Joe Hill (1971)

About the life and death of the legendary Swedish/American agitator Joe Hill.

Director:

Bo Widerberg

Writers:

Steve Hopkins, Richard Weber,

Stars:

Thommy Berggren, Anja Schmidt, Kelvin Malave

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview:
Thommy Berggren	...	Joe Hill
Anja Schmidt	...	Lucia
Kelvin Malave	...	The Fox
Evert Anderson	...	Blackie
Cathy Smith	...	Cathy
Hasse Persson	...	Paul
David Moritz	...	David
Richard Weber	...	Richard
Joel Miller	...	Ed Rowan
Robert Faeder	...	George
Wendy Geyer	...	Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (as Wendy Geier)
Liska March	...	The Charity Woman
Frank Molinari	...	The Tenor (as Franco Molinari)

Storyline

In the early 1900's, the legendary Joe Hill emigrates with his brother to the United States. But after a short time, he loses touch with his brother. Joe gets a few jobs but is struck by all the injustice and tragedy going on. He becomes active in the forbidden union IWW, a union for workers without trades. It is forbidden to demonstrate and to speak in public but Joe gets around that by singing his manifests with the Salvation Army. He manages to get more and more people to get on strike with him but he also makes powerful enemies doing that. Finally he gets connected with a murder and during the trial he fires his lawyer and takes upon himself to become his own defender.

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Plot Keywords:

1900s | railway | 1910s | labor union | socialism | 

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Taglines:

"I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night. Alive as you or me. Says I, but Joe you're ten years dead. I never died says he."

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | History

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Certificate:

GP

Details

Country:

Sweden USA

Language:

English Swedish Italian

Release Date:

25 August 1971 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

The Ballad of Joe Hill

Box Office

Gross:

SEK 2,350,625 (Sweden)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bo Widerberg Film, Sagittarius Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

117 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in The Bricklayer (2002)

User Reviews

Superb film, a haunting and inspiring story - and worthy of seeing again after 38 years.

I saw this film in 1972 in Dublin and was knocked out. I watched it twice through in the cinema that day, never thinking that 38 years later I would never have had the chance to see this film again.

I remember it as fairly glossy in production values but moving despite that - and the music score, especially the Joan Baez theme, being absolutely perfectly matched with the story line.

I have tried for some time to obtain a copy either in VHS or DVD of this film, without success. It is amazing that it is not available, given the combined quality of this film and the earlier Elvira Madigan, let alone Bo Widerberg's other masterpieces.