History Film / Matewan

* PuchClockVillain: Griggs, Hickey, TheMole, and their GloryHound boss are all loathsome schemers or brutes who think nothing of killing for money, but not ''every'' Baldwin-Felts employee is like them. One of the lower-ranking men who shows up in the climax with the Felts brothers is a new hire who expresses confusion about what's going on to a colleague who shows some cynicism about their employers. The newer employee runs without trying to hurt the miners when the shooting starts.

* CorruptHick: {{Subverted}}. A band of hill folk appear out of nowhere, with strange accents, thick beards, and huge guns...and then save the strike camp from a company massacre, drive off the Baldwin-Felts agents, politely inform the strikers that they're welcome to stay as long as they keep the noise level down, and vanish into the forest.

* ''Film/{{Matewan}}'': Griggs, Hickey, TheMole, and their GloryHound boss are all loathsome schemers or brutes who think nothing of killing for money, but not ''every'' Baldwin-Felts employee is like them. One of the lower-ranking men who shows up in the climax with the Felts brothers is a new hire who expresses confusion about what's going on to a colleague who shows some cynicism about their employers. The newer employee runs without trying to hurt the miners when the shooting starts.

* KarmaHoudini: C.E. Lively. The closing narration reveals that he and a group of Baldwin-Felts men later gunned down an unarmed Sid Hatfield outside of a courthouse, and escaped prosecution for the murder. TruthInTelevision.

* DividedWeFall: Kenehan's appeal to the union to accept the blacks and Italian immigrants as members.

* VillainBall: Hickey and Griggs know that Danny has gotten wise to their plot to assassinate [[spoiler:Joe]] through a false rape accusation, so they announce that they'll keep a close watch on him to prevent him from spilling the beans. That very night, Danny delivers a sermon to half the town, the perfect opportunity to expose the plot, so Hickey and Griggs attend. Right in front of the pair, Danny tips off the town by telling the Biblical story of Joshua being unjustly murdered due to a false rape accusation, but the thugs completely ignore him and joke between themselves for no particular reason.

* BaitAndSwitch: Following the scene where Sid Hatfeld meets Joe and threatens him, we get a shot of someone writing a letter to the company reporting on Joe's arrival and suspicion of being a "Red." It turns out that the author is [[spoiler:Lively, not Hatfield]].

* AgentProvocateur: TheMole (see below) for the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency attempted this a couple times. [[spoiler: C.E. Lively, union leader and company spy, attempted to steer the membership in a more violent direction (and at one point had a young miner plant a bomb to shut down one of the mines), but his leadership was thwarted by the more pragmatic (and charismatic) Joe Kenehan, who Lively immediately reports to Baldwin-Felts as a "Red".]]

* BadassBoast: When the Baldwin-Felts agents have removed some furniture from striking workers' homes in a questionable eviction action, Sheriff Hatfield challenges their authority and orders them to put the residents' belongings back:

* BerserkButton:
-->'''Few Clothes:''' "I've been called nigger, and I can't help that's the way white folks is, but I ain't never been called no scab!"

** Although it's not explicitly stated, at least some of the Italian miners are definitely at least socialists; after they all declare themselves for the union, they all march off singing 'The Red Flag', an Italian socialist/communist anthem which includes the line "Long live socialism and liberty!"

* CorruptHick: {{Subverted}}. A band of hill folk appear out of nowhere, with strange accents, thick beards, and huge guns...and then save the strike camp from a company massacre, drive off the Baldwin-Felts agents, politely inform the strikers that they're welcome to stay on their land and hunt their game as long as they keep the noise level down, and vanish into the forest.

* HandshakeRefusal: After Hatfield stood up for the evictees as described above (see BadassBoast), Kenehan was obviously pleased at this rare instance of law enforcement not siding with company interests (they usually did in other locales), and extended his hand to Hatfield. Hatfield refused the gesture, probably still being skeptical of this outsider who he'd warned earlier not to bring trouble to his town.
* InsultBackfire: Griggs, one of the Baldwin-Felts agents, at one point derisively asks a hillbilly if his musket is a relic from the UsefulNotes/SpanishAmericanWar. The hillbilly smiles, points the gun at Griggs' face, and proudly replies, "[[FunetikAksent Nawp]]. [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar War Between the States]]."
* KarmaHoudini: C.E. Lively. The closing narration reveals that he and a group of Baldwin-Felts men later gunned down an unarmed Sid Hatfield outside of a courthouse, and escaped prosecution for the murder.

* PapaWolf: Sid Hatfield is this when it comes to his townspeople.

* ThisIsGonnaSuck: After Sid and the Mayor have unceremoniously turn down Hickey and Griggs when they try to bribe them over to their side (see TheEasyWayOrTheHardWay above), and Hickey, as he leaves, warns them not to do anything stupid because things are going to get ugly, the mayor and Sid have the following conversation:

* BittersweetEnding / EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: The Baldwin-Felts agents are defeated in the end confrontation, but with many townspeople, including the mayor, and Kenehan also killed. On the other hand, no miners were convicted despite being charged with murder in the events. Sid marries the mayor's widow and tries to carry on, but he gets murdered in broad daylight on the steps of a courthouse, with his attackers and Lively (who delivered the coup de grace) facing little to no legal repercussions over it. There would be a lot more violence, as the narrator stated in the end, before unions finally took hold. This movie showed one chapter of the grim struggle workers faced in winning their rights.]]

