The Great Locomotive Chase

The Great Locomotive Chase
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Francis D. Lyon
Written by	Lawrence Edward Watkin
Produced by	Lawrence Edward Watkin Walt Disney
Starring	Fess Parker Jeffrey Hunter John Lupton Jeff York Slim Pickens
Cinematography	Charles Boyle
Edited by	Ellsworth Hoagland
Music by	Paul J. Smith
Production company	Walt Disney Productions
Distributed by	Buena Vista Distribution
Release date	June 8, 1956 (1956-06-08)[1]
Running time	85 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$1.7 million (US)[2]

The Great Locomotive Chase is a 1956 American adventure western film produced by Walt Disney Productions, based on the Great Locomotive Chase that occurred in 1862 during the American Civil War. Filmed in CinemaScope and in color, the film stars Fess Parker as James J. Andrews, the leader of a group of Union soldiers from various Ohio regiments who volunteered to go behind Confederate lines in civilian clothes, steal a Confederate train north of Atlanta, and drive it back to Union lines in Tennessee, tearing up railroad tracks and destroying bridges and telegraph lines along the way.

Written and produced by Lawrence Edward Watkin and directed by Francis D. Lyon, the 85-minute full-color film also features Jeffrey Hunter, John Lupton, Kenneth Tobey, Don Megowan, and Slim Pickens. Paul J. Smith composed the score. Filmed in Georgia and North Carolina, along the now abandoned Tallulah Falls Railway, it was released in U.S. theaters by Buena Vista Distribution Company on June 8, 1956, and capitalized on Parker's growing fame as an actor from his portrayal of Davy Crockett. The film reteamed him with Jeff York, who had portrayed Mike Fink in the 1954-1955 Davy Crockett miniseries.