The Great Locomotive Chase (1956)

Finally settled into the new place so let’s get back to it!  Our favorite squinty-eyed King of the Wild Frontier is back, and this time he’s a spy!  Let’s take it back to the Civil War for a little bit of historical fiction.  Will there be action this time?  Hopefully!  All aboard!  Choo choo!

Disclaimer: This blog is purely recreational and not for profit. Any material, including images and/or video footage, are property of their respective companies unless stated otherwise. The authors claim no ownership of this material. The opinions expressed therein reflect those of the authors and are not to be viewed as factual documentation. All photos are capped from my copy of the movie with InstantShot! unless otherwise specified.

Walt Disney loved trains.  Every Disney fan worth their pixie dust knows that.  He loved history, too, as you can tell by a quick look around Main Street or Frontierland.  So, naturally, the Union theft of the Confederate train The General was of great interest to him.  In real life, a Union soldier called James Andrews led a military raid to take the stolen train up to Tennessee.  Along the way, they wrecked as much Confederate infrastructure as they could to make it that much harder for them to win the war.  The raid was ultimately unsuccessful, as the Confederates recovered their train and hanged the thieves.  I’m spoiling real history here, not the movie.  You know how Disney is with the whole accuracy thing… right?

The film was shot on location in Georgia and North Carolina, though it did make some use of Peter Ellenshaw’s matte paintings.  With Davy Crockett ended, Disney needed another way to make bank off Fess Parker’s incredible popularity, so he ended up with the lead role of James Andrews.  Even so, the film only met moderate reviews and wasn’t as financially successful as the studio wanted.  Critics did like the action (thank goodness!) and the acting but took issue with certain elements of the story.  As a result, it never got a theatrical rerelease like most of the previous films.  I’ve kind of already told the story, but let’s see how different the film is from reality!

STORY

We open on a disclaimer that this film is a “true-life historical adventure”, which brings to mind the other True-Life Adventures. And then we get our usual book opening! And we thought that was only a trope in the animated films. This time around, it’s the memoirs of William Pittenger, a member of the raiding party. He and his men look rather grim as Secretary Stanton awards them the first-ever Congressional Medal of Honor, and he’s about to explain why.

The meat of the story is told through a flashback. Pittenger and his company are working as guards, lounging around in the woods and reading the newspaper. They see a story about the new medal Congress is creating, and it reminds them that they’re not going to get a chance to do anything medal-worthy as long as they’re stuck here. James J. Andrews, a Union spy masquerading as a Confederate blockade runner, rides up. The company vents about being left behind while the rest of their regiment prepares for a big battle. Also, the star-struck Pittenger offers to help Andrew with anything he might need. Famous last words, am I right? Andrews rides off into the sunset like a boss, squinting the whole way.

Back at Union Headquarters, Andrews discusses strategy with General… Mitchell? I don’t know, I couldn’t keep up with all the names in this thing. The General wants to march into Chatanooga but he’s not sure if he can successfully hold the city. Luckily, he has an idea: the Confederacy’s greatest strongholds are connected by a railroad. If they can wreck the railroad and burn the bridges, they can stop supplies from getting to the rebels and probably end the war entirely. To the General’s surprise, Andrews is totally down with being demoted from the Secret Service to a common footsoldier. For some reason, he was impressed by the men he met and thinks they could do a whole lot more good than guards. This whole scene irritated me because they just gave away everything that’s going to happen. Stating your goal is one thing, but I want to see how you do it. I don’t want to be told.

That night, Andrews meets with the soldiers for a briefing. He exposits the whole movie again and offers an out to any man who doesn’t want to be part of the difficult, dangerous mission. No one leaves so he tells them where and when to meet for the next leg of the operation. A guy who looks like Ron Swanson pipes up and asks what they’re going to do if a Southerner questions them. Andrews gives them the cover story that they’re Kentucky citizens, looking to escape the Northern government and join a rebel unit. And they’re all from the same town. What could possibly go wrong? With a warning for everyone to keep their heads down and their weapons hidden, Andrews takes his leave.

The company separates into groups of two and three on the way to Marietta, Georgia. Pittenger is left with the guy who looks like Ron Swanson, whose name is Campbell. He’s got a nasty temper and is constantly itching for a fight, which concerns Pittenger. A lot. A storm floods the Tennessee River just as the party needs to cross, which is problematic. They come up to an inn, where the innkeeper’s wife is reluctant to give them a room. Once Pittenger gives the story about joining the rebellion, though, she rewards their bravery with free rooms for all twenty of them.  She invites the company to dinner with her and some of the other guests at the inn, and they pepper them with questions about Kentucky. Pittenger bluffs pretty well, and his talk of abolitionists and how bad Northern sympathy has gotten in Kentucky is confirmed by a wounded soldier at the table.

