Martin Ritt's gritty, powerful, rarely-shown feature was photographed by renowned cinematographer James Wong Howe, and features Sean Connery and Richard Harris in a story set in a Pennsylvania mining town in the 1870s. The Molly Maguires were a secret organization of Irishmen bent on combating the inhumanity of mine owners, after successive strikes gave way to economic necessity. Ritt develops a tale of moral complexity revolving around the activities of a paid informer (Harris) and his “double,” the group's powerful leader (Connery). “Authenticity marks the film throughout. Not merely in the re-creation of locale and period, but in the fact that The Molly Maguires has the courage of its conclusion.” --Nigel Andrews, Sight and Sound