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| Laying the rails for Western expansion |
One night, they come across a pass through the mountains. Davy's father is excited to find the shortcut as it will save time and money in traveling by rail. His satisfaction is short-lived however; Indians descend upon the camp site, killing the senior Brandon while his son watches, hidden in the bushes. Davy's father's killer? A white man with two fingers who has cast his lot with the natives.
Years pass. Abe is now President of the U.S. (what? Like there could have been a different Abe from Springfield, Illinois?). President Lincoln signs a bill authorizing the construction of two railroads: one starting from Sacramento, California and going east, and the other from Omaha, Nebraska headed west. Marsh is now working to build the railway and his daughter Miriam is engaged to her father's chief engineer Jesson.
The life of a worker on the railway is tough. The men sing songs to pass the time and, when the Indians perform their hit and run attacks, the workers pick up their rifles and return fire.
Managing the railway work is a precarious juggling act. One fierce Indian attack robs the pay train, meaning no wages for the workers. The men are about to strike, when Miriam steps in and appeals to the workers' patriotism to keep them on the job.
Marsh is running low on money and has to find a new passage through the mountains for his railroad. The powerful Bauman owns the the land along the more expensive route so he maneuvers Jesson to prevent any deviation from the longer, but more expensive path.
One day, as Marsh is inspecting the railway by locomotive they find a Pony Express rider being attacked by Indians. They save the man and discover it is Davy Brandon all grown up. Davy is thrilled to see Miriam, but disappointed to learn she is engaged.
Marsh explains his need for a shorter path to Brandon and Davy remembers the pass his father showed him when he was a boy. Brandon agrees to locate the pass and heads out with Jesson, but Bauman has convinced the engineer that life would be better if Davy never returned from the trip.
Will Bauman succeed in his plans? Will Davy or Jesson end up with Miriam's hand? And will Brandon discover his father's murderer?
Movies are tricky. There are so many variables that go into whether or not a film works. The right cast, a good script, casting the right actors, getting a good crew. When you add locations and hundreds of extras to the normal issues, there is the potential for disaster.
All of which makes the achievement of John Ford's The Iron Horse all the more remarkable.
Ford has crafted a 2-1/2 hour epic that functions as drama, melodrama, historic documentary and propaganda, with healthy doses of comedy and romance.
The Indian attack on the Brandon camp is a study in editing and camerawork, dripping with suspense and perfectly executed. The way the father becomes suddenly serious, his eyes darting around as he grabs his son. The close-up on the feet of the Indians as they creep toward the camp. Ford knows how to get your heart pumping.
However, when the scene calls for movement, Ford's camera flies with kinetic energy. My personal favorites are the numerous tracking shots following horses in full gallop, though there are also ones mounted from the train's POV and even one where the train rides over top the camera (a common shot today that must have been jarring to the audience of the time).
For comic relief, we get a trio of soldiers working on the railroad. Corporal Casey, Sargeant Slattery and Private Schultz are the movie's self-proclaimed "three musketeers," and their banter is both fun and character-revealing. Halfway through the film, their appearance on-screen becomes enough to elicit a smile. Their interactions demonstrate a relationship that has existed long before the cameras started documenting it. In the end, they prove their mettle as much more then a set of clowns.
The casting throughout is spot-on. Everyone looks the part. You believe the cast of rugged adventurers and grizzled soldiers. The most movie idol looking actor is George O'Brien in the lead, but he's big enough and good enough that he sells it.
There are some remarkable moments of American history here. I was particularly struck by the way the headquarters for Union Pacific would move along the railroad as it was being built. Seeing hundreds of people pack up their homes and stores to caravan to the next location was astonishing, raising practical issues from my country's history I never considered. How accurate is the movie? No idea, but it has me asking questions I never thought of before. And that is worth a lot.
The film crescendos into a finale that resolves all of the film's major plot points. The Union Pacific workers face off against the Indians over the path of the railway. Davy confronts his father's murderer. Even the massive cattle drive we've got documentary-like glimpses of becomes a minor plot point. Characters we have come to love do not survive. It's high drama and great action.
That's not to say the movie is perfect. It isn't. Miriam is a weak character. Her rousing speech to the troops is not particularly rousing and she remains more a plot device than a character throughout.
The movie also has a moment where one additional sentence would have resolved a massive conflict. Davy promises Miriam he won't fight Jesson. When Davy walks into the saloon, he tries to reconcile with his rival, but Jesson refuses. Then, when Davy tries to leave, Jesson tries to shoot him in the back. They get into a fight (which is poorly choreographed but brutal). When Miriam enters and tells Davy he broke his promise, it comes off as silly. And Davy never points out that her prince of a fiance tried to kill him.
The Iron Horse is a movie of big ideas and small moments, told on an expansive canvas with American history as its compelling backdrop. Ford shows himself to be a masterful storyteller. More than the narrative though, what sticks with you is the portrait of America as a place where, working together, people can move heaven and earth. Is this slice of Americana propaganda? Absolutely. And I mean that it the best way.
***** out of *****
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