The Great Locomotive Chase

The Great Locomotive Chase
Directed by Francis D. Lyon
Produced by Lawrence Edward Watkin, Walt Disney
Written by Lawrence Edward Watkin
Starring Fess Parker
Jeffrey Hunter
John Lupton
Stan Jones
Slim Pickens
Music by Paul J. Smith
Production
company
Distributed by Buena Vista Distribution
Release date
  • June 8, 1956 (1956-06-08)
Running time
 85 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Box office $1.7 million (US)[1]

The Great Locomotive Chase is a 1956 Walt Disney Productions CinemaScope adventure film based on the real Great Locomotive Chase that occurred in 1862 during the American Civil War. The film stars Fess Parker as James J. Andrews, the leader of a group of Union soldiers from various Ohio regiments who volunteered to go behind Confederate lines in civilian clothes, steal a Confederate train north of Atlanta, and drive it back to Union lines in Tennessee, tearing up railroad tracks and destroying bridges and telegraph lines along the way.

Written and produced by Lawrence Edward Watkin and directed by Francis D. Lyon, the 85-minute full-color film also features Jeffrey Hunter, John Lupton, Kenneth Tobey, Don Megowan, and Slim Pickens. Paul J. Smith composed the score. Filmed in Georgia and North Carolina, along the now abandoned Tallulah Falls Railway, it was released in U.S. theaters by Buena Vista Distribution Company on June 8, 1956, and capitalized on Parker's growing fame as an actor from his portrayal of Davy Crockett. The film reteamed him with Jeff York (Mike Fink).

Plot

On March 25, 1863, Cpl. William Pittenger along with 6 other soldiers are brought before secretary Edwin Stanton to receive the first Medals of Honor. Pittenger, narrating, tells the story of the mission they participated in through a flashback.

In April of 1862, Pittenger and several other soldiers, including William Campbell are posted outside Nashville under orders from General Mitchell. Andrews rides in to speak to Mitchell, who assigns him the mission of hijacking a train behind Confederate lines and destroying the bridges along the Western and Atlantic Railroad in order to delay reinforcements against Mitchell's planned attack on Chattanooga, as well as cripple the Confederate army's supply lines, possibly putting an end to the war. Pittenger, Campbell, and several more soldiers meet Andrews the next night on a hillside where he explains the mission, and tells them to arrive in Marietta, Georgia by April 10th. Over the next few days, the men make there way south into Confederate territory in small groups, so as not to draw suspicion. Pittenger and Campbell rendezvous with Andrews and two others at an inn on the Tennessee River, but heavy rain causes Andrews to delay the attempt for a day.

On the morning of April 12th, Andrews and the raiders congregate in a railroad hotel in Marietta. They board a northbound train, waiting for the breakfast stop at Big Shanty. While on the train, Andrews is approached by the conductor William A. Fuller, who is suspicious about Andrews and the men he boarded with. Andrews shows Fuller a letter from Brigadier General Beauregard. This convinces Fuller that Andrews and his men are Confederate agents. While the passengers and crew are eating, Andrews and the men drop the passenger cars and hijack the engine and proceed north. Witnessing this, Fuller pursues them on foot along with his engineer and fireman. Andrews and the men continue on, pulling up track to block any trains from the south and cutting telegraph to stop any towns ahead of them being alerted. Fuller and his men continue to pursue the raiders; first on foot, then by handcar, then on the small yard engine the Yonah.

The raiders make their scheduled stop at Kingston but are forced to wait for several unscheduled freight trains from the north. Andrews disguises their mission from the suspicious station officials by saying he's running an extra ammunition supply train to Beauregard. They learn Mitchell captured Huntsville ahead of schedule and the Confederates are now running extra freight trains. After 45 minutes the last train arrives, and the raiders continue north. Shortly afterward, Fuller and his men reach Kingston. After alerting the station master, they take a locomotive waiting on the side track and continue until the reach another section of removed track. Fuller stops Pete Bracken and his southbound train to continue the chase with his engine, the Texas running in reverse. The raiders make several attempts to stop their pursuers, but barely manage to slow them down. The raiders arrive at the first bridge and attempt to burn it down by lighting a boxcar and setting the brake it so as to prevent it from being moved. Fuller manages to disable the brake and the Texas pushes the car out, leaving the bridge intact. With the General out of wood and water, unable to continue, Andrews decides to stop and fight. However, before they can a Confederate cavalry arrives and the raiders disperse, having failed in their mission, and try to make it back home.

