Harlan County, USA
1976 filmWikipedia
25
MENTIONS
11
EPISODES
11
PODCASTS
Search complete. 25 mentions across 11 episodes found for "Harlan County, USA".
Oct 16, 2026
Eric StohlGUEST
Yeah, totally, and I'll, I'll just add to that.
Eric StohlGUEST
I mean, I think who, who among us wouldn't wanna make, like, our Harlan County or our Salt of the Earth or something, right? Like a big triumphant labor film with...
Eric StohlGUEST
You know, I mean, I haven't seen either of those in a while.
Eric StohlGUEST
They probably are more variegated than I'm remembering.
29 MINS LATER
Eric StohlGUEST
Thanks, thanks for sharing that, Jeremy.
Eric StohlGUEST
Um, could, could I add, like, a historical piece to this? To your point, Dan, I do think, I do think there's something, like, a little bit circumstantial or, or coincidental about the, like, thing that you're naming.
Eric StohlGUEST
You know, the kind of rise of both the, like, you know, filmmaking technologies, but also public funding and, like, public sort of distribution networks for, like, a certain kind of documentary film, and we're talking sort of, like, '60s through, you know, the mid-'80s, sort of dovetailed with, I think, A, some of the like, you know, the kind of final gasps of, like, a certain era of, like, labor power and militancy that made a film like Harlan County USA or, or American Dream possible.
Eric StohlGUEST
Um, similarly, a generation of the old left after a period of time sort of, like, not talking about their experiences, sort of silenced or, or scared into silenced through McCarthyism, were coming out and talking more about experiences in the CPUSA or in the, um, CIO, excuse me.
Eric StohlGUEST
Yeah, totally, and I'll, I'll just add to that.
Eric StohlGUEST
I mean, I think who, who among us wouldn't wanna make, like, our Harlan County or our Salt of the Earth or something, right? Like a big triumphant labor film with...
Eric StohlGUEST
You know, I mean, I haven't seen either of those in a while.
Eric StohlGUEST
They probably are more variegated than I'm remembering.
29 MINS LATER
Eric StohlGUEST
Thanks, thanks for sharing that, Jeremy.
Eric StohlGUEST
Um, could, could I add, like, a historical piece to this? To your point, Dan, I do think, I do think there's something, like, a little bit circumstantial or, or coincidental about the, like, thing that you're naming.
Eric StohlGUEST
You know, the kind of rise of both the, like, you know, filmmaking technologies but also public funding and, like, public sort of distribution networks for, like, a certain kind of documentary film, and we're talking sort of like '60s through, you know, the mid-'80s, sort of dovetailed with, I think, A, some of the like, you know, the kind of final gasps of, like, a certain era of, like, labor power and militancy that made a film like Harlan County USA or, or American Dream possible.
Eric StohlGUEST
Um, similarly, a generation of the old left after a period of time sort of like not talking about their experiences, sort of silenced or, or scared into silenced through McCarthyism, were coming out and talking more about experiences in the CPUSA or in the, um, CIO, excuse me.
LilyHOST
But the director, Barbara Koppel, her biggest movie, bigger than this one, is a documentary about a coal miner's strike.
SadieHOST
Harlan County, USA.
SadieHOST
My commie book club watched this last month, and I didn't.
SadieHOST
Sorry to my communist book club.
SadieHOST
I missed when we watched Harlan County, USA.
SadieHOST
But I have heard very good things about it.
LilyHOST
Yeah, I'm very curious about it.
Shepard SnyderCORRESPONDENT
I'm Shepherd Snyder in Lexington.
Bill BurtonHOST
This week marks 50 years since the premiere of Harlan County USA, the Academy Award-winning documentary about an Eastern Kentucky coal mining community and their fight for a union contract.
Bill BurtonHOST
For the Appalachia Mid South Newsroom, Derek Ophaly has more.
Derek OperleCORRESPONDENT
Barbara Kopple, a young filmmaker living in New York, first felt pulled to Appalachia when she heard an NPR story about a grassroots labor campaign to elect new leaders for the United Mine Workers of America, ones who cared about rank and file workers.
Derek OperleCORRESPONDENT
Then, in the summer of 1973, workers at the Eastover Mining Company site in Brookside, Kentucky walked off the job to strike for a UMWA contract.
