Get Rich by Screwing your own
Company, and other American Ideals:
Horses of Mettle and Indians Without in Union Pacific
In
Cecil B. DeMille’s 1939 classic Union
Pacific, the story of the joining of the transcontinental railroad is given
the grand Hollywood treatment. In
DeMille’s world, men are real men, women are real women, and Indians are real
stupid. Sadly, Native Americans are
shown as naive, stupid, and barbarous creatures possessing just enough wit to
overrun a train, but not enough to be wary of the hole by which the guy in
front of you was shot. Jeff Butler
(Joel McCrea) is hired to ensure that the Union Pacific rail is completed and
arrives at its destination in Ogden on time. He has to face several predictable
adversaries, such as two train derailments (don’t run a 10-ton machine over
loose snow, kids), a banker who will stop at nothing to sabotage the project,
an old Civil War army buddy Dick Allen (played by Robert Preston) who is
working for the bad guys, and hostile Indians.
The special effects are anything but, with extensive use
of green-screen projection, and it seems like very little of the movie was
actually filmed outdoors. Though the
theatrics are fairly well executed by the cast, the supporting effects do
little to add to the movie.
Barbara Stanwyck plays the hot-headed, very Irish
Mollie Monahan. The daughter of the
head engineer, she has lived on the train as long as she can remember. Though the dastardly Dick seeks her
affection, she predictably falls for the heroics of Capt. Jeff as soon as he
shows up. Sound familiar? Substitute this cast for Ben Affleck, Liv
Tyler, and Bruce Willis, and you have Armageddon in the Old West. Of course, you’d have to replace the phallic
imagery that the lead lady spends her days on as well.
This movie would have you believe that there was a
massive conspiracy specifically created to slow the progress of the railroad as
much as possible, a kind of mobile organized crime. The Man put in charge of the focused debauchery is Brian Donlevy,
playing the exact same part he did Destry
Rides Again, only this time he’s called Sid Campeau. He and his outfit of card-dealing,
liquor-serving, gun-toting troublemakers (i.e. cowboys) bring the vices of the
Devil in tow for the rail workers, and never seem to charge for a drink.
The movie is solid, albeit a little lengthy, and though
it completely bastardizes American history, it is entertaining to see Stanwyck
play off of the two men, and to watch Jeff’s backup, Fiesta (Akim Tamiroff) slap
stuff around with a bull-whip Indiana Jones style.