** Although labor unions are traditionally associated with left-wing politics, the only character who is explicitly stated to be really a "Red" is Joe Kenehan, a kind, friendly, charismatic ActualPacifist (though as a former Wobbly, he's probably a syndicalist, advocating a worker-run economy, rather than government control).

A 1987 drama film based on real-life events, written and directed by Creator/JohnSayles and starring Creator/ChrisCooper and Creator/JamesEarlJones.

--> Few Clothes: "I've been called nigger, and I can't help that's the way white folks is, but I ain't never been called no scab!"

--> Sid: I'm giving you ten minutes to get these peoples' belongings back in that house.
--> Hickey: If the rest of the boys was here, you wouldn't be so cocky!
--> Sid: If the rest of the boys was here, I'd give you FIVE minutes.

* ColdBloodedTorture: What Kenehan describes the Hutterite conscientious objectors suffering while in Fort Leavenworth, and later a company man does to a ''14-year old boy'' caught stealing coal.
* CorporateWarfare: The company-hired Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency wages war on striking miners, who fight back in kind.

-->'''Sid:''' Nope.

** Also, when Hickey offers the mayor and Sid Hatfield to make it worth their while to side with them, and Sid and the mayor both tell Hickey where he can put his offer, Griggs says as he leaves, "These hillbillies always have to do things the hard way."

* InsultBackfire: Griggs, one of the Baldwin-Felts agents, at one point derisively asks a hillbilly if his musket is a relic from the UsefulNotes/SpanishAmericanWar. The hillbilly smiles, points the gun at Griggs's face, and proudly replies, "[[FunetikAksent Nawp]]. [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar War Between the States]]."

* RedScare: In-universe. The company is terrified of 'Reds' agitating the workers, and are willing to kill to protect their interests against them.

* ChummyCommies: Although labor unions are traditionally associated with left-wing politics, the only character who is explicitly stated to be an actual Communist is Joe Kenehan, a kind, friendly, charismatic ActualPacifist.
** Although it's not explicitly stated, at least some of the Italian miners are definitely at least socialists; after they all declare themselves for the union, they march off singing 'The Red Flag', an Italian socialist/communist anthem which includes the line "Long live socialism and liberty!"

* BadassPacifist: Kenehan mentions encountering these while he was in Fort Leavenworth military prison during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, after he sees Few Clothes carrying a gun. They were Hutterite (similar to the Amish-Kenehan calls them Mennonites here mistakenly) conscientious objectors and refused to cut their beards or wear clothes with buttons when they got into prison, as this was, along with bearing arms, against their religion. The guards punished them by handcuffing them to the cell bars for eight hours a day, but even though it made the cuffs cut into their wrists, causing wounds, then eventually gangrene, they never broke, and kept tearing off the buttons with their teeth. He says he's never seen any braver men, and they were there because they ''refused'' to use violence.
** TruthInTelevision-two Hutterite brothers died there from mistreatment.

The year is 1921, and trouble is brewing in the town of Matewan, West Virginia: the workers have organized a labor union and walked out of the mine. Enter Joe Kenehan (Cooper), a former Wobbly (member of the [[DirtyCommies Industrial Workers of the World]]) and current union organizer for the United Mine Workers of West Virginia is riding a train when a group of miners attacks the black scabs on board. Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency men are called in to battle the union workers, and the stage is set for a bloodbath.

* BittersweetEnding / EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: The Baldwin-Felts agents are defeated in the end confrontation, but with many townspeople, including the mayor, and Kenehan also killed. Sid marries the mayor's widow and tries to carry on, but he gets murdered in broad daylight on the steps of a courthouse, with his attackers and Lively who delivered the coup de grace, facing little to no legal repercussions over it. And there would be a lot more violence, as the narrator said in the end, before unions finally took hold. This movie showed one chapter of the grim struggle workers faced in winning their rights.]]

* FauxAffablyEvil: Hickey, one of the Baldwin-Felts agents who arrives to suppress the union. He's very polite and friendly and quick to smile...up to the point that it no longer serves his purposes, at which point he gets downright vicious, sadistic, and ''very'' creepy.

* TheMole: [[spoiler: C.E. Lively.]]

* MultiTaskedConversation: Danny (a teenager active in union organizing) is doing some lay preaching in the local church. He knows that the coal company has [[spoiler: framed Joe, the main activist, for being a company agent, playing on a woman's jealous desire for him as part of the framing.]] The company-enforcer thugs have told Danny not to say anything about the plot, or political at all, while he's preaching. So he tells the congregation the story of how Potiphar's wife tried to seduce Joseph and failed, and she tried to frame him out of jealousy, to get his point across.

* BadassPacifist: Kenehan mentions encountering these while he was in Fort Leavenworth military prison during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, after he sees Few Clothes carrying a gun. They were Hutterite (similar to the Amish-Kenehan calls them Mennonites mistakenly) conscientious objectors and refused to cut their beards or wear clothes with buttons when they got into prison, as this was, along with bearing arms, against their religion. The guards punished them by handcuffing them to the cell bars for eight hours a day, but even though it made the cuffs cut into their wrists, causing wounds, then eventually gangrene, they never broke, and kept tearing off the buttons with their teeth. He says he's never seen any braver men, and they were there because they ''refused'' to use violence.

* ActualPacifist: Kenehan and the Hutterite prisoners which he went in prison. They were in there for refusing conscription.

* BittersweetEnding / EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: The Baldwin-Felts agents were defeated in the end confrontation, but with many townspeople (and Kenehan) also killed. But there would be a lot more violence, as the narrator said in the end, before unions finally took hold. This movie showed one chapter of the grim struggle workers faced in winning their rights.]]