However, the gathered Southerners get more and more intense with their politics, making the soldiers more and more uncomfortable. And it is incredibly hard to watch in 2019, an era where people are just as passionate about their beliefs and it’s causing a whole lot of friction. It’s also interesting to see Confederate citizens portrayed as ordinary people on the wrong side of history, instead of out and out villains. Obviously, I’m not defending slavery but there’s a lot more nuance shown here than we usually see in Civil War media.  These are the conservatives at the dinner table, a sobering reminder that not everyone who perpetuates evil is a howling ball of hate and rage.  They’re just… people.  It’s chilling.  Anyway, the wounded soldier offers to let the company join his regiment but they’re adamant that they have to join one specific one.  Suddenly, there’s a knock at the door.  Andrews enters, drenched to the skin, with news that the Confederacy won a huge victory at Shiloh.  The patrons of the inn are ecstatic and Andrews calls a toast to celebrate.  After a rousing round of Dixieland, led by Andrews on the piano, everyone retires.

Everyone retires for the night. Campbell is furious at how far Andrews made them go to protect their ruse. Ever the voice of reason, Andrews points out that they need to blend in or they’ll never get this done. Everyone falls asleep except Andrews and Pittenger, who have a little discussion about morality. Like I said, it’s a lot harder to hate someone for their politics when you spend time with them and see them as ordinary people.  Andrews agrees and just wants this war to be over so he can stop everyone from being so divided.  It’s pretty deep and hits hard watching it back in 2019.  Or maybe that’s just me.

Everyone makes the train to Chatanooga, and the soldiers they’re sharing a car with are boisterously singing about how much they want to destroy the Yankees. Campbell gets more and more irritated, and the ringleader of the Confederate gang notices his gun. More worryingly, he spots the Union army insignia on his gun. Campbell grunts that he stole it off a dead soldier and Andrews backs him up with a quip about how Union soldiers are thieves so what’s the difference? The Southern soldiers find it hilarious and they make it to Marietta in one piece. It’s go time!  Disguised as a railroad official, Andrews gives some final instructions. Because that’ll make it easier to steal an engine from right in front of a Confederate camp. Not-Ron-Swanson flips out again, tired of being polite when all he wants to do is beat up Confederates. Andrews tells him to shut up and steal the train.

The spies roll out and it’s on. The heist goes smoothly at first, but a wrench by the name of William Fuller gets thrown in. The conductor and his pretty eyes are suspicious at how many people got on at the same station while pretending not to know each other. To make it worse, he knows Andrews’ name! He’s convinced that the men are deserters that he’s required by law to turn in, but Andrews assures him that they’re there on top-secret Confederate business. He even has a letter from the Confederate general to prove it. He strokes Fuller’s ego for a little bit by telling him how important his work is to the Confederacy. That’s all Fuller needs to hear to be completely in awe and invite Andrews to breakfast with him. Andrews declines and Fuller leaves to eat without him.

The breakfast stop provides the perfect distraction, as the only people left aboard The General are the spies. That seems like a bit of a flaw, but they do manage to get the train out with absolutely no resistance. Fuller hears the train outside the inn and races outside. Of course, it’s too late, but he still chases after The General on foot. Good luck with that, buddy. Andrews takes some tools from some nearby repairmen and his squad gets to work ripping up the tracks. One guy shimmies up a pole to cut the telegraph wires because these spies are nothing if not efficient. Meanwhile, Fuller is still running. Bless him. He catches up to the repairmen, who tell the whole story and lend Fuller a pushcart so he doesn’t have to run after a train.

The spies celebrate their flawless victory by singing, falling silent when they come up to a station. It’s nothing to worry about so they start right back up. Fuller’s pushcart makes it to the point the Northerners wrecked and he finally realizes they’re Yankees. Good job. He tries to send a telegraph from the station the raid just passed but of course, the line is dead because they cut it. Irate, Fuller orders the station master no to let any other trains pass through. Andrews is ready for him, though. He smooths things over with the usual lie about Kentucky just as another train pulls in with news that the North is on the move and all the Southern trains are getting out of Dodge. To keep his cover, Andrews muses that he needs to get to the South more than ever to bring the troops ammo. And if things aren’t bad enough, the raiders might need to shoot the station master to prevent him from getting news along the telegraph line. Of course, this whole thing is about preventing bloodshed so no one really wants to do that. Except possibly Ron Swanson.

