Union Pacific

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Blu B If you go into this expecting a documentary or historical retelling of the transcontinental railroad done simliar to something like Tora! Tora! Tora! your going to be dissappointed for the most part. It's really a romance western melodrama that takes place during the events of the building of the Union Pacific section with the DeMille touch which is a good and bad thing. It's very bombastic, silly at times, bloated, and is maybe about the actual railroad 25% of the time. It's kind of a shame because the first 10 minutes it sets up the historic events of it and you think that's what it's going to be the whole way thorugh. Overall it's not bad though with really the pacing being the biggest issue which is ok enough. This has tons of production value, the fights are actually really good, it's interesting when it does focus on the historic events, and it's entertaining for most of the time. At it's core the biggest issue is this feels like 2 seperate films merged together and should've just focused more on the romance/western aspects. This is probably about 30 minutes too long easily because of that. It feels like the historic events are inconsequential to the love triangle. Also, because it tries fitting in so much it has trouble at times focusing on the love story which can get very convuluted if you try to dissect the details. I get the general idea though but theres a lot of twists and turns and with the historicla events and side character drama it's suprisingly hard to keep up with it all despite being focused for the most part on Stanwyck. Save for when it goes to historical events. She's not bad in this and pretty consistent for the most part save for the accent being noticably inconsistent at times. But I struggle to figure out why her character is here at points because the railroad would be built regardless I feel if she wasn't there and doesn't really have an effect on history. This clearly is very loose with history already so I don't think it'd be a big deal to tie her in more. The two romantic interest are ok and have their moments but overall there kind of forgettable. The one I keep thinking is Laurence Olivier. lol. He's defintely the better of the two. Everyone else is kind of forgettable. Again this tries fitting in sooooo much and it has lots of production value, ambition, and showmanship, but it doesn't have a lot of focus as a tradeoff and needed to trim down the bloated runtime and a more focused subject matter. DeMille still makes it entertaining though for better or for worse. If your a big DeMille or fan of any actors in this than give this a watch. Most would be better served watching Once Upon A Time In the West. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 08/24/24 Full Review Steve D Some stories are better than others but overall strong. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 05/20/23 Full Review Crom W Top railway western movie by Cecil B. DeMille. Great cast and excellent performance by Barbara Stanwyck. Looking forward to seeing it again...a leaning book in the old art of moviemaking. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 04/24/23 Full Review Audience Member Lynne Overman should have received an oscar for his supporting role. Wonderfully understated as Leach who looked like a man who had a hard life in the West. Another great DeMille movie. Liked Stanwyck in her early roles including Annie Oakly. McCrae a great leading man. Overman was like so many underutilized actors, including Cagney & Si Jenks. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/18/23 Full Review Audience Member The paper thin characters and distracting use of studio sound stages in conjunction with the outdoor photography is a difficult hurtle to get over, but DeMille's genuine zeal for the "unity of the Nation" and an epic scale are undeniably appealing. Not even Barbara Stanwyck's fake Irish accident could bring down her performance. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Audience Member A long epic western in the style and mold of John Fords earlier and better "Iron Horse," with a standard love triangle thrown in. History is treated with the showmanship and scale typical of Cecil B. Demille. Over the top, but all things considered still good. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/20/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Union Pacific

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