James Wong Howe and Samantha Eggar on set of The Molly Maguires

''The Molly Maguires'' is a 1970 American historical drama film directed by

Martin Ritt Martin Ritt (March 2, 1914 – December 8, 1990) was an American director and actor who worked in both film and theater, noted for his socially conscious films. Some of the films he directed include '' The Long, Hot Summer'' (1958), '' The Black ...

, starring

Richard Harris Richard St John Francis Harris (1 October 1930 – 25 October 2002) was an Irish actor and singer. He appeared on stage and in many films, notably as Corrado Zeller in Michelangelo Antonioni's '' Red Desert'', Frank Machin in '' This Sporting ...

and Sean Connery.''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' film review; January 21, 1970, page 18. It is based on the 1964 book ''Lament for the Molly Maguires'' by Arthur H. Lewis. Set in late 19th century Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, this social drama tells the story of an undercover detective sent to a coal mining community to expose a secret society of

Irish-American , image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png , image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state , caption = Notable Irish Americans , population = 36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...

miners battling exploitation at the hand of the owners. Partly inspired by a true story, the film portrays the rebellious leader of the

Molly Maguires The Molly Maguires were an Irish 19th-century secret society active in Ireland, Liverpool and parts of the Eastern United States, best known for their activism among Irish-American and Irish immigrant coal miners in Pennsylvania. After a seri ...

and his will to achieve

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, Equal opportunity, opportunities, and Social privilege, privileges within a society. In Western Civilization, Western and Culture of Asia, Asian cultures, the concept of social ...

. The

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...

for ''The Molly Maguires'' was by

Henry Mancini Henry Mancini ( ; born Enrico Nicola Mancini, ; April 16, 1924 – June 14, 1994) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, pianist and flautist. Often cited as one of the greatest composers in the history of film, he won four Academy Award ...

, a late entry in the production replacing a score by

Charles Strouse Charles Strouse (born June 7, 1928) is an American composer and lyricist best known for writing the music to such Broadway musicals as '' Bye Bye Birdie'', ''Applause'', and '' Annie''. Life and career Strouse was born in New York City, to Jewis ...

Background

The

were a secret organization of Irish coal miners established in nineteenth century Pennsylvania to fight oppressive mineowners. Led by

Jack Kehoe Jack Kehoe (November 21, 1934 – January 14, 2020) was an American film actor appearing in a wide variety of films, including the crime dramas ''Serpico'' (1973), '' The Pope of Greenwich Village'' (1984) and Brian De Palma's ''The Untouchables' ...

, they plant gunpowder to destroy plant shafts and equipment. Pinkerton Detective

James McParland James McParland (''né'' McParlan; 1844, County Armagh, Ireland – 18 May 1919, Denver, Colorado) was an American private detective and Pinkerton agent. McParland arrived in New York in 1867. He worked as a laborer, policeman and then in Chica ...

was employed to infiltrate the Mollies.

Plot

The film begins in a coalmine in Pennsylvania in the 1876. Coal is still dug by hand and taken out on rails in wagons pulled by ponies. Pit props are improvised with timber. Conditions are always dirty, often cramped and generally unhealthy. Miners are shown with naked flames on their hats as their only light source. Men are shown planting charges. This appears to be work-related but all men leave the mine and the resultant explosion destroys the mine. Pinkerton sends James McParlan (

) to investigate. He arrives by train in the late evening and goes to a local bar and orders a beer, while Kehoe ( Sean Connery) observes and motions for Dougherty and Frazier to deal with the matter. McParlan joins Dougherty and Frazier at a card table and says he is looking for work in the mine. They are suspicious and see his hands have never dug coal. They accuse him of cheating and deliberately start a fight. Police Captain Davies (

Frank Finlay Francis Finlay, (6 August 1926 – 30 January 2016) was an English stage, film and television actor, Oscar-nominated for a supporting role as Iago in Laurence Olivier's 1965 film adaptation of ''Othello''. In 1983, Finlay was directed by Ital ...

