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.
Keywords: 1920s , authoritarian-company , based-on-true-story , coal-miner , coal-mining , company-town , double-cross , gun-battle , gun-death , hired-goons , italian-diaspora , labor-organizer , labor-union , miners-strike , mining-company , preacher , racism , slit-throat , traitor , union-struggle , west-virginia , worker-s-rights , workers-union