Harlan County, U.S.A
- Year:
- 1976
- 746 Views
Fire in the hole!
Fire in the hole!
Fire in the hole!
All clear.
Come, all you young fellers
So brave and so fine
Seek not your fortune
Way down in the mines
It'll form like a habit
And will sink in your soul
Till the streams of your blood
Runs as black as the coal
Where it's dark as a dungeon
Damp as a tomb
Where the danger is double
And the pleasures are few
Where the rain never falls
The sun never shines
It's dark as a dungeon
Way down in the mine
- She out here smilin'?
- Yeah. Smile for her.
Why do them girls
got them car clothes on?
Whew.
For 42 years
Been a mighty long time
I labored and toiled
Down in a coal mine
Down in a deep hole
Where the bright lights did glow
Back in a dark room
A- spadin'up coal
My bones, they did ache me
My kneecaps got bad
Down on a hard rock
On a set of knee pads
The motors were shiftin'
I got sand in my hair
From a-breathin' bad air
Coal mining was rough.
Eighteen and 20 hours.
Get wet, come outside,
and your clothes'd be froze to stiff.
It would sound like a fire broom hit 'em
make a rattling noise.
They worked you like
workin'a mule or a brute.
I heard the boss man to say one time
He said, "You be sure...
"don't get that mule no place
where the rock'll fall in on him.
Don't take that mule to no bad place. "
I said, uh, "Well, what about me?"
I was drivin' mule then.
"What about me,
if a rock had fallen on me?"
He said, "We can always hire another man,
but you gotta buy that mule."
In other words, he thought more
of the mule than he did a man.
My grandfather was a coal miner...
and belonged to the union
the U.M. W.
And, uh, he died with black lung.
Uh, I can remember sittin' around,
you know, when we were younger...
And him talkin' about
bein' on picket lines and organizin'.
I mean, that was that was
mostly what we talked about...
Sittin' around the table
after supper and all.
Most of our conversation was his union
You know, when he was
organizin' for the union...
And things that happened on the picket line
and things that the company did to you.
So I began to hate the company,
you know, uh
I mean, seemed like I just always did.
I knew they were our enemy, you know.
And then, uh, when I watched him die...
And suffer like he did
with that black lung disease...
I knew that something
could be done about it.
I told myself then, if I ever get the opportunity
to get those coal operators, I will.
'Cause I thought, you know...
They was the enemy.
So when this strike came up,
I saw the opportunity and I jumped right in there.
Let's get up there at 5:00
in the morning and fix you a good cup of coffee.
Let's be there and show these Brookside workers
what we can do for 'em.
Let's stand on our two feet and show these boys
we can help 'em get a contract.
Let's show the people of Harlan County
we stand together.
'Cause you filed for this contract.
We gonna get it.
Hey, the fire's done hot now.
There ain't much they can do.
All you boys on that football field,
I want you to be there in the mornin'.
Let's show Carl Horn that we stand on two feet
here in Harlan County.
We'll sit there and sweat
when it's snowin'.
We'll stand right there until that
U.M.W.A. contract is signed at Brookside.
All you people here on Black Mountain,
we'd highly appreciate it...
if you'd be there at 5:00
sunrise revival at Brookside, Kentucky.
Let's don't back off.
Let's don't let one man run us out of Harlan.
Yeah, boys, that's where it's happenin'
Brookside at 5:
00, Monday mornin'.Let's be down there to support
the Brookside workers.
I got hurt down there
about a year ago at Brookside.
I had about 300 pounds of steel
on my head.
They took me to the hospital,
sewed my head up.
Had a hole cut through my nose here.
I was off one day and the superintendent
sent a feller over, said, uh...
"Get him to come on back up here and work.
We'll make it easy on him so he won't lose no time."
Went back up there, and then it
knocked me out of compensation or anything.
Come back with my head busted open.
That's the way they want you
to work down there.
Protect your family. U.M.W.A.
Join now, boys.
Need your support.
Take some letters for a buddy.
It's on the house.
Now you're a real pal.
- Need your support, buddy.
- May the good Lord take a likin' to ya.
- You know I will.
- I like that. I like that.
- Hey, I'll put one on the car if you want me to.
- U.M.W.A. all the way.
Here, give me one.
I'll put it on his car for him.
Right on the bumper there
"Tennessee is a U.M. W.A. State."
We're out of Kentucky stickers.
We need more of them.
Organize the unorganized.
With organization,
you have the aid of your fellow man.
Without organization...
You're a lone individual...
Without influence...
And without recognition of any kind.
An exploitation...
Of you and your family...
When it pleases some industrialist...
Who desires to make money
from your misery.
Well, we'd like to have every man
that'll walk this picket duty with us
To get his name before he leaves,
and we'll break it up.
These boys on this committee'll
break it down...
And we'll get somethin' goin' here.
Come on up and sit around.
It ain't no big thing.
You ain't gonna be doin'nothin'no way,
cryin'about how broke you are, like I am.
We'd sure appreciate that.
Translation
Translate and read this script in other languages:
Select another language:
- - Select -
- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
- Español (Spanish)
- Esperanto (Esperanto)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
- Português (Portuguese)
- Deutsch (German)
- العربية (Arabic)
- Français (French)
- Русский (Russian)
- ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
- 한국어 (Korean)
- עברית (Hebrew)
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Українська (Ukrainian)
- اردو (Urdu)
- Magyar (Hungarian)
- मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
- Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Italiano (Italian)
- தமிழ் (Tamil)
- Türkçe (Turkish)
- తెలుగు (Telugu)
- ภาษาไทย (Thai)
- Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
- Čeština (Czech)
- Polski (Polish)
- Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Românește (Romanian)
- Nederlands (Dutch)
- Ελληνικά (Greek)
- Latinum (Latin)
- Svenska (Swedish)
- Dansk (Danish)
- Suomi (Finnish)
- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
Citation
Use the citation below to add this screenplay to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Harlan County, U.S.A" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 May 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/harlan_county,_u.s.a_9644>.
Discuss this script with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In