Harlan County, U.S.A. - Criterion Collection
by Barbara Kopple
List Price:
Our Price: $28.99
You Save: $10.96 (27%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $26.39 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Director: Barbara KoppleBrand: Image Entertainment
Cinematographer: Tom Hurwitz
Cinematographer: Kevin Keating
Cinematographer: Phil Parmet
Cinematographer: Hart Perry
Composer: Merle Travis
Composer: Hazel Dickens
Editor: Nancy Baker
Editor: Mirra Bank
Editor: Mary Lampson
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 104 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-05-23
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Criterion
Movie Reviews of Harlan County, U.S.A. - Criterion Collection
Movie Review: HardLuck County, USA
Summary: 5 Stars
I remembered this film winning the Oscar for Best Ducumentary back in the 1970's. I remember really wanting to see it but, especially back then, it was pretty hard to come across documentaries on TV (forget about movie theaters). Thus it was with great pleasure that I noticed it on the April schedule of the Independent Film Channel. My politics have changed over the years so I haven't rushed out to join a union or volunteer to parade in a pickett line after watching "Harlan County, USA". However, I was fascinated with the up-close and personal film that told a very compelling story. The glimpses of the mines, the miners in their squalid homes, the anger and determination, the tedium and the violence all brought together the sort of documentary that underlines the adage "Truth is Stranger than Fiction".
This film excels by bringing the story to life through the people that live it. There are a number of men and women who seem to take the lead and a number of men and women who tell the story of what happened a couple of generations earlier. There are side stories about Black Lung disease and the Yablonski murders (that I remember well). There is a sort of epilogue that suggests a mixed future for the mine workers.
I read a couple of reviews by indiviuals who said that they were from the area and could attest first-hand to the short-comings of the documentary. I couldn't help but notice a telling scene or two where the strike-breakers were armed with guns and the strikers were armed with clubs. I also noticed that there were at least a couple of scenes where the union leaders were advocating calm and reason in the wake of violence by the strike-breakers. I knew better than to take this at face value and I appreciated those reviews that confirmed that there was violence on both sides. The issue of unionizing and striking are not simple ones especially in a society that celebrates individuality. The strike-breakers were portrayed as evil which is very debatable (and there was no look at the strike-breakers view by the makers of "Harlan County, USA"). They had families to feed as well. I would grant them that they chose to continue on in order to take care of those they were responsible for. I know of plenty of tales in other parts of the country where violence was more prevalent on the union side than the other and the lack of seeing any other point of view just confirms my suspicions of the bias in this film. That said, I came away from the movie with the sense that neither side was faring very well in the conditions they worked in. It was illuminating to finally see the story that I followed in the newspapers back then.
Summary of Harlan County, U.S.A. - Criterion Collection
This film documents the coal miners' strike against the Brookside Mine of the Eastover Mining Company in Harlan County Kentucky in June 1973. Eastovers refusal to sign a contract (when the miners joined with the United Mine Workers of America) led to the strike which lasted more than a year and included violent battles between gun-toting company thugs/scabs and the picketing miners and their supportive women-folk. Director Barbara Kopple puts the strike into perspective by giving us some background on the historical plight of the miners and some history of the UMWA.DVD Features: New restored high-definition digital transfer supervised by director-producer Barbara Kopple Audio commentary by Kopple and editor Nancy Baker "The Making of Harlan County USA" a new documentary featuring interviews with Kopple crew members and strike participants featured in the film New video