Drama starring Richard Harris and Sean Connery. Pennsylvania in the 1870s: the Molly Maguires, a secret union led by Jack Kehoe, fight a violent battle against the ruthless exploitation of labour in the mining industry. The mine owners bring in James McParlan, a cunning and ambitious detective, to infiltrate and smash the Mollys for good.
Its top-notch cast - Sean Connery as a rebellious coal miner, Richard Harris as a mining company agent provocateur and Samantha Eggar as Harris's above-the-ground love interest - whets the appetite, so it is sad that the end result proves so disappointing. All the effort here has gone into the depiction of mining conditions in 19th-century Pennsylvania - the film looks completely authentic - but the script seems to have been written by a mechanical digger. Every scene rams home a message, and Martin Ritt directs not from the camera chair but from a soapbox. Despite its good intentions, it becomes a bit of a bore, and it isn't in the same league as John Sayles's similarly themed Matewan.
| role | name |
|---|---|
| James McParlan / McKenna | Richard Harris |
| Jack Kehoe | Sean Connery |
| Mary Raines | Samantha Eggar |
| Captain Davies | Frank Finlay |
| Dougherty | Anthony Zerbe |
| Mrs Kehoe | Bethel Leslie |
| Frazier | Art Lund |
| Frank McAndrew | Anthony Costello |
| Father O'Connor | Philip Bourneuf |
| Mr Raines | Brendan Dillon |
| Mrs Frazier | Frances Heflin |
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Director | Martin Ritt |
