Matewan

Matewan (1987)

Timing: 2:12 (132 min)

7.263/10
97

7.236/10
1124

7.9/10
10000

All about film

Video 1

Photo 19

Actors and characters

Release date

1987-08-28

Country

United States

Production

Goldcrest, Cinecom Entertainment Group, Film Gallery, Red Dog Films, Winwood Productions

Genre

Drama, History

Budget

$4 000 000

Revenue

$1 680 358

Website

Director

John Sayles

Actors

Chris Cooper, James Earl Jones, Mary McDonnell, Will Oldham, David Strathairn, Ken Jenkins, Kevin Tighe, Gordon Clapp, Bob Gunton, Jace Alexander
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

John Sayles

Producer

Peggy Rajski, Maggie Renzi, Amir Jacob Malin, Mark Balsam, Jerry Silva

Operator

Haskell Wexler

Composer

Mason Daring

Artist

Audition

Barbara Shapiro

Editing

Sonya Polonsky
All team (122)

• The film is based on real events, the so-called Battle of Matoun.
• Filming took place in the town of Fourmond, located 160 km from Matoun.
• Sid Hatfield and (1891 or 1893 – 1921) Mayor Testerman (1882-1920) are buried next to each other in a small cemetery near Baskirk in Kentucky.
• The identity of the spy working for the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency (the character shown in the film) was actually revealed only during the trial.
• By 1921, the miners' union had already been crushed. US President Warren Harding (1865-1923) imposed martial law in West Virginia and sent regular troops to the coalfields to protect the management of the coal companies from the workers. By this point, hundreds of miners had been killed, and thousands had been arrested and imprisoned. The creation of unions in the US was only allowed again in 1935 as part of the so-called "New Deal" announced by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945).
• Albert and Lee, brothers of detective agency owner Thomas Felts, were killed in Matewan. In retaliation for their deaths, agency employees killed former Matewan Sheriff Sid Hatfield and his deputy and friend Ed Chambers when they came to court in Welch, West Virginia. The young men – unarmed and accompanied by their wives – were walking up the stairs to the courthouse entrance when they were met by five detectives (including former spy Charles Everett Lively, 1887-1962), who shot and killed both of them. Hatfield died instantly from a bullet to the chest, after which one of the detectives fired several shots at the courthouse wall, and then placed a weapon in the hand of the deceased (to make it look as if the detectives had come under fire and were forced to defend themselves). At that time, Lively finished off Chambers, who had already received several wounds and was being unsuccessfully defended by his wife. Hatfield was 28 years old, Chambers 22, at the time of their deaths, and thousands of miners attended their funeral.
• Albert and Lee, brothers of detective agency owner Thomas Felts, were killed in Matewan. In retaliation for their deaths, agency employees killed former Matewan Sheriff Sid Hatfield and his deputy and friend Ed Chambers as they arrived in Welch, West Virginia, for court. The young men – unarmed and accompanied by their wives – were ascending the stairs to the courthouse entrance when they were met by five detectives (among them former spy Charles Everett Lively, 1887-1962), who shot and killed both of them. Hatfield died instantly from a bullet to the chest, after which one of the detectives fired several shots into the courthouse wall, and then placed a weapon in the hand of the deceased (to make it appear as though the detectives had come under fire and were forced to defend themselves). At that time, Lively finished off Chambers, who had already sustained several wounds and was being unsuccessfully defended by his wife. Hatfield was 28 years old and Chambers 22 at the time of their deaths, and thousands of miners attended their funeral.