Over the next week, the raiders are hunted down and captured. The group is transferred from jail to jail across the south. One day, while in their cell, one of them manages to break the group's chains. They plan to escape the next evening. All men make it over the wall of the jail yard except Andrews and Campbell, who stay to fight off their captors. 7 of the raiders escape, including Pittenger, while the rest are recaptured and later executed. Before his execution, Andrews is visited by Fuller. Andrews hopes Fuller won't hold a grudge for deceiving him, acknowledging they both fought in their own ways. Andrews laments that he wont live to see the end of the war, when both sides come together and shake hands. He asks Fuller if they could do so instead, and he obliges, marking the end of their war and putting Andrews at peace.

Back in the present day, secretary Stanton awards the 7 surviving raiders the Medal of Honor. However, Stanton says that since Andrews was a civilian operative, he is ineligible for the medal, but says that their comrades who didn't survive will receive posthumous recognition. Pittenger thanks him, on behalf of all of them.

Cast

Locomotives

The steam engine upon whose exploits the film is based, the General, is preserved at the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History in Kennesaw, Georgia. Representing the General in the film is the William Mason locomotive, built in 1856 and preserved in operating condition at the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.[2]

The first of three locomotives used by Conductor William A. Fuller in pursuit of the General, the Yonah, was portrayed in the movie by the Lafayette, a 1927-built 4-2-0 replica of an identical locomotive of the same name built in 1837.[3] The original Yonah, however, did not have a 4-2-0 design, but actually had a 4-4-0 design that pre-dated the newer 4-4-0 designs of the other locomotives involved in the Great Locomotive Chase. The Lafayette is still operational and can also be found at the B&O Railroad Museum.

The final locomotive used by Conductor Fuller and the pursuers, the Texas, is currently being cosmetically restored as of 2016 at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, North Carolina in preparation for becoming a static display at the Atlanta History Center in the Buckhead district of Atlanta, Georgia. In the film, Texas is represented by the Inyo locomotive, built in 1875 and preserved in working order at the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City, Nevada.[2] The Inyo was also used in the film to represent the William R. Smith, which was a locomotive briefly commandeered by Fuller after his usage of the Yonah and before his usage of the Texas to chase down the General.

The William Mason and the Inyo are extremely rare examples of full-size 4-4-0 American-type steam locomotives built in the United States during the 19th century that still run in the present day.[4]

Songs

(in film sequence)

  1. "Dixie"—sung by Fess Parker, et al.
  2. "A Rebel I Will Be Until I Die"—sung by Morgan Woodward.
  3. "Sons of Old Aunt Dinah" - lyrics by Lawrence Edward Watkin and music by Stan Jones, sung by Morgan Woodward, et al.
  4. "I Stole A Locomotive Just to Take a Ride 'Cause My Daddy Was A Railroading Man"—sung by Jeff York, John Lupton, et al.
  5. "Roll Jordan Roll, I Want To Go To Heaven When I Die"—sung by Fess Parker, et al.
  6. "Tenting On the Old Camp Ground"—classic Civil War hymn sung by Fess Parker, Jeff York, John Lupton, et al.

Reception

The film received mixed reviews upon its release. Though given acceptable reviews by most critics, the film was not as successful as Walt Disney had hoped it would be. This may have been due to the anticlimactic ending, where the Union spies are captured, jailed, and attempt to escape. According to a review by the New York Times, "The excitement is over when they abandon the trains."[5] Moreover, some felt the film to be rather depressing or downbeat since the main characters are unsuccessful in their mission and some, including the lead character, wind up being executed.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 'The Top Box-Office Hits of 1956', Variety Weekly, January 2, 1957
  2. 1 2 Railroad Movies on DVD
  3. ↑ Steamlocomotive.com - B&O Railroad Museum
  4. ↑ Steamlocomotive.com - Operational 4-4-0s in the United States
  5. ↑ New York Times - Screen: Saga of Rails; 'The Great Locomotive Chase' at Mayfair
  6. ↑ Bogle, James G & Cohen, Stan. (1999). The General & The Texas: A Pictorial History of the Andrews Raid, April 12, 1862.
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