The Molly Maguires (1970)

Director:

Martin Ritt

Writers:

Walter Bernstein (writer)
Arthur H. Lewis (book)

Release Date:

21 August 1970 (Finland)

Genre:

Drama | History

Plot:

Life is rough in the coal mines of 1876 Pennsylvania. A secret group of Irish emigrant miners, known as the Molly Maguires...

Plot Keywords:

Detective | Pennsylvania | Irish | Coal | Mining

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Sean Connery	...	Jack Kehoe
Richard Harris	...	Detective James McParlan
Samantha Eggar	...	Miss Mary Raines
Frank Finlay	...	Davies
Anthony Zerbe	...	Tom Dougherty
Bethel Leslie	...	Mrs. Kehoe
Art Lund	...	Frazier
Philip Bourneuf	...	Father O'Connor
Anthony Costello	...	Frank McAndrew
Brendan Dillon	...	Mr. Dan Raines
Frances Heflin	...	Mrs. Frazier
John Alderson	...	Jenkins
Malachy McCourt	...	Bartender
Susan Goodman	...	Mrs. McAndrew

MPAA:

Rated PG for violence, language and some thematic material. (2003 re-rating)

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | UK:A (1970) | UK:PG (1988) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:M (original rating) | USA:PG (re-rating) (2003) | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Eckley, Pennsylvania, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

According to cinematographer James Wong Howe, director Martin Ritt wanted to photograph this film in black and white, but was not allowed to do so by Paramount. By 1970, studios were concerned that B&W films would not make as much money when broadcast on television, possibly for fear that they would be considered "old" films.

Quotes:

[Davies has given McParlan a beating, as part of his cover]
Davies: They'll respect you now. It's about the only thing they do respect round here, a blow and a hard head.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A Decade Under the Influence (2003)

Soundtrack:

Cockles and Mussels

Ring of Gaelic Authenticity

According to the Films of Sean Connery, the genesis of The Molly Maguires was a visit to the set of Director Martin Ritt;s Hombre in which Connery's then wife Diane Cilento was in the cast. Ritt had the idea for The Molly Maguires back then and asked Connery if he'd give him the commitment. Connery was intrigued and said yes. But it took over four years to get the project rolling.

The Molly Maguires has the ring of authenticity to it because Martin Ritt chose to shoot it in an almost abandoned Pennsylvania coal town of Ecksley. Filming the story in a place where the Molly Maguires were active lends a lot of credibility to the film.

The Mollys were a secret cell within the Catholic fraternal society of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. The Irish immigrants spread all over America and a good deal of them arrived in the Pennsylvania coal country where they became miners. A trade not unknown in Ireland as that country has considerable deposits of the stuff.

The workers were terribly exploited, having to live in the company town, buy at the company store, and pay for damaged equipment. That together with the health problems we know now about in the mining industry.

There was no organized labor movement yet and the Mollys were at times the only protections those miners had. They'd be considered terrorists now, but an important thing to remember is that unlike today's terrorists, their acts of violence were never random.

One thing I did like was the fact that the company policeman were Protestant and Welsh. That was the generation who were the previous people in the mines. The next generation of coal miners were from Eastern Europe, but that's getting ahead of ourselves. The ethnic conflicts are quite explicit in this film.

Richard Harris plays James McParlan another Irish immigrant sent by the Pinkerton Detective Agency to infiltrate and destroy the Mollys. Connery is Jack Kehoe the leader of them and very suspicious of Harris when he first arrives to work at the mines.

The story as told in the film sticks pretty close to the truth of what happened in Pennsylvania in the 1870s. Informers are not a group that's looked up to in any culture, but the Irish traditionally do have a special disdain for them.

The film is a clash between two men, Harris who wants to rise in class and willing to sell anyone out to do it and Connery whose methods maybe wrong, but has the genuine interest of his fellow miners at heart. After the business in Pennsylvania is concluded and after the action of this film, the real McParlan rose high in the Pinkerton agency, but his name was an anathema among his own people.

The Molly Maguires is a well crafted piece of cinema that unfortunately failed to find an audience back in 1970. Today it's considered a masterpiece and deservedly so.