Pssst, want to check out The Great Locomotive Chase in our new look?
Information
- Year
- 1956
- Runtime
- 85 min.
- Director
- Francis D. Lyon
- Genres
- Action, Adventure, Family
- Rating *
- 7.1
- Votes *
- 532
- Checks
- 66
- Favs
- 3
- Dislikes
- 2
- Favs/checks
- 4.5% (1:22)
- Favs/dislikes
- 2:1
Top comments
-
Siskoid
The Great Locomotive Chase is a true tale of the Civil War, one cinephiles would have previously discovered in Buster Keaton's The General, but this is the docu-drama version. The names haven't been changed. This time, the Union is on the side of right, though Southerners aren't vilified. Fess Parker plays the heroic secret service man Andrews who brings a crew of soldiers with him to steal a train and dismantle the South's capacity to supply its forces on the border. This is a more serious character for the normally affable Parker, and I wish I could see a bit of his famous frontiersmen in him because there's a real lack of humor for what's sold as a Disney adventure. Correspondingly, it's a bloodless affair, though if I hadn't been chugging train-themed films, I might feel a little more invested in the action elements where they try to stop the train behind them in its tracks. Alas, films like Von Ryan's Express and The Train would do it better in due course. But it's not this film's fault that I can't be counted on to see movies in chronological order. 5 years 3 months ago