Union Pacific

""Union Pacific" is coming!"

1939 2h 15m EN

👍

6.7

SOLID

★6.7TMDB · 82

DramaWestern

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

One of the last bills signed by President Lincoln authorizes pushing the Union Pacific Railroad across the wilderness to California. But financial opportunist Asa Barrows hopes to profit from obstructing it. Chief troubleshooter Jeff Butler has his hands full fighting Barrows' agent, gambler Sid Campeau; Campeau's partner Dick Allen is Jeff's war buddy and rival suitor for engineer's daughter Molly Monahan. Who will survive the effort to push the railroad through at any cost?

“"Union Pacific" is coming!”

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Where to watch · US

Cast

Barbara Stanwyck
Mollie Monahan
Joel McCrea
Jeff Butler
Akim Tamiroff
Fiesta
Robert Preston
Dick Allen
Lynne Overman
Leach Overmile
Brian Donlevy
Sid Campeau
Robert Barrat
Duke Ring
Anthony Quinn
Cordray

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Cecil B. DeMille
Writers: C. Gardner Sullivan, Jesse Lasky Jr., Walter DeLeon
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

87 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

CAST

Did you know

213+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Cecil B. DeMille, shot by Victor Milner. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Original score by John Leipold. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Anne Bauchens shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Barbara Stanwyck and Joel McCrea and Akim Tamiroff carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: ""Union Pacific" is coming!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0032080 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Cecil B. DeMille directs. Victor Milner behind the camera. John Leipold scores. Anne Bauchens cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

187 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2213+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
3Directed by Cecil B. DeMille, shot by Victor Milner. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by John Leipold. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Anne Bauchens shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Barbara Stanwyck and Joel McCrea and Akim Tamiroff carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: ""Union Pacific" is coming!".
8IMDB entry: tt0032080 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Only 82 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Victor Milner
Original score: John Leipold
Editing: Anne Bauchens
Costume design: Natalie Visart
Sound: Loren L. Ryder
Runtime: 135 min · 2h 15m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Union Pacific (1939)

Also by

Cecil B. DeMille

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2019-06-04
★ 7/10
There's nothing like hearing an engine whistle in the still night. Union Pacific is directed by Cecil B. DeMille (aided by others due to illness) and based upon the novel Trouble Shooter, written by Ernest Haycox. It stars Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea, Robert Preston, Brian Donlevy, Akim Tamiroff and Lynne Overman. Story is a fictionalised account of the building of the railroad across the American West, encompassing the trials, tribulations and rivalries that formed as history was being made. "The legend of Union Pacific is the drama of a nation, young, tough, prodigal and invincible, conquering with an iron highroad the endless reaches of the West. For the West is America's Empire, and only yesterday Union Pacific was the West". A big production that went down a storm at the box office upon release, Union Pacific, in spite of its overt patriotic bluster, is an entertaining and important part of the Western movie story. Alongside John Ford's Stagecoach, which was released a couple of months previously, DeMille's movie helped take the Western to a new and more adult level. It wouldn't be until the 50's that the Western truly found its mojo, but the influence of both Stagecoach and Union Pacific was firmly felt through each passing decade. Film manages to be literate whilst puncturing the plot with doses of action, the story underpinned by a love triangle between McCrea, Stanwyck and Preston. The former as the stoic troubleshooter brought in to keep order, the latter as the charming villain with a heart. Cast all work well with the material to hand, and if one is not bothered by the historical tampering involved in the story? Then it's an easy film to recommend to Western movie seekers. 7/10

Production companies