) breaks up the fight and arrests McParlan. However this is just a ploy as the police know McParlan's role. Davies explains to McParlan the problem of the Molly Maguires - and that they are named after a gang in Ireland. They need an inside man to infiltrate the pit. McParlan rents a room from Mary Raines and gives his name as McKenna. He goes to the pit to ask for a job and is told to come back at five o'clock in the morning on the following day. Back at the house he befriends Mary's father. He begins work the next day - it is back-breaking work and he is exhausted. At the end of the week he joins the long queue for pay. He is paid $9.24 however a long list is made of "deductions" including cost of explosives and cost of shovels. $9 is deducted so his pay for the week is 24 cents. In church the priest condemns "last night's actions" by the Molly Maguires - beating a watchman and flooding a mine. James attends church with Mary. Kenoe confronts James in the pit the next day and asks why he is there. A fake accident is organised where Kehoe rescues James from a huge avalanche of coal. James then gives a false confession saying he is there to avoid the law as he is a forger, and he is in hiding. He also says he killed a man in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

over a woman. Kehoe discusses "McKenna" with his wife and then with other miners. They do suspect that he is a spy. After a violent football match with a rival pit, Dougherty gets in a fight with one of the rivals and is beaten up by the police. James is asked to take a revenge action and breaks a policeman's jaw (we do not see this). The captain chastises James but he said he had to make it look real (quoting the captain regarding his earlier attack in the bar). Kehoe and the four other ringleaders appear at the Raines house and usher old Mr Raines away. They ask James to kneel and they make the sign of the cross. He thinks he is going to die but instead they make him a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernian. Mary chides him for joining but the next day they take a train trip to the city and go shopping. While Mary is looking at hats he has a rendezvous with the captain and gets payment for giving the names of the ringleaders. A train of coal wagons is derailed by an explosion on the track co-ordinated by the Mollys. At a meeting of the Hibernians James is asked to put a superintendent at the Shenandoah pit out of action. Kehoe and James go to Shenandoah but are ambushed by the police. The police arrest eight men back at the pit but all men have alibis. James is taken to the captain to interview, who beats him up before he returns for realism. By now James and Mary are in love. They go for a picnic and discuss morality. Frazier and his wife are murdered in their bed by police (the "peelers") in a revenge attack. At the funeral the priest shows little sympathy. Dougherty is arrested for killing the superintendent of the Shenandoah (John W. Jones), but this is a ploy to bring the real killers forward. As old Mr Raines gets the

last rites The last rites, also known as the Commendation of the Dying, are the last prayers and ministrations given to an individual of Christian faith, when possible, shortly before death. They may be administered to those awaiting execution, mortall ...

the priest calls Kehoe to discuss the whole affair. At Mr Raines' wake the Mollys meet in a back room. The wake party break into the company store and steal a suit for Mr Raines to be buried in. But Kehoe then gets carried away and starts stealing more things. He is distracted when James starts destroying bottles of alcohol with a shovel. They decide to set the store on fire. Kehoe and McAndrew are caught red-handed as they break into the explosives store at the pit and find that it is full of police. Only at the trial do they discover James' true identity. Mary watches in shock. Kehoe, McAndrew and Dougherty are sentenced to death. Mary explains she could cope with him as a murderer but not as a traitor. Awaiting execution, Kehoe is visited in the death cell by James. They have a quiet and civilised conversation. Kehoe sees that James seeks

absolution Absolution is a traditional theological term for the forgiveness imparted by ordained Christian priests and experienced by Christian penitents. It is a universal feature of the historic churches of Christendom, although the theology and the pr ...

. He suddenly loses his temper and attacks James. He is rescued by the warders. He tells his one-time ally that no punishment short of hell can redeem his treachery. Detective McParland retorts that, in that case, "See you in hell."

