Strike! Kentucky coal workers pack up their pickaxes and leave the mine to fight for better wages and working conditions... In the 1970s! Strike busters, scabs, and crooked Union presidents are just some of the hurdles to a better life in rural Kentucky. Movies with a Spine covers its first Criterion documentary.
EMAIL US - movieswithaspine@gmail.com
Harlan County USA's Criterion - https://www.criterion.com/films/777-harlan-county-usa
Harlan County USA (YouTube) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCOd7fPHmfU&t=7s
Movies with a Spine is three cinephiles discussing the releases of the Criterion Collection.
Hosted by Nathaniel Combs, Ryan Hope, and Chris Miele.
Edited by Chris Miele.
CRITERION'S HARLAN COUNTY USA DESCRIPTION - Barbara Kopple’s Academy Award–winning Harlan County USA unflinchingly documents a grueling coal miners’ strike in a small Kentucky town. With unprecedented access, Kopple and her crew captured the miners’ sometimes violent struggles with strikebreakers, local police, and company thugs. Featuring a haunting soundtrack—with legendary country and bluegrass artists Hazel Dickens, Merle Travis, Sarah Gunning, and Florence Reece—the film is a heartbreaking record of the thirteen-month struggle between a community fighting to survive and a corporation dedicated to the bottom line.
FROM THE CRITERION COLLECTION'S WEBSITE: Since 1984, the Criterion Collection has been dedicated to publishing important classic and contemporary films from around the world in editions that offer the highest technical quality and award-winning, original supplements. No matter the medium—from laserdisc to DVD and Blu-ray to streaming—Criterion has maintained its pioneering commitment to presenting each film as its maker would want it seen, in state-of-the-art restorations with special features designed to encourage repeated watching and deepen the viewer’s appreciation of the art of film.