Fuller gathers a camp full of Confederate soldiers and borrows a train engine of his own. Now he actually stands a chance! Campbell’s starting to get impatient because Andrews is taking forever negotiating with the station master. This time it’s Pittenger’s turn to tell him to shut up and calm down. But he’s not the only one getting antsy. The station-master has been waiting for Fuller but he can’t get a message through to ask where he is. Andrews plays dumb and apologizes to the gathered civilians, trying to stall for time. Turns out he doesn’t need to because the next train shows up at the exact second it needs to so The General rolls out without shooting anyone. That station was the toughest obstacle they would face, so the raiders celebrate getting past it.

They stop to cut another wire while Fuller finally gets to the station. Obviously, they’ve gotten away and in his fury, he orders the telegraph operator to get a warning through before they can cut the next wire. He moves out but his train derails on another stretch of broken track. Another conductor finds him stranded and asks what happened, then offers to help get the stolen train back with his own train, The Texas. He’s getting close, too: the thieves got out of the next town ten minutes before Fuller arrives. The raiders are still working on dismantling track and cutting wires and I’ve got to point out that they’re only taking pieces of wood off the track and setting them aside. That doesn’t take that long to fix. Burn the sucker. It’ll be much harder for the workers to replace everything. Fuller’s train whistles behind them and they bail.

Andrews orders the raiders to bust open the General’s cars so they can get wood through one long path, toss it on the tracks and trip up the Texas. Fuller’s men clear the track pretty easily (like I said) but it does slow them down a bit. To create another obstacle, the raiders unhitch a boxcar and lets it ride down the track to block the track. The Texas just pushes the box in front of them the whole way down the bridge. Both trains make it to a depot in the middle of nowhere, and to Fuller’s delight, they find a functional telegraph wire there. One of his men sends a message to a Confederate general who prepares his troops to stop the train thieves. So that’s a problem. The raiders try the boxcar trick again but it’s not very effective the second time either.

It’s not looking good for our raiders. They’re low on fuel and the Texas is gaining on them. They come up with the idea to ambush The Texas in a tunnel with another boxcar. Meanwhile, Campbell just wants to fight like Fuller is clearly angling to do. Andrews warns him to wait until the bridge is burned. They light the last boxcar up as they cross the bridge, leaving the burning car on the tracks. Fuller does not care at all and pushes the flaming car with him all the way through the tunnel, only dismantling it when they’re back on open track. They’ve caught up, completely undeterred by all the Yankees’ tricks, and this time there’s no way around a fight. Suddenly, the Confederate cavalry arrives! The raiders are outnumbered, surrounded, and overpowered, so Andrews orders his men to run while they can. They don’t make it very far.

The engine thieves are arrested and shunted from prison to prison, ending up in Chatanooga. Pittenger lasts longer than the rest by sticking to the story that he’s a rebel sympathizer from Kentucky looking for a unit to join. He even tells that story to a Confederate general… who doesn’t buy it. He tosses Pittenger into a cell with the rest of the raiders, who tried to tell him that exact same tale. The Confederacy decides to arrest and hang them all in Atlanta instead of Chatanooga because shut up that’s why. Andrews asks for an audience with Fuller but Fuller wants nothing to do with him, so there’s nothing to do but wait to die. They sing a hymn to pass the time in jail… and drown out the sounds of the prisoners picking the locks on their chains. The guard actually makes a song request which was a little weird, so Andrews obliges while ushering his men to carry on.

Once the guard is asleep, Andrews lays down his plans for a prison break. Pittenger comes up with a better plan, because Andrews’ pacifistic way didn’t go so well last time so they’re going with a direct fight today thanks very much. That night, when the guard comes to bring them food, Pittenger chokes him out and the prisoners bind and gag him. Campbell rushes the guards armed, counting on sheer audacity to surprise them into not shooting. It devolves into a huge brawl and more Stormtrooper shooting. Eventually the prisoners make it to the gate, but there’s more soldiers outside so they book it to climb over the wall. Andrews jumps into the fray to give his friends time to escape, and Campbell jumps down to back him up. It’s very heroic. Shame it doesn’t work. Both of them are subdued and most of the rest are caught immediately and marched back into jail.

Campbell and Andrews sit in jail contemplating their failure. All Campbell wanted was to take down as many rebels as he could- it wasn’t about helping Andrews, though he does think the other man did a lot of good. But it doesn’t matter. It’s over. A priest goes to fetch Fuller to honor Andrews’ last request. He’s reluctant, but he does meet with him. All Andrews wants is to shake Fuller’s hand, because the war won’t last forever and both sides will have to do so sooner or later. Fuller shakes his hand and that’s the last we see of Andrews. The flashback ends, and we return to Stanton Pittenger and the other survivors that the deceased will be honored highly.

