The Story of Frank Peace
He was trouble shooter for the Union Pacific, hand-picked as the only man in the West who could get the road over a thousand miles of rugged desert and treacherous mountains. Faced with savage Indians, bands of vicious outlaws, and power hungry interests sworn to destroy him, Frank Peace was in the business of war. And every man from Omaha to Salt Lake City would have to prove either friend or foe before Frank Peace was through.
Union Pacific
The 1862 Pacific Railroad Act signed by President Lincoln authorizes pushing the Union Pacific Railroad westward across the wilderness toward 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?
Release dates: May 5, 1939
Running time: 135 minutes
Cast
Barbara Stanwyck as Mollie Monahan
Joel McCrea as Captain Jeff Butler
Akim Tamiroff as Fiesta
Robert Preston as Dick Allen
Lynne Overman as Leach Overmile
Brian Donlevy as Sid Campeau
Robert Barrat as Duke Ring (Campeau henchman)
Anthony Quinn as Jack Cordray (Campeau henchman)
Stanley Ridges as General Casement
Henry Kolker as Asa M. Barrows (banker)
Francis McDonald as General Grenville M. Dodge
Willard Robertson as Oakes Ames
Harold Goodwin as E.E. Calvin (telegrapher)
Evelyn Keyes as Mrs. Calvin
Richard Lane as Sam Reed
David Clyde as Irishman
for "Golden Spike Days" celebrating the
world premiere of the Cecil B. DeMille
motion picture Union Pacific
at Omaha, NE, April 26-29, 1939.
Trailer:
I haven't read Ernest Haycox's novel but I have seen Union Pacific. It's among my favorite westerns and of the 6 films that stars Joel McCrea and Barbara Stanwyck made together, it is my favorite. The chemistry between the pair not only jumps off the screen but it only magnifies the story. The supporting cast heightens the tale as well. Fiction mixed with history as only 1939 Hollywood can tell.
Rating:
Haycox was born in Portland, Oregon, to William James Haycox and the former Martha Burghardt on October 1, 1899. After receiving an education in the local schools of both Washington state and Oregon, he enlisted in the United States Army in 1915 and was stationed along the Mexican border in 1916. During World War I he was in Europe, and after the war he spent one year at Reed College in Portland. In 1923, Haycox graduated from the University of Oregon with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism, where he also started writing under professor W. F. G. Thatcher. In 1925, Haycox married Jill M. Chord, and they would have two children.
He published two dozen novels and about 300 short stories, many of which appeared first in pulp magazines in the early 1920s. During the 1930s and 40s, he was a regular contributor to Collier's Weekly from 1931 and The Saturday Evening Post from 1943. Fans of his work included Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway, and the latter once wrote, "I read The Saturday Evening Post whenever it has a serial by Ernest Haycox."
His story "Stage to Lordsburg" (1937) was made into the movie Stagecoach (1939), directed by John Ford and featuring John Wayne in the role that made him a star. The novel Trouble Shooter (1936), originally serialized in Collier's, was the basis for the movie Union Pacific (1939), directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Barbara Stanwyck and Joel McCrea. Haycox wrote the screenplay for Montana (1950), directed by Ray Enright, which stars Alexis Smith and Errol Flynn.
Haycox died in 1950, at the age of 51, in Portland. In 2005 the Western Writers of America voted Haycox one of the 24 best Western authors of the Twentieth Century.
Trouble Shooter
Film: Union Pacific
GBQlZ%2BSMleg~~60_35.JPG)
No comments:
Post a Comment