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DVD The Molly Maguires
An expensive box-office flop when released in 1970, The Molly Maguires can now be appreciated as a compelling drama with potent political undertones. The talent involved is first-rate all the way: In addition to the volatile teaming of Sean Connery and Richard Harris on opposite sides of a Pennsylvania miners' war, director Martin Ritt and screenwriter Walter Bernstein were at the height of their Hollywood powers, determined to give viewers a visceral, grittily authentic drama about the exploitation of Irish immigrant miners in the centennial America of 1876. Connery's secret gang, the Molly Maguires, retaliates by destroying mines and equipment; Harris infiltrates the group as an informer hired by the coal-company owners, leading to his inevitable crisis of conscience. Pub brawls and manly action give the film its meat-and-potatoes appeal, and discerning viewers will appreciate the story's careful pacing and moral ambiguity; ironically, those qualities were blamed for the film's commercial failure. --Jeff Shannon
The Molly Maguires is the kind of film that would simply never be made today: a major studio picture about social injustice and betrayal in the coalfields of Pennsylvania in the 1876 that became one of the most colossal box-office flops of all time (despite a massive budget and the presence of Sean Connery, it actually grossed even less than John Sayles' ow-budget Matewan). Set in the aftermath of a failed strike where a group of miners are trying to win what they lost with dynamite as their powerlessness turns into violent action, it's a surprisingly bitter film for a studio picture, even in the 1970s. There's no doubting that Richard Harris' infiltrator is damned. Screenwriter Walter Bernstein was blacklisted, and that experience clearly fuels much of the script. Certainly the end, where absolution is denied, recalls Abraham Polonsky's comment that he got through being blacklisted "because I knew for me one day it would end. For those who named names, it will never end."
But there's more to his script than mere words: huge sections of the film are played without dialogue - it's 15 minutes before a single word is spoken and 40 before Sean Connery speaks despite his background presence quietly dominating much of the proceedings. James Wong Howe's astounding scope photography is a major asset, quietly confident as it paints with light a real portrait of a time and place, conveying a sense of the way the pits worked in the beautifully timed establishing shots. There's real intelligence in the framing of the film, whether turning a door frame into an impromptu confessional booth or, in the haunting final shot, turning a rehearsal for one man's execution into another man's silent purgatory. Henry Mancini's score, along with The White Dawn his most beautiful and atypical, is another major plus in a seriously undervalued film.
Paramount's DVD is a bare-bones affair - neither the trailer nor the 10-minute short about the film's making shot at the time are included, with only an optional stereo soundtrack as an extra. The 2.35:1 transfer is good, but not quite as good as the previous laserdisc release.
Like the 19th Century Coming Out of Your TV Set
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.
A Study In Common Bonds and Individual Pursuits
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.
A little-known chapter of American labor history is brought vividly to life in this period drama from writer-director John Sayles. It's a fictional story about labor wars among West Virginia coal miners during the 1920's, but every detail is so right that the film has the unmistakable ring of truth. The tension begins when the Stone Mountain Coal Company of Matewan, West Virginia, announces a lower pay rate for miners, who respond by calling a strike under the leadership of a United Mine Workers representative (Chris Cooper). Proving strength in numbers, the miners are joined by black and Italian miners who initially resist the strike, and a fateful battle ensues when detectives hired by the coal company attempt to evict miners from company housing. Violence erupts in a sequence of... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Chris Cooper - James Earl Jones Director(s): John Sayles DVD Release Date: Released the 14 August 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
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One of Sean Connery's least-seen films, this Richard Lester vehicle manages to be both politically astute and darkly funny at the same time. Set in Cuba as the Castro revolution is coming to fruition, it stars Connery as an aging mercenary trying to decide which side it pays to be paid by. Even as the Batista government is being overthrown, he is putting the spark to an old relationship with a factory manager (Brooke Adams), while American businessmen (particularly a well-cast Jack Weston) scramble to get the most bang for their buck. Lester's style--playing dramatic scenes while subverting them with comic business in the background--is in top form here. But this film never found an audience; too bad. --Marshall FineMore Info about this DVD Actor(s): Sean Connery - Brooke Adams Director(s): Richard Lester DVD Release Date: Released the 16 April 2002 Usually ships within 24 hours
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One really can't account for good taste. This rarely broadcast thriller starred Sean Connery as he was first attemtping to escape 007 typecasting during the 1970's. He is in fine form here as a Scandinavian Security Chief trying to negotiate with and outwit a team of terrorists. Excellent winter landscape photography adds to the film's realism and there are some interesting plot surprises along the way. Kudos to 20th Century Fox for releasing this gem on DVD; I never thought I'd see this film again. The quality of the DVD is very good as well. More Info about this DVD Director(s): Caspar Wrede DVD Release Date: Released the 16 December 2003 Usually ships within 24 hours
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This 1989 film, directed by Sidney Lumet (Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon) brings together three notable actors in a story of generational and familial loyalty and crime. While ultimately a somewhat thin story, the film succeeds in great measure because of its powerful actors, who rise above the implausible casting to play three generations of men (Scottish, Italian, and Jewish) who each in their own way try to deny their roots. Matthew Broderick plays Adam, an MIT scholar who yearns for more excitement from life. He enlists the aid of his grandfather Jesse (Sean Connery)--a tough, lifelong thief--to steal some biological materials for a big payoff. But Adam's father, Vito (Dustin Hoffman), who went straight to get away from Jesse's lifestyle and to provide a stable life for his... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Sean Connery - Dustin Hoffman - Matthew Broderick Director(s): Sidney Lumet DVD Release Date: Released the 20 May 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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