There was some really exciting action here, especially in the titular locomotive chase. I also really like that the movie doesn’t shy away from the moral complexities of the war. Both sides are portrayed as human, which you don’t see very often. Of course, that means that the film does gloss over the issue of slavery entirely but it’s kind of nice seeing real people like Fuller portrayed as human. On the negative side, the dialogue and the acting are so stilted and awkward that it made the film hard to follow at points. It rode a lot on people being familiar with the real-life events which I was not before doing my research. But I guess that’s my problem.  I agree with the critics that the ending was very anticlimactic, even if it was true.  Seeing all that effort go to waste just feels hollow.

CHARACTERS

This was really an ensemble piece more than a character piece.  Only three of the raiders really stand out as being distinct in any way.  The rest are just kind of an amalgamation of generic dudes.  I guess you don’t really need to differentiate between them to tell the story but it would be nice to have that relatability, especially to make the ending more emotionally impactful and less disappointing.

William Pittenger is our narrator.  He’s kind of shy and nerdy, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  He definitely uses it to his advantage, especially during the prison break.  Other than that, though, he mostly fades into the mass of faces through the rest of the movie.

James J. Andrews is our actual protagonist.  It’s his story much more than Pittenger’s, though I guess it’s difficult to have him narrate with him being dead and all.  He’s not actually a soldier but a civilian, running both sides to get information to the North.  He’s very brave, risking his life with every run he makes between the two sides but no more than the train raid.  He’s also very pragmatic, not letting politics heat his blood when there’s work to be done for the good of people on both sides of the war.  He’s also here to capitalize on Fess Parker’s popularity from Davy Crockett by casting him as another American hero.  So here he is being all squinty and monotone.

William Campbell is basically George Merry from Treasure Island if he was on Team Good Guys.  He’s hotheaded and constantly itching for a fight, even if it’s detrimental to what they’re trying to do.  At the end of the day, though, he’s fiercely loyal and not about to watch his friends get massacred if he can help it.  In real life, he wasn’t a soldier at all but a civilian just like Andrews.  Here, he’s played by Jeff York who we’ll see again in the next movie.  So get ready for more Ron Swanson jokes!

William Fuller is our main antagonist, or as close to one as this movie comes.  Really, though, he’s not that bad a guy except for the whole Confederate thing.  These guys stole his train!  His livelihood!  He’s definitely the wronged party in this situation.  You’ve also really got to admire his persistence.  The dude just does not give up, and it’s rewarded by the end when he comes out victorious.  Not bad for a guy who started by chasing a train on foot!

MUSIC

There aren’t really any original songs in this movie.  Any time the characters sing, it’s a real Civil War hymn.  They’re sung very well, though.  These guys made a pretty decent choir when led by Fess Parker’s rough croon.  I didn’t write anything down about the score so I guess it can’t have been particularly interesting.  I certainly remember none of it.

ARTISTRY

The Great Locomotive Chase was filmed on location in Georgia and North Carolina, with some matte paintings by our good friend Peter Ellenshaw.  Most of the train scenes were filmed on the Tallulah Falls Railway, which has been abandoned since the ’60s.  As far as cinematography goes, it bears a strong resemblance to Davy Crockett.  There’s a lot of dusty brown here and not a lot of color, which makes it a bit dull to look at.  They also make some strange choices with camera angles, like wide and mid shots when everyone’s complaining that they’re crammed together in a boxcar.  Using the camera a little more effectively would have greatly helped the storytelling here.

FINAL THOUGHTS

There were some excellent philosophical moments in this film.  You can say they’re watering down actual history by glossing over the reasons behind the Civil War, but I like that they showed the human side of the opposition.  Like 20,000 Leagues, it feels like Walt calling for peace at a time when suspicion and anger ruled public consciousness.  Unfortunately, those interesting ideas are overshadowed by some rather ugly and uninteresting visuals and unnatural dialogue.  I wasn’t blown away by Fess Parker’s acting in Davy Crockett, which I’m sure is some kind of sacrilege but whatever, but this seemed like a step down from even that.  Given that he was the main character and really one of the only ones that stood out, it made it hard to enjoy the film.

Favorite scene: The dinner.  Sure it feels like a family dinner where you’re cringing because your grandpa is just such a racist omg please stop but they’re not villainized.  They feel like people.  Backwards, bigoted people, but not monsters.  Just people who need a kick in the face.  Did I mention I like that nuance?

Final rating: 4/10.  Good ideas, good action, baaaad acting.