With the Civil War about to begin, Southern saboteurs attack frontier railroad construction.With the Civil War about to begin, Southern saboteurs attack frontier railroad construction.With the Civil War about to begin, Southern saboteurs attack frontier railroad construction.
Robert Keys
- Lt. Stanton
- (as Bob Keys)
Lane Bradford
- Max - Henchman
- (uncredited)
Bill Coontz
- Henchman
- (uncredited)
Joe Garcio
- Henchman
- (uncredited)
Tommy Garland
- Heavy
- (uncredited)
Roy Gordon
- Gen. Winfield Scott
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWalter Mirisch of Allied Artists had Walter Wanger's name put on the picture as a producer, although he was in prison for shooting agent Jennings Lang, whom he believed to be having an affair with his wife, Joan Bennett. Wanger pled insanity and was sentenced to four months imprisonment, though he served only 98 days. Thanks to Mirisch, Wanger received a producer's billing, salary and profit participation.
- GoofsThe film is set in late 1860/early 1861 shortly before the outbreak of the American Civil War. The crew building the Kansas Pacific railroad is using dynamite for blasting. Dynamite was invented by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel in 1866.
- Quotes
Barbara Bruce: [resignedly] You're staying.
Cal Bruce: I guess old Smokestack's right this time. We've handled these diploma boys before, you know. He'll learn soon enough to stay out of our way.
Barbara Bruce: Well... alright. But you've got to promise me one thing. If this man turns out to be impossible, we're leaving. I'm not go to let anyone push you around.
Cal Bruce: Have you ever seen anyone push me around... except you and your mother?
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Sierra Number 3 Locomotive: A Star Is Reborn (2012)
Featured review
An ordinary plot made better by Sterling Hayden's seemingly effortless performance.
While this is not a great film, it certainly is well worth watching--especially in light of Sterling Hayden's nice performance. While hardly a household name today and never a top star, Hayden was a terrific performer with his direct, no nonsense style of acting. Oddly, however, this film finds Barton MacLane playing a nice guy...can you figure?!
The film begins with a particularly useless and bad prologue--it was poorly written and seemed to pull its punches as it didn't want to offend anyone...though the Civil War had been over for almost 90 years when the movie was made! It is set in Kansas just before the war and concerns the US government and railroad's desire to get the railroad completed...especially as it will be needed to bring in needed supplies if war breaks out (which it did). But, Quantrill and his gang are doing everything they can to sabotage the railroad, so an Engineer (Hayden) is brought in to help the foreman (MacLane) get the project completed. All in all, it's a pretty ordinary sort of film, though it plays fast and loose wit the facts...in particular Quantrill's life. Despite this, the film is enjoyable, well-made and worth seeing--even if you aren't a dyed in the wool western lover.
The film begins with a particularly useless and bad prologue--it was poorly written and seemed to pull its punches as it didn't want to offend anyone...though the Civil War had been over for almost 90 years when the movie was made! It is set in Kansas just before the war and concerns the US government and railroad's desire to get the railroad completed...especially as it will be needed to bring in needed supplies if war breaks out (which it did). But, Quantrill and his gang are doing everything they can to sabotage the railroad, so an Engineer (Hayden) is brought in to help the foreman (MacLane) get the project completed. All in all, it's a pretty ordinary sort of film, though it plays fast and loose wit the facts...in particular Quantrill's life. Despite this, the film is enjoyable, well-made and worth seeing--even if you aren't a dyed in the wool western lover.
helpful•51
- planktonrules
- Jul 28, 2010
- How long is Kansas Pacific?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Runtime1 hour 13 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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