Diagonaldi Very well executed

Jacomedi A Surprisingly Unforgettable Movie!

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Borserie it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

doorholder You always know what you're going to get with Demille movies: brute action, razzle dazzle, and more background actors than can plausibly fit on a billion movie screens. I love McCrea and Stanwyck as a couple here and elsewhere: the quips fly at you two at a time, and there's no shortage of begrudging chemistry. The effects and action sequences in this flick are impressive -- just about the only time you're taken out of a well-hewn west is when the Union Pacific plunges off an icy clime. It looks like a Lionel. Other than that, this movie isn't child's play, and though it doesn't paint a wholly accurate picture of the frontier, it at least tries to in places...

edwagreen Still another great 1939 film is "Union Pacific." The film, which is rich in history, is about the coming of the railroad linking the east and west and those who would do anything to destroy the construction of this mighty link.Barbara Stanwyck puts on an authentic Irish accent as lassie Mollie Monahan, and she is Mollie to a tee. Her love interests include Joel McRea as the overseer to make sure that the railroad is constructed, and his friend, Robert Preston, who unfortunately takes to the wrong side on this one, when he joins forces with always bad Brian Donlevy, a stooge for a financier who will stop at nothing to prevent the completion of this project.The film has everything-history, lust, a great train wreck, Indian uprisings and greed as well as desire.

mdm-11 Amidst the glamour of "Gone With the Wind" and "The Wizard of Oz", this b&w Cecil B. DeMille Historical Fiction Classic received its share of eager 1939 movie theatre audiences. Starring a wholesome Irish immigrant Barbara Stanwyck, a noble law man Joel McCrae and a dashing dare devil Robert Preston, "Union Pacific" delivers a love-triangle centered around the historic 1869 joining of rail road tracks to connect the Western and Eastern borders of the United States. The love story is "formula", but delivers several "moments" where many viewers will fumble for their Kleenex. The climactic final scene showing the pay-off for all of the material and human sacrifices is priceless!The very last of DeMille's b&w ventures, Union Pacific is one of those gems that endured the test of time, endearing the "glorious black and white" to generations of viewers. I first saw this classic as a child; I loved it then, as I still do today. Of all of the Hollywood movies ever produced, no single year of film-making has ever stood out from the rest like 1939. "Union Pacific" helped solidify this status. A true Hollywood Classic!

bkoganbing One of the previous reviewers recommended reading Stephen Ambrose's book instead of watching this film. I would recommend reading the book and then supplementing it with Union Pacific.The whole point of Ambrose's book is that while the financing of the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad was mired in corruption, what must not be overlooked is the remarkable engineering achievement that it was. In that sense Union Pacific is a great tribute to everyone responsible for that achievement including some corrupt politicians.DeMille in his autobiography says he originally was going to do a film on the Hudson Bay Company and in fact had started preliminary work on same. He changed his mind when he heard that 20th Century Fox was doing one on that same subject. He turned his attention to the Transcontinental Railroad and the President of Union Pacific at that time was one William Jeffers who freely gave DeMille anything he needed to help him with the project. Jeffers and DeMille had the same right wing political views so they got along famously.DeMille also got Joel McCrea who was one of his discoveries to play the lead. McCrea was the two-gunned railroad troubleshooter who sees the job through. Barbara Stanwyck plays an Irish immigrant's daughter who is the railroad postmistress. McCrea and Robert Preston both have the hots for her, but it's fairly obvious from the first minute who she ends up with. This was Robert Preston's first major part after having done a couple of B films for Paramount. Lynne Overman and Akim Tamiroff are McCrea's sidekicks and supply some comedy relief.Brian Donlevy is the villain and he's at the height of his career. Later that year he got an Academy Award nomination for another Paramount feature, Beau Geste in the Supporting Actor category. One of his henchmen is Anthony Quinn, who after one reviewer remarked how lucky he was to have the DeMille family connection to get good roles, then swore he would never work for his father-in-law again. Quinn never did.Two smaller parts are worth remembering. Regis Toomey plays a track layer who has a tragic death early on in the film. And J.M. Kerrigan as Stanwyck's father also dies tragically during a snowstorm.Good slam-bang special effects. DeMille loved to wreck trains. He did it so well here, he later topped this one with one in The Greatest Show On Earth.One of DeMille's best pictures. Too bad Cinerama hadn't been invented yet.