drystyx I had hoped to like this grandiose railroad Western as much as the other epic railroad Westerns: Canadian Pacific and Western Union are great, and UNION PACIFIC is simply the best Western ever made, the definitive Western. This one has some assets. The hero, played by Sterling Hayden, maybe the homeliest lead actor in film History, is likable, as are the other good guys. The most interesting of the good guys is killed off in a bit of a contrived way, however, and the contrivance seems to be very Republican in that only low level people are killed, giving the impression of demi god qualities among the elite, an impression needed by the elite to keep the minions in line. Always suspicious. The romance angle works well enough. In fact, it's good to see two people who are more "next door" types being in the lead.

Robert J. Maxwell The Civil War is just about to start. In Bleeding Kansas, the government is trying to get the Kansas Pacific Railroad built in order to link its western forts with the east. The Confederate sympathizers are less than eager to see this accomplished. The US Army decides to send out one engineer in civilian clothes to see if he can straighten things out a bit. That would be Sterling Hayden, who looks so big compared to everyone else in the movie that it's possible to imagine him filling a box car all by himself.In charge of the now-stuck railroad in Kansas is beefy, blustering, Barton MacLane, who resents becoming subordinate to Hayden. MacLane's theatrical bellowing had a place in the rough action movies of ten years earlier. But here, the writers have burdened him with a daughter he loves. She can't act but he loves her anyway. Once in a while he chucks her under the chin and tries to smile at her, but one can almost hear the creaking of long-unused facial muscles.The story is rambunctious, headlong. Hayden is determined to get that railroad built, although the suave villain, Reed Hadley of the sonorous baritone, does everything possible to stop him, including requisitioning some artillery from the nascent Confederate Army.But if it's never boring, it's never original either. All the men dress alike: dark cowboy hats, checkered shirts, unbuttoned vests, black boots, and low-slung holsters. I don't know why all the men in these routine Westerns have to wear vests but they do. I counted 246 cowboys and 213 of them were wearing unbuttoned vests. That's 86.58536 percent of the men, all wearing unbuttoned vests. They wear neckerchiefs too, and gloves.Towards the end there is a terrific fist fight between hero Hayden and villain Hadley, and each fist lands smack on each jaw with a loud thud.Well, does the railroad finally get built, you ask? And well you might. No. The railroad does not get built. As a result, the western forts are severed from the battles in the east, the Confederate States of America win the war, and we are all reduced to eating hoppin' john and hush puppies.

bkoganbing This is a curious unpretentious little western from the former Monogram Studios about the building of the Kansas Pacific Railroad. The action takes place before and during the Civil War with Sterling Hayden as the Army Captain sent west to supervise. He supersedes Barton MacLane who is the foreman and has some time to romance MacLane's daughter played by Eve Miller.Film has some nice action sequences, but the script has a lot of holes in it. Reed Hadley plays William Quantrill who's doing a lot ofsabotage and pretty successfully. Then for no real reason he stops and lets construction proceed. He says he's waiting for some artillery from the Confederate States of America. That's the only indication we get that the Civil War has officially begun. Then when the railroad is finished, Quantrill decides to use the artillery to attack moving trains. I suppose while he's waiting, Quantrill is out doing the stuff he's more infamous for.Quantrill is a stock villain in a whole lot of westerns, yet no one has ever done a reasonably accurate film with him in it. Reed Hadley, who had one of the best speaking voices in Hollywood, does his best with what he's given here. All you folks who watched Racket Squad back in the 50s remember Hadley narrating and portraying Captain Braddock. His voice is unmistakeable.Another unmistakeable voice belongs to Clayton Moore who has a bit part as one of Quantrill's henchman while on hiatus from The Long Ranger.Don't expect too much from this. DeMille did it better in Union Pacific, but he had a lot more resources to work with.

alexandre michel liberman (tmwest) In this well made western, the builders of the railroad have a problem: the civil war will start at any moment, and the sympathizers of the south will do everything they can to sabotage it. After many incidents they go to Washington to ask for the army to help them, but as the war had not started, they send only one man:Sterling Hayden, and he sure knows how to deal with it. Very entertaining, worth seeing for anybody who likes westerns