THE MOLLY MAGUIRES (1970) Movie Poster, Aust One Sheet, Sean Connery
Size AU One Sheet (27" x 40")
The Molly Maguires (1970) Australian One Sheet Movie Poster, Starring Sean Connery and Richard Harris, Directed by Martin Ritt is in Very Fine- condition. Movie Poster and Condition Condition: This poster...
The Molly Maguires (1970) Australian One Sheet Movie Poster, Starring Sean Connery and Richard Harris, Directed by Martin Ritt is in Very Fine- condition.
Movie Poster and Condition
Condition: This poster is in Very Fine- condition, folded as issued, used with small staple holes. '32' written on back with black marker that shows through on front top middle. Title written on back in pencil (no show through). Some minor edge wear and couple small tears (2mm). Colours bright and white borders relatively clean. This poster is currently stored folded and will be shipped in an acid free archival polypropylene bag with acid free archival backing board.
Movie Synopsis
The Molly Maguires is a powerful 1970 historical drama directed by Martin Ritt that explores one of the most turbulent periods in American labour history. Set in the coal mining region of Pennsylvania in 1876, the film tells the gripping true story of a secret society of Irish immigrant coal miners who fought back against brutal exploitation by mine owners through acts of sabotage and resistance.
Sean Connery delivers one of his most intense and understated performances as Jack Kehoe, the tough and suspicious leader of the Molly Maguires. Having recently departed from his iconic role as James Bond, Connery sought to demonstrate his dramatic range, and this film showcases his ability to convey smouldering anger and internal conflict with minimal dialogue. For the first forty minutes of the film, Connery barely speaks, instead communicating through powerful physical presence and penetrating glances. Richard Harris stars as James McParlan (using the alias McKenna), a Pinkerton detective sent undercover to infiltrate the secret organisation. Harris, fresh from his celebrated role in Camelot, brings surprising restraint to the character, portraying a man constantly wrestling with his conscience as he gains the trust of the miners whilst simultaneously betraying them.
The supporting cast includes the talented Samantha Eggar as Mary Raines, McParlan's landlady and love interest who dreams of escaping the suffocating coal town, Frank Finlay as the calculating Police Captain Davies, and Anthony Zerbe as Tom Dougherty, one of Kehoe's loyal Molly Maguires. The film was written by Walter Bernstein, adapting from Arthur H. Lewis's book "Lament for the Molly Maguires". Both Bernstein and director Ritt had been blacklisted during the 1950s McCarthy era, experiences that deeply informed their sympathetic portrayal of the oppressed miners and their struggle for justice.
The cinematography by legendary James Wong Howe is nothing short of breathtaking. Wong Howe, one of Hollywood's most celebrated cinematographers, captured the grimy authenticity of 19th century coal mining life with his distinctive visual style. His nearly monochromatic palette emphasises the bleakness of the miners' existence, whilst his innovative lighting techniques—particularly in the underground mine sequences—create an almost documentary-like realism. This was one of Wong Howe's final films, and he considered the five-month shoot one of his favourite assignments of his illustrious career.
The film's remarkable authenticity stems from director Ritt's decision to shoot on location in the abandoned Pennsylvania coal town of Eckley, where the actual Molly Maguires had been active. Paramount Pictures actually saved the town from demolition for strip mining, and after filming concluded, the land was donated to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Today, Eckley exists as a museum, with several structures built for the film still standing. The colliery, company store, Emerald House pub, and miners' homes all contribute to the film's extraordinary sense of time and place. The mine interiors were constructed as an enormous 400-foot set on Paramount's Hollywood lot.
The evocative musical score was composed by Henry Mancini, who employed Irish modal harmony and traditional instruments including the Irish harp, tin whistle, and squeezebox. The film features a remarkable fourteen-minute opening sequence without any spoken dialogue, relying entirely on Mancini's haunting music and Wong Howe's stunning visuals to establish the harsh realities of mining life. Traditional Irish tunes such as "Eileen Aroon," "Cockles and Mussels," and "Gary Owen" are woven throughout the soundtrack.
The Molly Maguires were a real organisation, operating as a secret cell within the Catholic fraternal society of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Facing dangerous working conditions, exploitative wages, and a rigged system where the company store gouged workers and bosses arbitrarily took deductions, these Irish immigrants saw violence as their only means of resistance. The film depicts their acts of sabotage—destroying mine shafts, flooding mines, and intimidating management—not as heroic, but as desperate actions by men pushed beyond their limits. The local priest condemns their violence but offers no realistic alternative, making the Mollies the only political option available to the oppressed miners.
The genesis of the film traces back to 1967 when Ritt was directing Hombre, in which Connery's then-wife Diane Cilento appeared. Ritt pitched the idea to Connery, who was immediately intrigued, though it took over four years to bring the project to fruition. With an eleven million dollar budget—exceptionally expensive for 1970—the film was a major production featuring two stars at career peaks. Despite the pedigree of its cast and crew, The Molly Maguires was a significant box office failure, grossing only around two million dollars domestically. Critics were mixed in their response, though many praised the performances and production values.
