The Great Train Robbery

"Considered the first narrative film, "The Great Train Robbery" was directed and photographed by Edwin S. Porter, a former cameraman for the Thomas Edison Company. Primitive by modern standards, the 10-minute action picture depicts 14 distinct scenes filmed at various locales in New Jersey intended to represent the American West. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson, the screen's first Western star, played several roles in the film, including a bandit and a train passenger. Audiences were thrilled and terrified to watch a gunman in medium close-up fire directly at the screen in the film's final scene ... although Porter suggested to exhibitors it could just as easily be shown at the beginning of the film instead"

- The Library of Congress



The Great Train Robbery is a 1903 silent western short film, written, produced and directed by Edwin S. Porter and starring Alfred C. Abadie, Gilbert M. Anderson, Justus D. Barnes, Walter Cameron, John Manus Dougherty Sr., Donald Gallaher, Frank Hanaway, Adam Charles Hayman, Marie Murray and Mary Snow, as well as several background actors. The film, as the title suggests, shows a gang of bandits sneaking onboard a train in order to rob it and the passengers, but are eventually gunned down by a posse of lawmen who then retrieve the booty.

Plot
Two members of the bandit gang break into the railroad telegraph office and force the telegrapher to give false instructions to a train to stop at the station's water tank to resupply water in the locomotive tender so that the whole gang, composed of four men, can sneak aboard it. The telegrapher is then tied up, gagged and knocked unconscious by the two bandits.

Once onboard, two bandits kill a message man and open a locker of valuables using dynamite, while the others make their way to the locomotive, where they overpower the fireman who tried to fight them off with his shovel, killing him, and force the engineer to stop the locomotive and disconnect it from the other cars. After that, the bandits force all the passengers to step out of the train and rob them of their belongings, mercilessly gunning down a man who tries to escape. The bandits then escape on the disconnected locomotive in order to get near the spot where they had previously left their horses and ride away with the booty.

Meanwhile, the collapsed telegrapher is discovered by his child daughter, who unties and awakens him by tossing water on his face.

The telegrapher rushes into a room where men and women are dancing and tells them what has happened. Everyone rushes outside, with a posse of lawmen grabbing their rifles and pistols and running after the escaping bandits. In the chase, one of the bandits is shot by the posse, but the surviving robbers get away, dismount and proceed to share the booty. The lawmen, however, have not lost them and silently approach them, taking them by surprise, firing at them and instantly killing one of them. The last two bandits return fire, but are eventually taken down as well by the lawmen, who then retrieve the booty.

The film ends with a close-up of the leader of the bandits firing several times at the camera, as if he is shooting at the audience.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) It may not be the first western film ever made, or the first crime film, but it did set up various elements that would eventually build up the western genre.
 * 2) The action in the film is very appealing and clever.
 * 3) The bandits are all great antagonists.
 * 4) Great acting overall by all the actors, included the child who plays the telegrapher's daughter, like most silent films.
 * 5) Technology-wise, the camera work is very creative for its time. Cuts are only made during scene changes, but the camera doesn't stay straight ahead like it usually does. Here, it picked its way through a forest, adopts certain angles and moves as the plot demands to the point where the camera almost feels like an actual character. Not bad for the early 20th century!
 * 6) One of the first films, if not the very first one, who stars a child in a key role (see "Plot" and WiR #2)
 * 7) Possibly the first non-comedy film that uses comic relief, namely the scene when an Eastern stranger is forced to dance by some of the locals who shoot near his feet.
 * 8) The ending segment where the leader of the bandits fires his pistol at the camera most likely has surprised the audience back in 1903, in a way similar to "L'arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat", and is still remembered today.
 * 9) * It also inspired the famous "gun barrel sequence" in the James Bond films.
 * 10) The film was one of the first ones to use techniques such as composite editing, on-location shooting, frequent camera movement and cross cutting, making it still very enjoyable after 118 years since its first release.

Trivia

 * Edwin S. Porter stated that the memorable ending sequence could very well be placed before the actual film starts, too.
 * In 1988, a postage stamp depicting Justus D. Barnes, the actor who plays the leader of the bandits, was released, proving that the film is not forgotten even in modern times.
 * Martin Scorsese used the ending segment as inspiration for the final segment in his 1990 film Goodfellas.
 * In 1990, the film was included in The National Film Registry by The Library of Congress for being culturally and historically relevant.

Film
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