Union Pacific
Short description
Set in the years after the American Civil War, Union Pacific follows the race to build the first railroad linking the Atlantic and the Pacific. Rival companies compete to lay the most track, since the winner stands to control the whole line. Against this backdrop, Jeff Butler, a veteran tasked with keeping the construction secure, finds his work complicated by a gambler working to sabotage the project. The saboteur's partner is Dick Allen, Jeff's former comrade in arms, and the two men also become rivals for Mollie Monahan, the daughter of a railroad engineer.
Cecil B. DeMille directed and produced the film, which came in the middle of a long career that also included The Ten Commandments, Cleopatra and The Plainsman. Walter DeLeon, C. Gardner Sullivan and Jesse Lasky Jr. wrote the screenplay, and Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea, Akim Tamiroff, Robert Preston, Lynne Overman and Brian Donlevy lead a credited cast of 185. Paramount backed the production with a budget of about one million dollars.
Released in May 1939, the film runs 135 minutes. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7 out of 10 from around 3,800 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6.7 out of 10 from a much smaller number of votes.
What's left behind the scenes
- The opening credits of the film, shown against the backdrop of descending railway tracks, later inspired Dan Perri to create the famous scrolling text sequences that preface the films "Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope" (George Lucas, 1977) and "The Warriors" (Walter Hill, 1979).
- Cecil B. DeMille could not withstand the strain of directing three film crews simultaneously and performed directorial duties while lying on a stretcher for approximately two weeks.
- The world premiere of the film took place in Omaha, Nebraska. It turned into a three-day celebration, attracting 250,000 people (thus doubling the city's population), and requiring the deployment of National Guard units to maintain order. A special train traveled from Hollywood to Omaha, carrying the film's director, Cecil B. DeMille (1881-1959), as well as stars Barbara Stanwyck (1907-1990), Joel McCrea (1905-1990), and other actors and actresses. The journey took three days, with the train making stops that drew huge crowds. The film was simultaneously shown in three cinemas. It is claimed that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) himself gave the signal for the premiere by pressing a button in Washington. It is also claimed that the premiere (which was accompanied by parades, radio broadcasts, and a banquet) was the largest event of its kind in the history of cinema. The vintage train embarked on a 15-day promotional tour from one coast of the United States to the other, with stops in 30 major cities.
- To utilize the necessary number of trains for filming, Paramount Pictures had to obtain a license to operate railways from the relevant state authorities.
- Paramount Pictures hired a hundred Navajo Native Americans to film the scene of the Native American attack on the train.
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