The Molly Maguires *** (1970, Sean Connery, Richard Harris, Samantha Eggar) – Classic Movie Review 8,682

Sean Connery and Richard Harris give stalwart star performances in Martin Ritt’s extremely powerful 1970 historical drama film The Molly Maguires.

Sean Connery and Richard Harris give stalwart star performances in co-producer/ director Martin Ritt’s rarely screened, but extremely powerful if sombre and cerebral 1970 historical drama The Molly Maguires.

It is suggested by the 1964 book Lament for the Molly Maguires by Arthur H Lewis, based on real events that took place in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, in the 1870s.

The Molly Maguires, a secret society gang of tough Irish immigrant coal miners, are fighting a violent battle against the ruthless exploitation of labour in the US mining industry. Their leader, Jack Kehoe (Connery), is suspected by the police, who bring in cunning and ambitious private detective and Pinkerton agent James McParlan (Harris), another Irish-American immigrant, to infiltrate and smash The Molly Maguires for good.

The Molly Maguires is a big, major film production from Paramount Pictures, very well produced and good looking, and intelligent too, with its liberal conscience firmly on its sleeve. James Wong Howe’s cinematography and co-producer Walter Bernstein’s intelligent screenplay are important achievements, as is the painstaking period production. It is an Oscar nominee for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Tambi Larsen, Darrell Silvera).

However, it did not attract the public. It cost $11,000,000 and grossed only $2,200,000 in the US, a major box-office failure, especially considering Connery and Harris were at their career peaks. It added to Paramount’s financial problems, after their 1968 failure with Ritt’s Mafia movie The Brotherhood.

The cast

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

The Molly Maguires is directed by Martin Ritt, runs 124 minutes, is made by Tamm Productions, is released by Paramount Pictures, is written by Walter Bernstein, based on the 1964 book Lament for the Molly Maguires by Arthur H Lewis, is shot by James Wong Howe, is produced by Martin Ritt and Walter Bernstein, is scored by Henry Mancini, and is designed by Tambi Larsen.

The film went unrecognised at awards time, and had to be content with its one Oscar nomination for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Art Direction: Tambi Larsen; Set Decoration: Darrell Silvera),

Henry Mancini’s score replaced the original one composed by Charles Strouse.

The film runs 15 minutes before the first word of dialogue.

Most of the location filming took place in 1968 in North-eastern Pennsylvania, where the town of Eckley was virtually unchanged from its 1870s appearance. They only had to remove the TV ariels.

The same incidents appear in the extended flashback sequence in the Sherlock Holmes novel The Valley of Fear, in which Birdy Edwards is based on James McParland (born McParlan, 22 March 1844– 18 May 1919).

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8,682

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