Union Pacific (1939)

Union Pacific (1939) ***

Produced by Cecil B. DeMille
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Directed by Cecil B. DeMille

   Continuing the odd Virginian connection, we have 1939’s Union Pacific. Released right around the time of Stagecoach, the two big budget films helped to bring the genre out of the B-movie serial slump it was in through much of the 30s. The story is Ernest Haycox's novel "Trouble Shooter." Cecil B. Demille was not a great director of westerns and Union Pacific is more of a historical epic with western spectacle thrown in for good measure and many of the scenes are borrowed from The Iron Horse. The cast, however, is superb and the big ticket train wrecks and an Indian/Cavalry battle carry the film. The film was even up for an Academy Award for Best Special Effects that year.
    Jeff Butler (Joel McCrea) is working for the Union Pacific to keep the Irish plugging away to beat the Central Pacific to Utah. An unscrupulous investor pays Sid Campeau (Brian Dunlevy) and Dick Allen (Robert Preston) to work against the railroad by distracting the Irish with booze, gambling, and women. Jeff and Dick turn out to be old pals but are split by their opposing interests and their collective interest in the railroad mail gal (Barbara Stanwyck with a grating accent). The film covers all the fictionalized action leading up to the "Last Spike" driven in 1869 (fun fact - they used the actual golden spike for the film). McCrea and Dunlevy would go on to play against one another as the Virginian and Trampus in 1946’s version of The Virginian.