Susan C. Mitchell
While Kenehan and his story are fictional, the setting and the dramatic climax are historical; Sid Hatfield, Cabell C. Testerman, C. E. Lively and the Felts brothers were real-life participants, and 'Few Clothes' is based on a character active several years previously. There are a number of good movies about labor struggles, with documentaries like Barbara Kopple’s Harlan County, USA leading the pack for virtuosity, and the honest Salt of the Earth highlighting the political divide in American politics. John Sayles’ coal strike epic is grand American filmmaking bolstered by fine Haskell Wexler cinematography, great performances by dedicated actors, and a screenplay that avoids the common pitfalls of liberal filmmaking — by assuming the structure of an action Western. Sayles was already a trend setter with a reputation nearing legend status; when Lawrence Kasdan’s The Big Chill arrived, we knew it was a commercial retread of Sayles’ inspired first film The Return of the Secaucus 7. In an economically devastated Alaskan town, a fisherman with a troublesome past dates a woman whose young daughter does not approve of him. Glenn Erickson left a small town for UCLA film school, where his spooky student movie about a haunted window landed him a job on the CLOSE ENCOUNTERS effects crew. When the skeleton of his murdered predecessor is found, Sheriff Sam Deeds unearths many other long-buried secrets in his Texas border town. Taglines Black and Italian miners, brought in by the company to break the strike, are caught between the two forces. Humberto Fuentes is a wealthy doctor whose wife has recently died. One of the best scenes sees James Earl Jones’ Few Clothes assigned the job of killing Joe, because he’s been denounced as a company spy and a rapist. Joe succeeds in getting the white miners to accept the blacks, led by ‘Few Clothes’ (James Earl Jones) and the Italians (represented by Fausto and Rosaria (Joe Grifasi & Maggie Renzi). Because he pays off his tale of oppression and frustration with a tension-releasing action scene, Sayles connects with audiences that might reject a liberal tragedy with a downbeat ending. By "owning" the stores, controlling employment, threatening the physical well-being of its employees, and hiring of thugs to intimidate individuals and their ability to implement any organized mutual assistance, these wealthy and powerful companies sought to (and succeeded in ) maximizing their profits by using the labor of the poor and impotent at almost no cost to the company.One needs to search intensely to finally reveal the true history of our period of industrialization. With this screening I realize that I never saw its first scenes at all. It never comes off as bad processing, but it definitely goes against the norm of ‘warm & rich’ rural filmmaking. Blu-ray rates: While Kenehan and his story are fictional, the setting and the dramatic climax are historical; Sid Hatfield, Cabell C. Testerman, C. E. Lively and the Felts brothers were real-life participants, and 'Few Clothes' is based on a character active several years previously. The only other film I know that’s overtly about American coal mining disputes is Martin Ritt’s The Molly Maguires with Sean Connery and Richard Harris. Even the hired killers wear suits, ties, and starched collars. A fictional account of events during the Philippine-American War.
Joe is an ex- Wobbly who admits that he’s a Communist. The biggest coup was securing the services of Haskell Wexler, who films in mine shafts lit only by oil lamps and in camps lit only by fires. The solemn, circumspect Sid Hatfield simply tells Kenehan, “I take care of my people. UMWA organizer and dual-card Wobbly Joe Kenehan determines to bring the local, Black, and Italian groups together. Glenn Erickson answers most reader mail: cinesavant@gmail.com. Viewers are immediately drawn to David Strathairn’s Sheriff Hatfield, a hard-nosed & belligerent backwoods lawman who is our only hope for a hero. How America’s workers ever side with management, I don’t know — in every strike confrontation, I’ve come up with accusations like that of the crabby old woman in Norma Rae by Martin Ritt: “You just don’t wanna work for a living.”. A labor union organizer comes to an embattled mining community brutally and violently dominated and harassed by the mining company. Hatfield is the closest an American film has come to a Samurai — he isn’t afraid to diss the bosses or the strikers because he operates under an older code and doesn’t give a spit who objects. A labor union organizer comes to an embattled mining community brutally and violently dominated and harassed by the mining company. Written and Directed by John Sayles. Film Editor: Sonya Polonsky Mingo County, West Virginia, 1920. Whether you wish to call him an organizer or an agitator, he’s needed to keep the strike on course, something that’s almost impossible when informant/agents within the union are working against him.
Produced by Peggy Rajski, Maggie Renzi James Earl Jones has a major part but a low position on the cast list, and cameraman Haskell Wexler was surely intrigued by the script as well. Gun violence is threatened at every turn, and many strikers insist that nothing can be won without fighting back, especially local merchant C.E. But the gun-toting Hickey and Griggs harass the workers, charging them with stealing company property and evicting those still in company lodgings. Hatfield’s situation is much tougher then that of Marshall Kane in High Noon; as this is 1987 there’s every likelihood that Sayles’ film will end in disaster for the quote-unquote ‘good guys.’ Sheriff Hatfield isn’t physically imposing, but none of the company thugs care to oppose him in a fair fight. He befriends none of the strikers, and on more than one occasion he prevents Hickey & Griggs from using illegal means to terrorize ‘the people he was hired to protect.’ With outright thuggery kept in check, the company’s lackeys think of a way to turn the strikers against Joe: an informer manipulates another local coal widow, Bridey Mae (Nancy Mette) into falsely accusing the labor organizer of rape. Hired thug ‘regulators’ add a note of terror, keeping the scabs in line and to terrorize the striking workforce. Anybody who ever needed a job will see what motivates these people. Everything looks convincing. Supplements: Audio commentary featuring Sayles and cinematographer Haskell Wexler; new documentary on the making of the film featuring Sayles, producer Maggie Renzi, production designer Nora Chavooshian, and actors Chris Cooper, James Earl Jones, Mary McDonnell, Will Oldham, and David Strathairn; new interview with composer Mason Daring on the film’s soundtrack; new program on the film’s production design featuring Chavooshian; trailer. Action directors had been emulating Sam Peckinpah for a full decade, but neither John Milius nor Walter Hill put together an action scene as effective as this one. Mingo County, West Virginia, 1920. The Guilds are now open, and members are in good shape, provided they can find enough work to qualify for benefits, instead of simply paying into the system for others.