Today, the film has been thoroughly reassessed and is considered an underrated masterpiece of 1970s American cinema. Its unflinching examination of labour exploitation, class struggle, and the moral complexities of undercover work resonates strongly with contemporary audiences. The film refuses to offer easy answers, portraying both Kehoe's violence and McParlan's betrayal in shades of grey rather than simplistic heroism or villainy. It serves as a powerful reminder of the brutal conditions workers endured before unionisation and New Deal legislation, whilst also exploring themes of loyalty, betrayal, ethnic identity, and the human cost of industrial progress.
The Molly Maguires features brutal and authentic action sequences, including a memorable Gaelic football match so violent it borders on comedic, symbolising the raw physicality of the miners' world. The art direction by Tambi Larsen earned an Academy Award nomination, recognising the film's meticulous period detail. Every frame of the film is suffused with coal dust and grime, creating an oppressive atmosphere that mirrors the miners' suffocating existence under capitalist exploitation.
To find out more about The Molly Maguires (1970) click here to go to IMDB.com.
Special Notes
Images may have a small 'MPA' digital watermark and this does not appear on the poster. Posters are being held by magnets in the corners to take photographs, so you may see some magnet and shadows from the magnets in these areas. The magnets are not included in the sale of the item.
Postage, Insurance & Your Country Taxes
Postage costs are quoted for this item, include insurance up to AUD$100, but if you reside outside of Australia, the price does not include any import taxes/fees that you may be required to pay when the item reaches your borders. Please check with your local authorities for any additional taxes or fees. If you would like full insurance coverage for your purchase, please message me and I would be happy to quote the additional cost (estimate is AUD$2.50 p/AUD$100 or 2.5% of the item value, up to a maximum item value of AUD$5,000).
FAQ
At Movie Posters Australia, the love and conservation of movie posters comes first, and we like to share this passion. Our commitment to quality means we will provide high quality memorabilia to our customers. Posters are carefully chosen and authenticated to ensure originality and value. We want our customers to trust MPA, so we always try to be as open and transparent as we can, provide detailed condition information and images, to ensure customers are comfortable and confident in their purchase.
While the industry does have a few condition rating standards, there is no movie poster condition rating system that has become the accepted standard world wide. This unfortunately makes condition terms vary from movie poster dealer to movie poster dealer. Terms like Mint, Near Mint, Very Fine, Fine, Very Good, Good, Fair, Poor, seem to be universal to most condition rating standards, but most standards still lack definition about what and how many flaws/defects/damage defines a specific condition level. For more information on how Movie Posters Australia grades the condition of its movie posters, daybills, lobby cards and other ephemera please see out Movie Poster Condition and Grading page.
In the early days of cinema, posters were primarily hand-drawn and printed in various sizes, often tailored to fit the available space in theaters or promotional areas. In the United States, the "One Sheet" size (some times called '1 Sheet' or '1SH' approximately 27" x 41", became the standard during the 1930s. This size was manageable for theater display and suited the needs of a growing film industry.
Different countries developed their own poster sizes and styles, which also changed sometimes over the decades, and were influenced by local preferences and practical considerations, like available paper sheet sizes and how many posters could be printed on one sheet.
In Australia, the most popular size, the Daybill, has evolved over the decades. Australian Daybills sizes in chronological order are:
- Long Daybills (15" x 40"), from 1920's to pre-WW2 or pre-1941, were printed two to a sheet, longer than current Daybill versions. There were size variances in width from 14.5" to 15" and in height from 39.5" to 40".
- War Time Daybill (10" x 30"), during WW2, for a short time to conserve paper during a war time shortage, four Daybills were printed on one sheet. Information from Press Sheets also referred to these War-Time sizes as "New Size Daybills".
- Post-War Daybill (13" x 30"), this 13" x 30" Post-War size carried through until the 1980's, but also varied in size from 13"-14" x 29.75"-30.25".
- Post-80's Daybill (33cm x 66cm, or 13" x 26"), over a few years in the late 80's, the size changed again to a metric 33cm x 66cm, although these have also varied from 32-33cm x 64.5-66cm. New sizes from the late 80's were created, sometimes called a Mini Daybill or Mini Poster, in 9" x 12", 11" x 17" and 13" x 20".
In the UK, the somewhat unique 'Quad' poster, measuring 30" x 40", became popular, offering a larger landscape format that allowed for more elaborate designs.
In Japan, movie poster sizes were smaller, such as the "B2" (20" x 28"), which suited the more compact living environment of larger cities, smaller advertising spaces, and unique aesthetic sensibilities.
The 1970s and 1980s, witnessed the rise of the "six-sheet" (81" x 81") format, reflecting a trend towards larger and more visually impactful advertising.
Overall, the variation in movie poster sizes across different countries and decades highlights the interplay between technological printing advancements, paper resource availability, paper sheet size changes, cultural preferences, and the evolving nature of movie marketing.
At Movie Posters Australia we tag each poster we sell with a 'size' and 'condition' description at the very top of the page for our customers to easily see. There may however be some slight variations to sizes by up one inch due to variations in production and guillotine methods by printers over the decades.