Harlan County U.S.A. (1976)

Director:

Barbara Kopple

Release Date:

28 September 1977 (France)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

A filmed account of a bitterly violent miner strike.

Plot Keywords:

Funeral | Murder | Racial Slur | Male Nudity | Profanity

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 2 wins

Cast

W.A. 'Tony' Boyle	...	Himself
Basil Collins	...	Himself - mine foreman
Carl Horn	...	Himself
Lawrence Jones	...	Himself - shooting victim
John L. Lewis	...	Himself (archive footage)
Arnold Miller	...	Himself
Florence Reece	...	Herself
Lois Scott	...	Herself
William Simon	...	Himself
Richard Trumka	...	Himself
Billy G. Williams	...	Himself - Harlan County sheriff
Nimrod Workman	...	Himself
Joseph Yablonski	...	Himself (archive footage)
Ken Yablonski	...	Himself
Barbara Kopple	...	Herself (voice) (uncredited)

Directed by
Barbara Kopple

Produced by
Barbara Kopple	....	producer

Original Music by
Hazel Dickens
Merle Travis

Cinematography by
Kevin Keating
Hart Perry

Film Editing by
Nancy Baker
Mirra Bank
Lora Hays
Mary Lampson

Production Management
Marc Weiss	....	production manager: Miller-Boyle Campaign (as Marc N. Weiss)

Sound Department
Rhetta Barron	....	assistant sound editor
Tim Colman	....	additional sound
Lee Dichter	....	sound re-recording mixer
Bob Gates	....	additional sound
Barbara Kopple	....	sound recordist
Judy Rabinovitz	....	assistant sound editor
Helene Susman	....	assistant sound editor
Joshua Waletzky	....	sound editor (as Josh Waletzky)
John Walz	....	additional sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Dick Donovan	....	assistant camera
Michael Hamilton	....	assistant camera
Tom Hurwitz	....	additional cinematographer
Anne Lewis II	....	assistant camera
George Liebert	....	assistant grip
Alex Lukman	....	assistant camera
Flip McCarthy	....	additional cinematographer
Phil Parmet	....	additional cinematographer
Shane Zarintash	....	assistant camera

Editorial Department
Mirra Bank	....	contributing editor
Lora Hays	....	consulting editor
Lawrence Mischel	....	negative cutter
Sue Mischel	....	negative cutter

Other crew
Mariann Dusseldorp	....	unspecified assistant
Barbara Johnson	....	unspecified assistant
Anne Lewis II	....	associate director
Teri Siegel	....	unspecified assistant

Thanks
D.A. Pennebaker	....	thanks
Rip Torn	....	thanks

Production Companies

• Cabin Creek

Distributors

• Cinema 5 Distributing
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (1978) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1978) (1980) (Finland) (TV) (TV2)

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

France:U | Sweden:11 | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Brookside, Kentucky, USA

Company:

Cabin Creek

Trivia:

When filming began, the film was intended to be about the 1972 campaign by Arnold Miller and Miners For Democracy to unseat UMWA president Tony Boyle, in the aftermath of Joseph Yablonski's murder; but the Harlan County strike began and caused the filmmakers to change their principal subject, with the campaign and murder becoming secondary subjects.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in 30 Days in Hell: The Making of 'The Devil's Rejects' (2005) (V)

Soundtrack:

Which Side Are You On

My favorite film

After voting for almost 1000 films in the Internet Movie Database I rate Harlan County USA as the best film I've ever seen. I think that means that it moved me more than any other. I've seen it four times but not for many years.

Last night I watched the made for TV Harlan County War, but switched the video off half way through. It didn't add anything to the original documentary which also covered this long strike at the Brookside mine in 1973. In fact the dramatisation made the unfolding events of the strike look somewhat predictable and cliched - playing out with similarities to Norma Rae.

In Barbara Kopple's film I was horrified that the strike was over something we here take for granted in Australia - the simple right for the workforce at a place of employment to be represented by a labor union. The hypocrisy of the US government's persistent claim that the nation is a leader in democratic rights was never been made so apparent (except perhaps in Salt of the Earth)

What's so great about Harlan County USA?

* The clarity of the portrayal of the grotesque power of monopoly capital

* The way Koppel and crew are right in there, every day, every night - totally committed to the struggle, not just observers They're not your back to the city at 5pm chroniclers - they're in there for the long haul.

* The way that representatives of Duke Power so eloquently state their sheer nastiness and lack of basic humanity

* The evocative portrayal of the tensions amongst the strikers and the ebbs and flows of enthusiasm, optimism, despair, pessimism, solidarity, and opportunism.

* The way it captures the dimension of violence in US labor relations - in the land of the gun.

* The emergence of stong women and the pivotal role they played.

* The haunting music of Hazel Dickens.

* The moving songs of black-lung affected Nimrod Workman.

* The dramatic juxtaposition of the beauty of the woods and hollows and the grinding poverty and deplorable living conditions.

* The broader chronicling of the conditions in the "Other America".

* The trip to New York to put their case and a great conversation between a Kentucky miner and a police officer.

Above all this is a film that can inspire the powerless to take on the mighty - because working people do have tremendous bargaining power, if they stay resilient and united.