Cast

Production

The lead sequence and opening credits for ''The Molly Maguires'' runs 14 minutes and 51 seconds, through three Henry Mancini scores, before the first word of dialogue is spoken. The majority of the location filming occurred in Northeastern Pennsylvania in 1969. The town of Eckley, was so unchanged from its 1870s appearance that the only major alterations needed for filming were to remove television antennas and install underground electric wiring. A wooden

coal breaker A coal breaker is a coal processing plant which breaks coal into various useful sizes. Coal breakers also remove impurities from the coal (typically slate) and deposit them into a culm dump. The coal breaker is a forerunner of the modern coal pre ...

which was built as a prop and is featured extensively in the film, partially stands to this day. The movie resulted in the town's being saved from demolition. It was afterward converted into a mining museum under the control of the

Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) is the governmental agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania responsible for the collection, conservation and interpretation of Pennsylvania's historic heritage. The commission cares fo ...

. Portions of the film were also shot in

Jim Thorpe James Francis Thorpe ( Sac and Fox (Sauk): ''Wa-Tho-Huk'', translated as "Bright Path"; May 22 or 28, 1887March 28, 1953) was an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist. A member of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe was the first Nativ ...

. The courtroom, where the trial scene was filmed is in the Carbon County Courthouse, used for trials until 1996. Railroad scenes were filmed on the now-defunct Carrol Park & Western Railroad in Bloomsburg. ''The Molly Maguires'' soundtrack composed by Henry Mancini replaced that originally composed by Charles Strouse. Mancini's score employed Irish modal harmony, played by period instruments including the

Irish Harp The Celtic harp is a triangular frame harp traditional to the Celtic nations of northwest Europe. It is known as in Irish, in Scottish Gaelic, in Breton and in Welsh. In Ireland and Scotland, it was a wire-strung instrument requiring grea ...

Tin Whistle The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria ...

(pennywhistle) and

Squeezebox The term squeezebox (also squeeze box, squeeze-box) is a colloquial expression referring to any musical instrument of the general class of hand-held bellows-driven free reed aerophones such as the accordion and the concertina. The term is so a ...

. Both soundtracks were released by Kritzerland in 2012 on a limited edition CD, now sold-out. A big budget film for its time, with stars Connery (who had recently left the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

franchise) and Harris (''

Camelot Camelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described as th ...

'') at career peaks, it was considered a major box-office failure. Social issue director Ritt would score later with ''

Norma Rae ''Norma Rae'' is a 1979 American drama film directed by Martin Ritt from a screenplay written by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr. The film is based on the true story of Crystal Lee Sutton— which was told in the 1975 book ''Crystal Lee, a W ...

'' (1979). This was the next-to-the-last film for legendary cinematographer

James Wong Howe Wong Tung Jim, A.S.C. (; August 28, 1899 – July 12, 1976), known professionally as James Wong Howe (Houghto), was a Chinese-born American cinematographer who worked on over 130 films. During the 1930s and 1940s, he was one of the most soug ...

, who had previously worked with Ritt on ''

Hud Hud or HUD may refer to: Entertainment * ''Hud'' (1963 film), a 1963 film starring Paul Newman * ''Hud'' (1986 film), a 1986 Norwegian film * ''HUD'' (TV program), or ''Heads Up Daily'', a Canadian e-sports television program Places * Hud, Fa ...

'' and '' Hombre''.

Awards and nominations

The film was nominated for an

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

for Best Art Direction (Art Direction

Tambi Larsen Tambi Larsen (11 September 1914 – 24 March 2001) was a Danish art director born in Bangalore, India. He emigrated to the United States at the age of 20, where he attended Yale Drama School. He married Barbara Dole (daughter of James Dole) i ...

; Set Decoration:

Darrell Silvera Darrell Silvera (December 18, 1900 – July 22, 1983) was an American set decorator. He was nominated for seven Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction. He worked on 356 films between 1934 and 1978. Selected filmography Silvera w ...

References

External links

* * *
Eckley Village virtual tour
{{DEFAULTSORT:Molly Maguires, The 1970 films 1970 drama films 1970s historical drama films American historical drama films 1970s English-language films Films about Irish-American culture Films about the labor movement Drama films based on actual events Films based on non-fiction books Films directed by Martin Ritt Films scored by Henry Mancini Films set in the 1870s Films set in mining communities Films set in Pennsylvania Films shot in Pennsylvania Films with screenplays by Walter Bernstein Films about mining Paramount Pictures films 1970s American films