The Great Locomotive Chase

The Great Locomotive Chase
Theatrical release poster
Directed byFrancis D. Lyon
Written byLawrence Edward Watkin
Produced byLawrence Edward Watkin
Walt Disney
StarringFess Parker
Jeffrey Hunter
John Lupton
Jeff York
Slim Pickens
CinematographyCharles Boyle
Edited byEllsworth Hoagland
Music byPaul J. Smith
Production
company
Distributed byBuena Vista Distribution
Release date
  • June 8, 1956 (1956-06-08)[1]
Running time
85 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
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.

  1. ^ Kurtti, Jeff (March 3, 2020). "Walt Disney's Runaway Railway Romance". Disney Parks, Experiences and Products. Archived from the original on March 4, 2020. Retrieved March 4, 2020.
  2. ^ 'The Top Box-Office Hits of 1956', Variety Weekly, January 2, 1957