Harlan County USA
Criterion Collection Edition #334
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.
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Harlan County USA
Directed by Barbara Kopple • 1976 • United States
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 strikeb...
Extras
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HARLAN COUNTY USA Edition Intro
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HARLAN COUNTY USA Commentary
Recorded in 2005, this commentary features producer and director Barbara Kopple and director of editing Nancy Baker.
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The Making of HARLAN COUNTY USA
This documentary features new interviews with producer-director Barbara Kopple, cinematographers Hart Perry and Kevin Keating, associate director Anne Lewis, and three people featured in HARLAN COUNTY USA: United Mine Workers organizer Houston Elmore, miner Jerry Johnson, and strike activist Bess...
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HARLAN COUNTY USA Outtakes: Nimrod Workman
Producer-director Barbara Kopple and her crew shot hundreds of hours of film for HARLAN COUNTY USA. Presented here is one outtake, edited slightly for length, from the HARLAN COUNTY USA archives at the University of Kentucky, Lexington.
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HARLAN COUNTY USA Outtakes: Lois and the Sheriff
Producer-director Barbara Kopple and her crew shot hundreds of hours of film for HARLAN COUNTY USA. Presented here is one outtake, edited slightly for length, from the HARLAN COUNTY USA archives at the University of Kentucky, Lexington.
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HARLAN COUNTY USA Outtakes: Union Organizers
Producer-director Barbara Kopple and her crew shot hundreds of hours of film for HARLAN COUNTY USA. Presented here is one outtake, edited slightly for length, from the HARLAN COUNTY USA archives at the University of Kentucky, Lexington.
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HARLAN COUNTY USA Outtakes: Jerry and Bessie
Producer-director Barbara Kopple and her crew shot hundreds of hours of film for HARLAN COUNTY USA. Presented here is one outtake, edited slightly for length, from the HARLAN COUNTY USA archives at the University of Kentucky, Lexington.
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HARLAN COUNTY USA Outtakes: Bessie and the Scab
Producer-director Barbara Kopple and her crew shot hundreds of hours of film for HARLAN COUNTY USA. Presented here is one outtake, edited slightly for length, from the HARLAN COUNTY USA archives at the University of Kentucky, Lexington.
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HARLAN COUNTY USA Outtakes: Courtroom
Producer-director Barbara Kopple and her crew shot hundreds of hours of film for HARLAN COUNTY USA. Presented here is one outtake, edited slightly for length, from the HARLAN COUNTY USA archives at the University of Kentucky, Lexington.
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Hazel Dickens on HARLAN COUNTY USA
Hazel Dickens grew up in a West Virginia coal-mining community and had a successful career as a bluegrass singer and songwriter. Her songs on coal mining caught the attention of producer-director Barbara Kopple, who asked her to provide material for HARLAN COUNTY USA’s soundtrack. In this 2006 in...
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John Sayles on HARLAN COUNTY USA
Director John Sayles’s films include RETURN OF THE SECAUCUS 7, LONE STAR, and MATEWAN, which chronicles the struggles of West Virginia coal miners in the 1920s as they try to unionize. The following interview was recorded in November 2005.
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HARLAN COUNTY USA at Sundance
In 2005 the Sundance Film Festival inducted HARLAN COUNTY USA into the Sundance Collection. The following panel discussion features producer-director Barbara Kopple, cinematographer Hart Perry, editor Nancy Baker, musician Hazel Dickens, and film critic Roger Ebert. Kopple also invited striking U...
