Black Fury

Paul Muni stars as a hardworking union leader who breaks the deadlock in a mining strike when he forces the mine owners to capitulate to the miners' Black Fury. 1935. In the depths of the Great Depression and a the height of violent labor unrest in the United States, miner Joe Radek (Paul Muni) gets drunk after his girlfriend leaves him--and, in an irate mood, yells his opinions at a union meeting. In return, the miners elect him to lead them. But their strike turns violent and disastrous when the owners hire scabs and strikebreakers. Only when Radek barricades himself with the owners inside a mineshaft--with enough explosives to kill them all and destroy the mine--do the owners actually listen to their union leader and reach a fair settlement.