interview with legendary bluegrass singer-songwriter Hazel Dickens Never-before-seen outtakes from the film New video interview with director John Sayles A panel discussion from 2005 Sundance featuring Kopple and Roger Ebert New essays by film scholar Paul Arthur and music journalist Jon Weisberger Original theatrical trailer System Requirements:Running Time 103 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DOCUMENTARIES/MISC. Rating: PG UPC: 037429208328 Manufacturer No: HAR120DVDA man crouches and pokes at what first appears to be a wad of chewed-up pink bubble gum on the ground. "That's what a scab will do to ya, by God," he says, his voice quavering with emotion. The pink wad is brain tissue from a striker shot in the head by a strikebreaker. That's one of the harsh realities of Harlan County USA. Barbara Kopple's documentary camera looks at this forgotten corner of 1970s America, the site of some of the bitterest labor violence in American history. It's hard to believe that some 40 years after the Depression, there were parts of Appalachia that were hardly better off than they were in the 1930s. The care-worn faces of the miners and their families speak volumes. They're the tough, proud faces of people struggling to make a living the way that their parents and grandparents did in generations past. Kopple skillfully weaves archival footage and traditional labor songs through the film to give a historical perspective to the strike against Eastover Mining Company. Above and beyond the labor issues, the film takes a hard look at the living conditions, health issues, and poverty faced by Harlan's residents, the human toll that goes along with the mining industry. The tense confrontations between Eastover's slimy security goons and the unionizers are particularly gripping, with the threat of violence hanging thick in the air. Sometimes ugly, always absorbing, this is an important, enlightening social record, one that serves the highest calling of the documentary filmmaker's art. --Jerry Renshaw
Documentary DVD Video
DVD Video
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness & Yoga
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Movies most talked about in Great Political Documentaries
The Weather UndergroundRelease date: 2004-05-25; DVD
Best price: $11.35
Price in other shops:
The Trials of Henry KissingerRelease date: 2003-08-19; DVD
Best price: $18.74
Price in other shops:
The TakeRelease date: 2006-02-21; DVD
Best price: $19.43
Price in other shops:
Sacco and VanzettiRelease date: 2007-08-21; DVD
Best price: $16.22
Price in other shops:
Noam Chomsky - Distorted Morality: America's War on Terror?WEA DVD; Release date: 2003-03-25; DVD
Best price: $3.75
Price in other shops:
The Murder of Fred HamptonFACETS VIDEO; Release date: 2007-05-22; DVD
Best price: $15.59
Price in other shops:
Harlan County, U.S.A. - Criterion CollectionImage Entertainment; Release date: 2006-05-23; DVD
Best price: $21.50
Price in other shops:
For The Bible Tells Me SoRelease date: 2008-02-19; DVD
Best price: $15.00
Price in other shops:
Control RoomLION'S GATE ENTERTAINMENT; Release date: 2004-10-26; DVD
Best price: $7.44
Price in other shops:
Roger & MeMOORE,MICHAEL; Release date: 2003-08-19; DVD
Best price: $5.98
Price in other shops:
Similar DVD Movies
Ace in the Hole - Criterion CollectionRelease date: 2007-07-17; DVD
Best price: $22.49
Price in other shops:
La Jetee/ Sans Soleil (Criterion Collection)Image Entertainment; Release date: 2007-06-26; DVD
Best price: $25.88
Price in other shops:
Harlan County USA: Songs of the Coal Miner's StruggleRelease date: 2006-05-23; Music CD
Best price: $12.47
Price in other shops:
Grey Gardens / The Beales of Grey Gardens - Criterion Collection (2-disc set)Image Entertainment; Release date: 2006-12-05; DVD
Best price: $33.99
Price in other shops:
The Thin Blue LineTWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2005-07-26; DVD
Best price: $1.93
Price in other shops:
Hoop Dreams - Criterion CollectionTeam Marketing; Release date: 2005-05-10; DVD
Best price: $19.72
Price in other shops:
Harlan County WarRelease date: 2001-08-07; DVD
Best price: $5.66
Price in other shops:
Salesman - Criterion CollectionRelease date: 2001-09-04; DVD
Best price: $27.75
Price in other shops:
MatewanDVD
Best price: $39.94
American DreamRelease date: 2004-03-02; DVD
Best price: $6.93
Price in other shops: