Matewan (1987)

It is 1920 and the mining towns of West Virginia are owned and operated by the coal companies. The men are paid by the tonnage of coal they can load, and the companies keep the rate down by importing scab labor, blacks from the South and immigrants fresh off the boat. One such town is Matewan. And when the miners of Matewan go on strike, they have no idea that their action is going to put the town on the map.

The miners of Matewan are at the end of their ropes. The Stone Mountain Coal Company has brought in Italian immigrants, and now proposes to cut the men's wages. Led by Sephus Purcell (Ken Jenkins), the local miners walk out. The company is not slow to respond. To a hostile reception from the local men, a group of black miners arrive in town, among them a giant of a man whose ragged appearance has earned him the name "Few Clothes" Johnson (James Earl Jones.) On the train with them is another newcomer, Joe Kenehan (Chris Cooper), former "wobblie" and now a union organizer.