Union Pacific (1939) on Netflix
Lincoln's 1862 railroad act sends the Union Pacific west toward California. Asa Barrows, a Central Pacific stakeholder, works to hold up the line, and Jeff Butler is hired to stop the sabotage.
- Netflix3.8/5
- IMDb7.0/103,945 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes83%
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Plot summary
The Pacific Railroad Act, signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862, authorizes the Union Pacific to be laid across the wilderness toward California. Asa Barrows owns a share of the Central Pacific and profits if the Union Pacific falls behind, so he works to hold up the line. Sid Campeau, a gambler, and his partner Dick Allen carry out the sabotage for him. Jeff Butler, a veteran of the war, is brought in to troubleshoot the construction, and he is glad to find his old comrade Allen on the job. Both men court Mollie Monahan, the engineer's daughter. Barrows offers to fund the railroad's payroll.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Union Pacific (1939)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- A prostate issue kept director Cecil B. DeMille off the shoot for several weeks, and studio records say he collapsed from the strain of running three units at once; Arthur Rosson and James Hogan directed in his absence, and DeMille directed from a stretcher once he returned.
- The film's train attack was inspired by a real incident near Plum Creek, Nebraska, in which Native Americans felled a water tower onto a locomotive, derailing the train, while the three main characters hid in the wreckage as the train was looted.
- For the wrecked-train scene, the Virginia and Truckee Reno locomotive was laid on its side against an embankment and was damaged both while being placed and while being re-railed afterwards; Paramount paid nearly $5,000 to repair it.
- For the ceremony recreating the joining of the rails, the production used the same golden spike driven at the 1869 event, on loan from Stanford University.
- Union Pacific was on the lineup of the first Cannes Film Festival in 1939, which the invasion of Poland canceled; at the 2002 festival it was shown with other original-lineup films including The Wizard of Oz and Goodbye, Mr. Chips, and a special jury awarded it the Palme d'Or.
- In commemoration of the film's release and the 70th anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad's completion, a 59-foot Golden Spike Monument was built at milepost 0.0 of the Union Pacific's eastern terminus; completed on April 26, 1939, it still stands.
