Movie Type: Family-Oriented Adventure, Costume Adventure
Themes: Perfect Crime, Train Rides, Escape From Prison
Main Cast: Fess Parker, Jeffrey Hunter, Jeff York, John Lupton, Eddie Firestone
Release Year: 1956
Country: US
Run Time: 85 minutes
Plot
Disney's The Great Locomotive Chase is a dramatic retelling of the actual Civil War events which inspired the Buster Keaton comedy The General. Fess Parker stars as James J. Andrews, the famous Union spy who masterminded the theft of an entire Confederate train. To accomplish this mission, Andrews and his cohorts pose as Kentuckians, board the train, and bide their time until they can pull off the robbery. Unfortunately for the Northerners, plucky young conductor William A. Fuller (Jeffrey Hunter, in the "Keaton" role), resentful that his train was stolen out from under him, pursues Andrews' raiders by foot, handcar, and locomotive. No matter what obstacles are placed in his way by Andrews' men, Fuller persists in his chase. Eventually captured, Andrews and his cohorts plan a daring escape, which serves as the film's pulse-pounding climax. Filmed on location in Georgia, The Great Locomotive Chase was well-received by audiences and critics alike. The lone dissenter was Buster Keaton, who felt that Disney made a mistake by turning the Southern characters into the "bad guys." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Carroll Clark - Art Director, Chuck Keehne - Costume Designer, Joseph Dimmitt - Costume Designer, Francis D. Lyon - Director, Ellsworth Hoagland - Editor, Paul J. Smith - Composer (Music Score), Lawrence Edward Watkin - Songwriter, Stan Jones - Songwriter, David Newell - Makeup, Louis Haszillo - Makeup, Charles P. Boyle - Cinematographer, Lawrence Edward Watkin - Producer, Pat Delaney - Set Designer, Emile Kuri - Set Designer, Lawrence Edward Watkin - Screenwriter
The Great Locomotive Chase is a 1956 Disney film based on the real Great Locomotive Chase that occurred in 1862 during the American Civil War. The movie stars Fess Parker as James J. Andrews, the leader of a group of Union soldiers from various Ohioregiments who volunteered to go behind Confederate lines in civilian clothes, steal a Confederate train north of Atlanta, Georgia, and drive it back to Union lines in Tennessee, tearing up railroad tracks and destroying bridges and telegraph lines along the way.
The film has been released on DVD several times, first by Anchor Bay Entertainment, and most recently by Disney, but these DVD's have been seldom advertised, as well as being rather "bare bone" releases(not having any bonus material, etc.), and have not been released outside of the United States.