Derek OperleCORRESPONDENT
On Kopple and her crew's first day in Eastern Kentucky, they filmed violent arrests and women being dragged off the picket line, and met a miner named Jerry Johnson, who put them up at his place.
Derek OperleCORRESPONDENT
Johnson, who Harlan County USA memorably captured talking to a New York police officer when the miners took their fight to Wall Street, still lives in Kentucky and manages black lung disease.
Derek OperleCORRESPONDENT
Over lunch at his house on top of a hill in Liberty, he tells me he was one of the first people on the picket line at Brookside, and he had his reasons.
CherylHOST
Anyway, what have you watched recently?
LaraHOST
Yeah, so one of the docs that I watched at TIFF this year was called Uniontown by Barbara Koppel, who is one of the most well-known documentarians, particularly because of this documentary she made in 76 called Harlan County, USA, which documented a strike by coal miners.
LaraHOST
against a mining company in 1973.
LaraHOST
I have not seen this documentary, but it is well known as being one of the most important social impact documentaries ever made.
Dave BaldwinHOST
I'm just making faces at James while I look up what, uh, what the, the woman's name is.
Dave BaldwinHOST
It's from Barbara Kopple, uh, who directed Harlan County, USA, which just went on Criterion.
JamesHOST
Nice.
Dave BaldwinHOST
Uh, she also directed a film called Havoc, which is, uh-- stars Anne Hathaway.
Dave BaldwinHOST
... and but she still wanted to use the footage.
JamesHOST
But she still put it in there, yeah.
Dave BaldwinHOST
So it feels like it made me wanna watch Harlan County, USA because I know that's a big union doc.
JamesHOST
Yeah.
A.J. SchnackHOST
Documentary become so much of a focus of what you were, you were doing?
Kate AmendGUEST
I, I think really right from the very start because, like I said, the, um, the women filmmakers that were emerging, you know, uh, Barbara Kopple in Harlan County was one.
Kate AmendGUEST
In fact, I saw her in person at the San Francisco Film Festival, you know, and there were a lot of really strong documentaries, and those appealed to me a lot.
A.J. SchnackHOST
Mm.
MJ SmithHOST
I recently got into like minors union rights.
MJ SmithHOST
OK, meaning have you heard of a film called Harlan County USA? I
Sarah BudderyHOST
have heard of it.
Sarah BudderyHOST
I have not seen it.
10 MINS LATER
Sarah BudderyHOST
It did make me want to, like, you know...
MJ SmithHOST
Yeah.
MJ SmithHOST
You should watch Harlan County USA.
MJ SmithHOST
Yeah, I really, really should.
Matt CareyHOST
I was fortunate to attend Toronto and Camden, And on today's show, I wanted to share some of the interviews I recorded in the field at TIFF and at CIFF, as Camden is sometimes called.
Matt CareyHOST
In Camden, I spoke with the great Barbara Koppel, the two-time Oscar winner known for Harlan County, USA and American Dream.
Matt CareyHOST
She came to the festival with the U.S. premiere of Uniontown, which had just held its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
Matt CareyHOST
I also spoke with Elise McCabe, who is the executive director of the Points North Institute, the nonprofit that puts on the Camden International Film Festival, and with Sean Flynn, who is the artistic director of Points North.
19 MINS LATER
Barbara KoppleGUEST
So you can't stop.
Barbara KoppleGUEST
I
Matt CareyHOST
could ask you going back to Harlan County, you know, of, why you care about labor issues
Matt CareyHOST
and the
Austin ZookHOST
what's the best piece of advice you've ever gotten that has helped you as a documentarian
McKinley ArgyleGUEST
best piece of advice um I'm people kind of think I'm like a chronic overshooter because I film so much footage but I think it's always best to have more like this film was probably 22 hours of raw footage for 22 minutes which honestly for a documentary that's not even crazy but um um I remember my first documentary I filmed which I don't love to talk about it that much because it's not that great of a film but it was about this all girls guitar school in Austin and I showed my professor this professor has literally worked on Harlan County um Ann Lewis at UT and I was so proud of it and I show her in office hours and she was like McKinley this film is really bad um And I was a little crushed, but she was so right.
McKinley ArgyleGUEST
And she was like, how much did you film? And I'm like, probably like an hour and a half.
McKinley ArgyleGUEST
It was a five minute film.
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