The Molly Maguires | | Cast : | Sean Connery, Richard Harris | | Director : | Martin Ritt | | Studio : | Paramount Home Video | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby, Surround Sound, Subtitled, Digital Sound | | Released Date : | January 01, 1970 | | DVD Released Date : | April 27, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | March 25, 2005 | | Summary | Like the 19th Century Coming Out of Your TV Set | Content
 | James Wong Howe's cinematography looks beautiful on the restored DVD version of this underrated film, an unearthly intervention which brings us the actual physicality of the 19th century in light and radiance. It was an era in which electric light was just being invented and candles and gaslight were still the norm, that is, among people with the money to afford them. The unwashed faces of the coal miners and the families they supported form a canvas from Brueghel, but even the whole weight of the mining companies cannot extinguish the inner spark in their eyes.
Filmed by the Left-leaning director Martin Ritt, freed up from the blacklist that crippled the earlier part of his career, THE MOLLY MAGUIRES finds Ritt at a curious place, picking at the ugly scab of US history that the scandalous MOLLY MAGUIRES represents. Indeed historians argue whether or not there was ever a conspiracy among Fenians to bring down the oligarchy of the oppressive coal mining companies through so-called "shillelagh law." Ritt was able to attract not only Richard Harris but top-billed Sean Connery to this project; for each of them a commercial risk. Indeed the movie, re-edited at the studio by nervous bosses, probably doesn't represent the script that Connery and Harris read. Samantha Eggar, one of the loveliest of 60s screen actresses, took the leading women's role which was turned down by Anjanette (LOVED ONE) Comer. Oddly enough, thirty years later, Comer took the minor part of "Sue" in TV's recreation of the nine miners in Pennsylvania who were rescued from the Quecreek cave-in in the summer of 2002.
Yes, the film is depressing. Yes, it is slow-moving, sparked by moments of intense brutality. But give it a chance and savor its unique blend of 1870s locations and 1970 radical filmmaking. |
| Rating | | | Date | November 05, 2004 | | Summary | A Study In Common Bonds and Individual Pursuits | Content
|
Martin Ritt has a central theme that he explores in almost every film he makes. What unites and seperates us? He's become the master of that extremely difficult question and this film, for my money, was one of his best explorations of that theme/question.
It's about the workers and the company- 'the ones who push up or push down- who has more push?', as Connery's character sums up. It's about the choices people make to get up, get ahead or to get out. Ultimately, it's about compromised positions and consequences that come from such compromise.
Connery and Harris are terrific in this movie- the two sides of the coin. Harris has the tough role as the detective 'sent in' who struggles with both sides of the coin. Connery (just as his Bond days were coming to an end), does a slow boil to a funeral scene where he lets it rip. His dad was a soft spoken Irishman, he once said in an interview. I swear he vented something wonderful about the meek and good in this world, in this scene, that rocks with truth. " They haven't even left him with a proper suit to be buried in! " Watch him in this- one of Connery's finest performances.
Mancini captures the Irish flavour with a terrific score and Samantha Edgar and Frank Finlay and Anthony Zerbe lend their talents, as well.
Another buried treasure that deserves the sunlight. If you want a good film with some history, some food for thought and some fine performances, treat yourself to this. |
| Rating | | | Date | March 08, 2004 | | Summary | CAUTION: Not to be treated as History | Content
| The spirit of the industrial boom times is captured, but not in a factual way. With some exageration, and with few facts in order, scenes from the past brought alive in an excellent manner. Totally worth owning if you like action/suspense! Sean Connery does an excellent job, as usual, as does the late Richard Harris. Rumor, with good source, has it that during the making of this film, Harris went to a Hazleton, PA bar and 'hit' on somebody's wife, and was punched out on the spot. Hazleton, PA, is also the childhood home of Hollywood great, Jack Palance. ......But don't treat this movie as the gospel truth - it's not even close. Viewed with prior knowledge of the period is the best way to go. Once again, Hollywood misfires its facts. Amid the Industrial Revolution, Irish Catholic, in addition to several other ethnic groups (the Irish certainly not the only ones in the mines at the time), worked in horrid conditions when having a job anywhere in the world was an accomplishment, wages were slim, and rarely was there enough to save. If you can justify the shootings and murders of people in order to exonerate a secret society, masked by an organization (the Ancient Order of Hibernians) that was supposed to be humanitarian - for other Irish Catholics. This movie is not an accurate portrayal of events, but certainly is entertaining, with a very good glimpse of what coal mining was like for many ethnic groups, including: English, Scots, Welsh, Polish, Italian, German, Bulgarian, and Hungarian individuals, not just Irish Catholics. Granted, Irish were mistreated, giving Molly Maguires, who definitely existed, a Saintly Status (which is what some people want to do), is truly ridiculous. They were hanged, caught by another very similar to their own background, in a court system somewhat flawed, red-handed, at a time when few had any tolerance for outlaws and the violence they forced on honest, hardworking communities from many diverse backgrounds. Glorify the Mollies if you must, but don't confuse them with heroes in an objective light and expect to be treated seriously. Read up on it, even the local Catholic Priests condemned them by name, "Molly Maguires," making themselves targets and getting brutally beat up for it. Irish Catholics themselves considered Molly Maguire violence outrageous acts. |
| Rating | | | Date | August 05, 2002 | | Summary | Excellent portrayal of Irish gangs and "Shillelagh Law" | Content
| This film tells the true story of an Irish gang or 'faction' which was active in the American labour movement in themid to late 1800's. It was brought over from Ireland and further took root among the Irish coal miners of Pennsylvania. Several books have been written about the Molly Maguires, but to understand them in-depth, you need to get the books "Understanding The Molly Maguires", and "Irish Gangs And Stick-Fighting". Martin Scorcese's "Gangs Of New York" is also about Irish gangs like the Mollies, but films usually don't do full justice to this topic. Get this great, very entertaining movie, but for the whole story get the books mentioned above as well. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 29, 2002 | | Summary | The Molly Maguires, fact or fiction | Content
| Having seen this film several times I was very impressed by the acting, particulary Sean Connery and Richard Harris. The Cinemtography was superb, after all James Wong How was easily one of the greatest Cinematographers of the 20th Century. The music was fantascic and Henry Mancini captured the flavor of the 19th Century Irish. However, even though the script as script was powerful and compelling, it was more fiction than fact. Why is it that script writers must take such liberties with history?
The so-called Molly Maguires, a name invented by the publisher of the Miner's Journal newspaper, were in fact a group of men who were fighting for fair conditions in the coal mines, honest pay for honest work. Many of the men, though certainly not all, hanged were, in fact, innocent of the crimes for which they were convicted. These brave men gave their lives for a movement that would eventually lead to the United Mine Workers of America. However, this being said, the movie is entertaining and certainly worth watching even if only to watch Connery, Harris and the beautiful Anjanette Comer. |
|
