Matewan

Matewan. John Sayles classic about coal country in  Mingo County West Virginia. It's immersive. The costumes, the casting, the whole production design all just pulls us up into the mountains post WWI. I don't know if it was actually like this, but I trust Sayles; he's a guy that cares deeply about getting it right. Sure he wrote Piranha, Wild Thing, and Clan of the Cave Bear, but he wrote those for cash so he could make The Brother From Another Planet, Lone Star and this. We start with some miners down in the pit. This looks like a shitty way to live. Whispers among them down deep underground. Now we're on a train as a man comes to town. Chris Cooper in a career defining role as Joe Kenehan. He watches a lot more than he talks. He tries to slow things up and calm things down as the miners get heated about their shitty lot in life. Black men in freight cars get their asses kicked by some hillbillies with sticks. We meet Few Clothes Johnson played by James Earl Jones. If he's had a greater role than this then I haven't seen it. I mean Thulsa Doom in Conan is pretty fun, but shit, this is the real deal. He and Kenehan's relationship is deep and complex, it's a joy to watch unfold. Early role for Mary McDonnell. She's great here as a window trapped in this company town just trying to raise her son and get by. She has that calm reasoned understanding that she'd bring to The President later in Battlestar Galactica. Great role. Her son Danny is played by 16 year old Will Oldham in an absolute standout role. A savant performance from the future Palace Brothers, Bonnie Prince Billy musician. Side note he shot the album cover for Slint's Spiderland record. 

Sayles really does a great job with the history of mining in Appalachia. He shows us how the people are fucked over by the coal operators. Effectively they're serfs trapped on the land they once possessed. We meet miners, their wives, we meet town folk and railroad folk, we meet gun thugs and union organizers. Who we don't meet are the Mine Owners, cause why the hell would they be there. They're living in mansions in Charleston, Cincinnati, or Pittsburgh. These people are like matches to them, something they burn and throw away.

A note on music. Hazel Dickens sings some gorgeous, eerie High Lonesome bluegrassy songs. All the music is just natural and fits the whole, like the sound of a creek through the woods or thunder across the hills. Something is happening, or something is coming. 

Anytime someone gets a little out of line The Owners send down some gun thugs to convince the folks they need to step back in line. Enter Kevin Tighe as Hickey. I used to watch him on Emergency in the 70s as Johnny Gage's even tempered Paramedic buddy Roy. Hell, I really didn't know he had Hickey in him. Hickey is one evil son of a bitch. The writing and Tighe's performance are downright terrifying. This asshole knows he's got Carte Blanche to do whatever he wants and can terrorize this whole place cause he and his little pal Griggsy have guns and political backing from the mine operators. David Strathairn plays Chief of Police Sid Hatfield. Yup, those Hatfields. Really interesting role. I've always loved that guy, just a marvelous actor. He was in a lot of good stuff before this, but Matewan is where he made his bones. The story is so well written. Love, loss, betrayal, revenge, more betrayal, coming together, laughter, being chopped apart, tragedy. Sayles and the actors make this all real, as much truth as you can squeeze onto a little rectangle of celluloid. Photography by the great Haskell Wexler. That guy doesn't need me to read his credits off. Google him, he's a legend. He gets right down in the muck here. It's so spot on, so unflashy. It's just the right thing. In a year that saw Three Men and a Baby, Beverly Hills Cop 2, Fatal Attraction, and Dirty Dancing this is a profound and meaningful movie. I don't need profound everyday, but when I saw it in 1987 while going to school in the mountains of Virginia just a few hours away from this scene it was something I knew would stay with me forever. Highest Recommendation. There's a reason it's in The Criterion Collection. ps: while you're at Criterion check Harlan County USA, Barbara Kopple's masterpiece documentary about a coal war in Kentucky in the 70's.