The Molly Maguires

A must-see for any Irish-American. Harris is superb in his role as an undercover Pinkerton investigator. We see his character grow to admire the maguires even though he knows he will eventually betray them. Connery is also great as the attractive leader of the terrorist group. This movie touches on an area tha is often ignored, working conditions in 19th Century America. I especially like the American Football/Rugby hybrid they play against the Welsh town. A unique movie that let's us see both Harris and Connery shine. Good score, pacing, photography, and supporting characters as well. One of my favs!

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.

The beginning of this movie is probably the longest I've ever watched without a single word of dialogue. Sean Connery, the protagonist, heads a group called the Molly Maguires, named after an Irish martyr, which uses terrorist tactics to fight for better working conditions, etc. Richard Harris plays a Pinkerton cop who comes to America to infiltrate the group and get the goods on Connery.

I feel VERY attached to this movie because it stars my husband's favorite actor (Sean) and MINE (Richard). I currently live in central Pennsylvania and the scenery in the movie (though filmed in the Poconos) is what I see every day. The creepy thing is, that after some research, I discovered that my husband's grandfather was a coal miner born (1870) and raised in the very town where this movie was filmed (Jim Thorpe, formally known as Monchauk, I think). So, naturally, I HAD to name my daughter Molly! I have a picture of my husband's grandfather dressed in the very outfits seen in the film. Life is strange!

The Molly Maguires is a criminally underseen and very underrated film based off some little known history of this great country. This film is all about social justice as the events of the film take place before the time of labor unions as we know them today and in a time where the early unions were frowned upon. But this film does a good job in bringing those issues to light. This film is beautifully shot, is well-acted, and has a great score by Henry Mancini.

Martin Ritt's film is about the leader of the Molly Maguires named Jack Kehoe, a radical group of Irish American miners who fight against the oppressive mine owners, and his interactions with Pinkerton detective, James McParland who is assigned to go undercover and infiltrate the secret society.

This film doesn't have a big cast, but it's well-acted. Sean Connery is one of the greatest actors ever and as usual, brings about his A-game as the leader of the Maguires. Richard Harris is also excellent as the low-key detective who sometimes questions his motives. The lovely Samantha Eggar also does a good job as Harris's love interest.

Overall, The Molly Maguires is a fantastic piece of historical fiction and one that people should learn about. I grew up and went to school in the area, so this film would hold dear to me. I'm very surprised it was a box office failure due to the pedigree of the cast. It talks about a very hectic time in our history and essentially the beginning of labor unions. I rate this film 9/10.

Good story line. Well played. Excellent cast, with some lesser seen actors. Enjoyed this film throughout. Constantly moving story. Historically accurate as I understand. Good example of Sean Connery's earlier (non-Bond) work.