Gallery, Goldcrest, Red Dog Films, Winwood Productions
Cast
Chris Cooper, James Earl Jones, Mary McDonnell, Will Oldham, David Strathairn, Ken Jenkins, Kevin Tighe, Gordon Clapp, Bob Gunton, Jace Alexander, Joe Grifasi, Nancy Mette, Jo Henderson, Josh Mostel, Gary McCleery, Maggie Renzi, Tom Wright, Michael B. Preston, Thomas A. Carlin, Jenni Cline
Curator Review
Verdict
A stirring, hard-eyed labor drama that turns a local strike into a vivid portrait of class conflict, solidarity, and the cost of organizing. Its period detail, ensemble cast, and moral urgency make it one of the strongest American political films of the 1980s.
Best for
viewers who like socially conscious historical dramas
fans of ensemble films about collective struggle
people interested in labor history and class conflict
audiences who appreciate patient, realist filmmaking with emotional payoff
Skip if
you want fast pacing or a conventional crowd-pleaser
you prefer action-heavy history films
you dislike politically explicit storytelling
you want a glossy, studio-style period piece
Overview
Matewan is a labor film with the force of a folk ballad and the bite of a political pamphlet. John Sayles builds the story from lived-in details: the company town, the cramped homes, the uneasy alliances, the racial tensions the bosses exploit, and the fragile hope that solidarity can survive fear.
Worth noting
What makes it endure is that it never treats the workers as symbols alone. They are funny, wary, proud, exhausted, and often divided, which makes the organizing feel earned rather than preached. The film’s anger is real, but so is its tenderness for ordinary people trying to build a fairer world.
Bottom line
It’s also beautifully made, with rugged location work and a sense of place that gives the coal country a tragic grandeur. The result is a film that feels both historical and immediate: a reminder that labor struggles are not abstract debates, but fights over dignity, survival, and power.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Josh Lewis (5★) · 710 likes
"You work, they don't. That's all you get to know about the enemy."
"All we got is our misery... and the least we could do is share it."
Sally Jane Black · 362 likes
The class war has always been a war. For millennia, those with have sought directly or indirectly to destroy those without rather than share what they have. This is an incontrovertible fact. When the capital system was finally the focal economic system in the West, this war seemed to galvanize, and the tools of the conflict often became literal weapons of war. The Battle of Matewan is a union story I was only vaguely familiar with, but the fact that… more The class war has always been a war. For millennia, those with have sought directly or indirectly to destroy those without rather than share what they have. This is an incontrovertible fact. When the capital system was finally the focal economic system in the West, this war seemed to galvanize, and the tools of the conflict often became literal weapons of war. The Battle of Matewan is a union story I was only vaguely familiar with, but the fact that… more
Jake Cole (4.5★) · 352 likes
Though centered on a pacifist, this is a film that overflows with rage. In short order it lays out the suffocating control of completely unseen company men, who have the deed to every home and sell all the goods and happily send scabs to absorb the building fury of their abused workers. Wexler's cinematography paints the holler in beautiful hues of green and blue that are themselves an act of protest to the dilapidated hovels and destroyed ecosystem left by… more Though centered on a pacifist, this is a film that overflows with rage. In short order it lays out the suffocating control of completely unseen company men, who have the deed to every home and sell all the goods and happily send scabs to absorb the building fury of their abused workers. Wexler's cinematography paints the holler in beautiful hues of green and blue that are themselves an act of protest to the dilapidated hovels and destroyed ecosystem left by… more
matt lynch (5★) · 296 likes
One fist of iron, the other of steel
If the right one don't a-get you, then the left one will
Edwin 🦦 (5★) · 231 likes
From the bottom of my heart, I would like to thank Winona Ryder for introducing me to Matewan because if it wasn’t for her, I would’ve never had heard of this movie before. Now that I’ve watched it, I can confidently say this is a hidden masterpiece that deserves more recognition.
John Sayles captures the raw struggle of working-class America with a level of authenticity and heart rarely seen these days. The way it’s shot felt so real to me.… more
1958 · Drama, Western, Romance · 2h 47m · NR · Curator 7.7/10 (41.7K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
For its wide American landscape and conflict over land, power, and community values.
Topics
labor drama, historical drama, political cinema, working class, coal mining, union struggle, ensemble cast, social realism, American history, period piece