The Iron Horse poster & wallpaper

George O'Brien, Madge Bellamy, Charles Edward Bull

Springfield, Illinois. Brandon, a surveyor, dreams of building a railway to the west, but Marsh, a contractor, is skeptical. Abraham Lincoln looks on as their children, Davy Brandon and Miriam Marsh, ...( read more  read more... )play together. Brandon sets off with Davy to survey a route. They discover a new pass which will shave 200 miles off the expected distance, but they are set upon by a party of Cheyenne. One of them, a white renegade with only two fingers on his right hand, kills Brandon and scalps him. Davy buries his father... Years pass. It is 1862 and Lincoln signs the bill authorizing construction of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railways. Marsh is principal contractor and Miriam is engaged to Jesson, the chief engineer... Crews of Chinese, Italians, and Irish work to build the railway while resisting Indian attack. When the pay train is delayed by Indian ambush, the Italians go on strike. Miriam persuades them to return to work... Marsh needs to find a shortcut through the Black Hills. To finish on time, he needs to shorten the route by 200 miles. Bauman, the biggest land owner, wants the route to stay the same - through his land. Marsh has entrusted Jesson with finding the new route. Bauman has Ruby, a saloon girl, persuade Jesson to do otherwise... Davy, now a pony express rider, recalls his father's discovery. He sets off to find the pass. He goes alone, except for Jesson...

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83% liked it

378 ratings

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83% liked it

6 critics

Unrated, 2 hrs. 13 min.

Directed by: John Ford

Release Date: August 28, 1924

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DVD Release Date: February 14, 2006

Stats: 22 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (22)

  • benjaminguilbert2
    February 2, 2009
    benjaminguilbert2
    Great western. Really defines a genre.
  • thrusz
    April 3, 2008
    thrusz
    The message of this movie: John Ford is in love with Abraham Lincoln.

    Why do some silent films have to be so long? Honestly. It's hard enough to watch silent film sometimes, but it can be really challenging when the movies spans over two-and-a-half hours. Thank goodness the...( read more) movie was pretty solid.

    I accidentally watched two Transcontinental Railroad movies in a week. I'm probably the first person to ever write that sentence. But according to the 501 Must See Movies, I had to see both of these. The Brit who probably wrote this this is an American history nerd who thought the expansion of the West was fodder for great filmmaking. Luckily, he picked some amazing movies. The only weird part is that they both tell history slightly different. (Take that, Critical Literacy!) In Union Pacific, the story implies that the Union Pacific made it to the destination first. The Iron Horse straight up says that the Central Pacific made it to its destination first. Who to believe? NO ONE!

    The Iron Horse has a lot less character drama in it compared to Union Pacific. That's really unfortunate, because Union Pacific is really a fun movie while this one is kind of left to "good" movie. It's a lot more of the "hows" of how the Transcontinental Railroad was made and not the people. Yes, there's the story of Brandon, which is really the most interesting part, but he has to share half-the-film with the technical aspects. Unlike Tora! Tora! Tora!, at least the historical aspects are really interesing and people do flips on horses and stuff. (Rather than just talk...*groan*.)

    Again, for a silent film, this movie does look pretty fantastic. There's some cool shots of horse chases and some interesting improvized fist fights. I am happy that I've seen Union Pacific first simply because it explained why people wanted to destroy the railroad. Ford doesn't so much explain why people don't want the railroad to exist, we're just supposed to know our history. Sorry, despite the degree, I don't know everything.

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