''Joe Hill'' is a 1971 biopic about the

Swedish-American Swedish Americans ( sv, svenskamerikaner) are Americans of Swedish ancestry. They include the 1.2 million Swedish immigrants during 1865–1915, who formed tight-knit communities, as well as their descendants and more recent immigrants. Today, ...

labor activist and songwriter Joe Hill, born Joel Emanuel Hägglund in Gävle, Sweden. It was directed by Swedish director

Bo Widerberg Bo Gunnar Widerberg (; 8 June 1930 – 1 May 1997) was a Swedish film director, writer, editor and actor. Biography Early life Widerberg was born in Malmö, Malmöhus County, Sweden. Career Widerberg was the director of films such as ''Rave ...

and is a dramatization of Hill's life, depicting Hill's arrival as a poor immigrant in New York in 1902, his involvement with the

Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines general ...

(IWW), and his trial for murder, during which he defended himself. The film stars Thommy Berggren as Joe Hill, while the rest of the cast were mostly unknowns in their first film roles. It is the only film that Widerberg made in the US. The film won the

Jury Prize A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartial verdict (a finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Juries developed in England duri ...

at the

1971 Cannes Film Festival The 24th Cannes Film Festival was held from 12 to 27 May 1971. The Palme d'Or went to ''The Go-Between'' by Joseph Losey. The festival opened with ''Gimme Shelter'', a documentary about English rock band The Rolling Stones directed by David Mays ...

. ''Joe Hill'' was mostly unavailable commercially for nearly four decades (though occasionally shown at special film club screenings in Sweden) until a restored and digitally remastered version was produced in 2015 by the National Library of Sweden. It is now available on DVD. The distributor is Studio S Entertainment, Stockholm.

Cast

Thommy Berggren Thommy Berggren, né Tommy William Berggren (born 12 August 1937) is a Swedish actor. He is known for having starred in several films directed by Bo Widerberg, and was often considered one of the foremost Swedish film and theatre actors from t ...

as Joe Hill * Anja Schmidt as Lucia * Kelvin Malave as Fox * Evert Anderson as Blackie * Cathy Smith as Cathy * Hasse Persson as Paul * David Moritz as David * Richard Weber as Richard * Joel Miller as Ed Rowan * Franco Molinari as Tenor * Robert Faeder as George * Wendy Geier as Elizabeth * Liska March as Sister of Mercy * Michael Logan

References

External links

* * 1971 films Films about activists 1970s biographical drama films Swedish biographical drama films Films directed by Bo Widerberg Industrial Workers of the World in fiction 1971 multilingual films Swedish multilingual films American multilingual films 1970s English-language films English-language Swedish films 1970s Swedish-language films 1971 drama films 1970s Swedish films {{1970s-Sweden-film-stub