Night Passage (1957) on Netflix
Approved19571h 30m
Grant McLaine, fired in disgrace, gets a second chance to carry ten thousand dollars to an unpaid railroad crew. Whitey Harbin's gang has robbed that payroll three times already.
- Netflix2.9/5
- IMDb6.6/104,953 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes50%
Trailer
Plot summary
Grant McLaine has been wandering for five years, playing his accordion for a living, since the railroad fired him for letting the outlaw called the Utica Kid escape. His old boss, Ben Kimball, offers him a second chance. Robbers led by Whitey Harbin have taken Kimball's payroll three times, and the crew at the end-of-track camp has gone months without wages. Grant agrees to carry ten thousand dollars by train in secret, over the objections of Jeff Kurth, Kimball's second in command, who wagers his position that Grant will not succeed. On the road, Grant pulls a boy named Joey Adams away from Concho, one of the gang.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Night Passage (1957)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Anthony Mann and James Stewart fell out over Night Passage: producer Aaron Rosenberg said Mann called the film trash and felt Stewart only made it so he could play his accordion, which so enraged Stewart that the two never spoke again.
- Audie Murphy rode his own quarter horse, Flying John, in Night Passage; when the animal would not co-operate and several takes were needed, Murphy grew so angry that he punched it in the face, as co-star Dianne Foster watched.
- Night Passage was to be the sixth Western pairing of James Stewart and director Anthony Mann, but Mann left before production over other obligations and a disagreement about casting Audie Murphy, and James Neilson replaced him.
- Night Passage was the first American production to use the Technirama process by Technicolor, which helped make the blue skies crisper and brightened the footage shot by cinematographer William H. Daniels.
- James Stewart, who had played the accordion since childhood, performed on it in Night Passage, but his accordion playing was re-recorded by a professional during post-production.
- Night Passage's railroad scenes used Denver & Rio Grande Western K-28 Class steam locomotive #476 at the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad in Colorado, where it still runs today, and footage was later recycled into Audie Murphy's 1966 film Gunpoint.
