The Molly Maguires (1970)

Director:

Martin Ritt

Writers:

Arthur H. Lewis (suggested by a book by)
Walter Bernstein (written by)

Release Date:

17 June 1970 (France)

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:

Coal | Irish | Detective | Pennsylvania | 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	...	Dougherty
Bethel Leslie	...	Mrs. Kehoe
Art Lund	...	Frazier
Philip Bourneuf	...	Father O'Connor
Anthony Costello	...	Frank McAndrew
Brendan Dillon	...	Mr. Raines
Frances Heflin	...	Mrs. Frazier
John Alderson	...	Jenkins
Malachy McCourt	...	Bartender
Susan Goodman	...	Mrs. McAndrew
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ian Abercrombie	...	Stock Actor (uncredited)
William Clune	...	Franklin Gowen (uncredited)
Liam Daly	...	Colliery Boy (uncredited)
Nick Dimitri	...	Policeman (uncredited)
J. Gerald Godwin	...	Paymaster (uncredited)
Chuck Hicks	...	Policeman (uncredited)
John F. Holmes	...	Courtroom Policeman (uncredited)
Tom Jones	...	Football Player (uncredited)
Karen Machon	...	Girl at Football Game (uncredited)
John Orchard	...	Man in Court Room (uncredited)
Phillip Richards	...	Gen. Charles Albright (uncredited)
Peter Rogan	...	Gomer James (uncredited)
Jane Tomassetti	...	Milliner (uncredited)

Directed by
Martin Ritt

Writing credits
Arthur H. Lewis		(suggested by a book by)
Walter Bernstein		(written by)

Produced by
Walter Bernstein	....	producer
Martin Ritt	....	producer

Original Music by
Henry Mancini

Cinematography by
James Wong Howe		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Frank Bracht		(edited by)

Casting by
Hoyt Bowers
Diane Schatten

Production Design by
Tambi Larsen		(uncredited)

Art Direction by
Tambi Larsen

Set Decoration by
Darrell Silvera

Costume Design by
Dorothy Jeakins		(costumes designed by)

Makeup Department
Scotty Rackin	....	hair stylist
Wally Westmore	....	makeup
Bertha French	....	hair stylist (uncredited)
Jim Gillespie	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management
David Golden	....	production manager
Wally Samson	....	unit production manager
Marvin Weldon	....	unit production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
James A. Rosenberger	....	assistant director (as James Rosenberger)
Oscar Rudolph	....	second unit director

Art Department
Robert McCrillis	....	property master
Elmer C. Rogers	....	construction supervisor (as Elmer Rodgers)
Adam John Backauskas	....	property maker (uncredited)

Sound Department
Bill Ford	....	sound recordist (as William Ford)
Elden Ruberg	....	sound recordist
Howard Beals	....	sound (uncredited)
Eugene Degnan	....	sound (uncredited)
John Muchmore	....	sound (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Willis Cook	....	special effects (uncredited)

Stunts
Roger Creed	....	stunts (uncredited)
Nick Dimitri	....	stunts (uncredited)
Chuck Hicks	....	stunts (uncredited)
Regis Parton	....	stunts (uncredited)
Gil Perkins	....	stunts (uncredited)
Carl Saxe	....	stunts (uncredited)
Chuck Waters	....	stunts (uncredited)
Al Wyatt Sr.	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Morris Hartzband	....	second unit photography
John Hennessey	....	key grip
Warren Hoag	....	gaffer
Eddie Garvin	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Fred Porrett	....	second unit camera (uncredited)
Charles Termini	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Felix Trimboli	....	assistant camera (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Gildo Scarano	....	wardrobe: men's
Ruth Stella	....	wardrobe: ladies

Music Department
Jack Hayes	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Richard Nash	....	musician: trombone soloist (uncredited)
Leo Shuken	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Joseph Lawrence	....	technical advisor: Mine Operations
Marvin Weldon	....	script supervisor
Robert Crawford Sr.	....	location manager (uncredited)
Robert Easton	....	dialogue coach (uncredited)
Wayne Fitzgerald	....	title designer (uncredited)
J. Gerald Godwin	....	dialect coach (uncredited)
Wally Samson	....	script supervisor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Paramount Pictures (A Martin Ritt Production)
• Tamm Productions

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1970) (USA) (theatrical) (as Paramount) (A Gulf + Western Company)
• Paramount (1970) (France) (theatrical)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1975) (USA) (TV)
• Paramount Pictures (1986) (USA) (VHS) (pan and scan)
• Paramount Home Entertainment (2004) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Entertainment (2004) (Germany) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Entertainment (2004) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Ciné-Tamaris/Paramount Home Video (2006) (France) (DVD)
• Home Video Hellas (HVH) (1989) (Greece) (VHS)
• Paramount Home Video (19??) (USA) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment  cranes

Also Known As:

MPAA:

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

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:M (original rating) | USA:PG (re-rating) (2003) | Singapore:PG | Iceland:16 | UK:A (1970) | UK:PG (1988) | Argentina:13 | USA:TV-G (TV rating)

Filming Locations:

Llewellyn, Pennsylvania, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

The real Jack Kehoe was not a miner, but the owner of a saloon, The Hibernia House. His descendants run it to this day.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Sean Connery takes out a $1 bill which wasn't printed until 1923. The movie is supposed to take place fifty years earlier.

Quotes:

Jack Kehoe:I'm thinking... you'd better be what we think you are.
Detective James McParlan:I'm what you think!
Jack Kehoe:'Cause if you're not... there's no hole deep enough to hide this time.

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.