Traître sur commande

Adaptation of Arthur H. Lewis' book, which was based on actual accounts, about a Pennsylvania coal-mining town in 1876 and the secret group of rebels who are sabotaging the mines. Stranger-in-town Richard Harris is actually a detective sent there to ferret out the culprits. Downbeat story might have stood some tightening (and possibly a little mood-lightening levity), but is otherwise quite good. Director Martin Ritt works exceptionally well with his cast, getting a terrific, surprisingly low-keyed performance out of Harris in particular; scaling back his high voltage nature, Harris is even approachable enough to make the romance sub-plot between he and Samantha Eggar rather sweet. Sean Connery is sturdy as always, and the colorful supporting cast includes Frank Finlay and Anthony Zerbe, an intriguing character actor who pops up in a myriad of '70's films. **1/2 from ****

Real story about secret society of Irish miners in Pennsylvania , circa 1876 .The Molly Maguires was an Irish 19th century secret society active in Ireland, Liverpool and United States. The "Mollies" were mostly known for their activism amongst Irish American coal miners in Pennsylvania , they fought for better conditions for coal miners , using even terrorist acts . The Molly Maguires" were so-called because they would often disguise themselves by wearing womens' clothing, hence their name . Life is rough in the coal mines of Pennsylvania , suffering a dreadful existence . Wages were low, working conditions were atrocious, and deaths and serious injuries numbered in the hundreds each year. As the film deals with a secret group of Irish immigrant miners, known as the Molly Maguires led by a worker (Scotsman Sean Connery as Jack Kehoe who was not a miner, but the owner of a saloon, The Hibernia House) , there arrives a newcomer (first-rate performance by Irishman Richard Harris) who is working as informer , in fact , he is a Pinkerton detective who infiltrates the group .

Exciting and thought-provoking story of Unions , treason and secret societies plenty of interesting drama , emotion and a strong antagonism between entrepreneurs and mine-workers . This good flick packs nice acting , vivid settings , evocative atmosphere , though is hurt by overlong scenes and depressing finale . Interesting screenplay dealing with brooding themes such as betrayal , fidelity , working fight , terrorism and many other things . As main cast : Connery , Harris , Eggar , as support cast : Frank Finlay , Anthony Zerbe , John Alderson , Bethel Leslie , Art Lund , Anthony Costello give top-notch interpretations . Colorful cinematography in Panavision by the classic cameraman James Wong Howe , filmed on location . According to cinematographer Howe, director Martin Ritt wanted to photograph this film in black and white, but was not allowed to do so by Paramount . Most of this film was shot in Eckley, Pennsylvania ; Paramount Pictures saved the town from being destroyed , it was slated to be demolished for strip mining . Special mention to impressive musical score , including a breathtaking leitmotif .

This understatement as well as downbeat motion picture was compellingly produced and directed by Martin Ritt , though a little long . The film was a notorious flop when it was released in 1970, earning back a little over 10% of its $11-million budget, an enormous sum for the time . Director Ritt blamed the film's massive critical and commercial failure for permanently damaging his career. Ritt was an expert on well-crafted dramas such as ¨Stanley and Iris¨ , ¨Nut¨ , ¨Norma Rae¨ , ¨The front¨, ¨The Sound and the Fury¨ , ¨Black orchid¨ , though also directed films of all kind of genres such as : ¨The Spy Who Came in from the Cold¨ , ¨The Great White Hope¨ , ¨Mafia¨ . And he worked with Paul Newman in three Westerns : ¨Hombre¨ , ¨Hud¨ and ¨Outrage¨. ¨Molly McGuire¨ film will appeal to drama enthusiasts and Sean Connery , Richard Harris fans . Rating : Above average, well worth checking out ; along with ¨Outrage¨ , being one of Ritt's best movie.

The picture was well based on actual events , they are the followings : About 22,000 coal miners worked in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. 5,500 of these were children between the ages of seven and sixteen years, who earned between one and three dollars a week separating slate from the coal. Injured miners, or those too old to work at the face, were assigned to picking slate at the "breakers" where the coal was crushed into a manageable size. The miners lived a life of "bitter, terrible struggle". Wages were low, working conditions were atrocious, and deaths and serious injuries numbered in the hundreds each year. The mine owners without one single exception had refused over the years to install emergency exits, ventilating and pumping systems, or to make provision for sound scaffolding and on September 6, 1869, a fire took the lives of 110 coal miners. Franklin B. Gowen, the president of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, and of the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company and "the wealthiest anthracite coal mine owner in the world", hired Allan Pinkerton's services to deal with the Mollies. Pinkerton selected James McParland to go undercover against the Mollies. Using the alias "James McKenna", he made Shenandoah his headquarters and claimed to have became a trusted member of the organization.McParland's assignment was to collect evidence of murder plots and intrigue, passing this information along to his Pinkerton manager. He also began working secretly with a Pinkerton agent assigned to the Coal and Iron Police for the purpose of coordinating the eventual arrest and prosecution of members of the Molly Maguires. After months of little progress, McParlan reported some plans by the "inner circle". When Gowen first hired the Pinkerton agency, he had claimed the Molly Maguires were so powerful they had made capital and labor "their puppets". When the trials of the alleged puppet-masters opened, Gowen had himself appointed as special prosecutor . On June 21, 1877, six men were hanged in prison .

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.

Molly Maguires (1970)

Plot In A Paragraph: A terrorist group known as the Molly Maguires has been sabotaging a coal mine in Pennsylvania where they in fact work. Detective James McParlan (Richard Harris) must infiltrate the group led by John Kehoe (Connery) Throughout the film McParlan's allegiances are tested. Will he side with the Maguires and become a true member, or keep his mission in mind and bring an end to the group??

This for me is Connery's best performance to date. I personally think he is brilliant here!! But once again audiences and the Academy did not care, and ignored the movie. Richard Harris (billed above Connery, even though Connery was paid more and was the bigger star) is a funny actor to me, I've never really taken to him, there was just always something about him I didn't like, but I can't fault his work here.

The movie is so powerful (at least to me) and deserves to be seen as it's filled with fantastic performances. The first line of dialogue doesn't come till about 15 minutes in, with Connery not speaking until about the 40th minute despite being one of the first characters introduced on screen. Director Martin Ritt wanted to film this in black and white, but Paramount were worried it would put off movie goers.

Molly Maguires was another Connery movie to fail at the box office, and it failed in a big way, grossing only $2 million at the domestic box office on a budget of $11 million.

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.