Matewan / Cinecom Entertainment Group and Film Gallery in association with Goldcrest present a Red Dog Films production ; produced by Peggy Rajski and Maggie Renzi ; written and directed by John Sayles.
Edition:
Director approved Blu-ray special edition.
Publisher:
The Criterion Collection,
Copyright Date:
2019
Description:
1 videodisc (133 min.) : sound, color ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 pamphlet (1 page : color illustrations ; folded to 17 cm.)
Chris Cooper, Mary McDonnell, Will Oldham, David Strathairn, Ken Jenkins, Kevin Tighe, Gordon Clapp, Bob Gunton, Jace Alexander, Joe Grifasi, Nancy Mette, Jo Henderson, Josh Mostel, Gary McCleery, Maggie Renzi, Tom Wright, Michael Preston, Tom Carlin, Jenni Cline, Michael A. Mantel, James Earl Jones. Title and credits from screen. Originally produced as a motion picture in 1987. Wide screen (1.85:1). Features: New 4k digital restoration, supervised by director John Sayles, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack; Audio commentary from 2013 featuring Sayles and cinematographer Haskell Wexler; Two new documentaries on 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; Short documentary on the impact that Matewan's production had on West Virginia; New program on the film's production design featuring Chavooshian; Trailer, An essay by critic A.S. Hamrah.
Summary:
"Written and directed by John Sayles, this wrenching historical drama recounts the true story of a West Virginia coal town where the local miners' struggle to form a union rose to the pitch of all-out war in 1920. When Matewan's miners go on strike, organizer Joe Kenehan (Chris Cooper, in his film debut), arrives to help them, uniting workers white and black, Appalachia-born and immigrant, while urging patience in the face of the coal company's violent provocations. With a crackerjack ensemble cast--including James Earl Jones, David Strathairn, Mary McDonnell, and Will Oldham--and Oscar-nominated cinematography by Haskell Wexler, Matewan taps into a rich vein of Americana with painstaking attention to local texture, issuing an impassioned cry for justice that still resounds today"--Container.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.