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''The Great Train Robbery'' is a 1903 American
silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...
made by Edwin S. Porter for the
Edison Manufacturing Company The Edison Manufacturing Company, originally registered as the United Edison Manufacturing Company and often known as simply the Edison Company, was organized by inventor and entrepreneur Thomas Edison and incorporated in New York City in May 188 ...
. It follows a gang of outlaws who hold up and rob a steam locomotive at a station in the American West, flee across mountainous terrain, and are finally defeated by a posse of locals. The
short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...
draws on many sources, including a robust existing tradition of
Western film The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...
s, recent European innovations in film technique, the play of the same name by Scott Marble, the popularity of train-themed films, and possibly real-life incidents involving outlaws such as
Butch Cassidy Robert LeRoy Parker (April 13, 1866 – November 7, 1908), better known as Butch Cassidy, was an American train and bank robber and the leader of a gang of criminal outlaws known as the " Wild Bunch" in the Old West. Parker engaged in crimin ...
. Porter supervised and photographed the film in New York and New Jersey in November 1903; the Edison studio began selling it to
vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
houses and other venues in the following month. The cast included
Justus D. Barnes Justus D. Barnes (October 2, 1862 – February 6, 1946), named George Barnes in some sources, was an American stage and film actor. He is best known for his role in the 1903 silent short '' The Great Train Robbery'', which the American Film Ins ...
and G. M. Anderson, who may have also helped with planning and staging. Porter's storytelling approach, though not particularly innovative or unusual for 1903, allowed him to include many popular techniques of the time, including scenes staged in wide shots, a
matte Matte may refer to: Art * paint with a non-glossy finish. See diffuse reflection. * a framing element surrounding a painting or watercolor within the outer frame Film * Matte (filmmaking), filmmaking and video production technology * Matte pa ...
effect, and an attempt to indicate simultaneous action across multiple scenes. Camera pans,
location shooting Location shooting is the shooting of a film or television production in a real-world setting rather than a sound stage or backlot. The location may be interior or exterior. The filming location may be the same in which the story is set (for ex ...
, and moments of violent action helped give ''The Great Train Robbery'' a sense of rough-edged immediacy. A special
close-up A close-up or closeup in filmmaking, television production, photography, still photography, and the comic strip medium is a type of shot (filmmaking), shot that tightly film frame, frames a person or object. Close-ups are one of the standard s ...
shot, which was unconnected to the story and could either begin or end the film depending on the projectionist's whim, showed Barnes, as the outlaw leader, emptying his gun directly into the camera. Due in part to its popular and accessible subject matter, as well as to its dynamic action and violence, ''The Great Train Robbery'' was an unprecedented commercial success. Though it did not significantly influence or advance the Western film genre, it was widely distributed and copied, including in a parody by Porter himself. During the twentieth century, inaccurate legends about ''The Great Train Robbery'' developed, claiming it was the first Western or even the first film to tell a story. Film scholars have repeatedly disproved these claims, demonstrating that ''The Great Train Robbery'' was a stylistic dead-end for its maker and genre, its commercial success and mythic place in American film lore remain undisputed. The film, especially the close-up of Barnes, has become iconic in American culture, appearing in numerous film and television references and homages. In 1990, ''The Great Train Robbery'' was selected for preservation in the United States
National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...
by the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".


Plot

Two bandits break into a railroad
telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...
office, where they force the operator at gunpoint to stop a train and order its
engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considerin ...
to fill the locomotive's tender at the station's water tank. They then knock the operator out and tie him up. As the train stops it is boarded by the banditsnow four. Two bandits enter an express car, kill a messenger, and open a box of valuables with dynamite. In a fight on the engine car, the others kill the fireman and force the engineer to halt the train and disconnect its locomotive. The bandits then force the passengers off the train and rifle them for their belongings. One passenger tries to escape but is instantly shot down. Carrying their loot, the bandits escape in the locomotive, disembarking in a valley where they left their horses. Meanwhile, back in the telegraph office, the bound operator awakens but collapses again. His daughter arrives, bringing him his meal, and cutting him free when she discovers him bound; she restores him to consciousness by dousing him with water. There is some
comic relief Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension. Definition Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic epis ...
at a dance hall, where an Eastern stranger (a " tenderfoot") is forced to dance while the locals fire at his feet. The door suddenly opens and the telegraph operator rushes in to tell them of the robbery. The men quickly form a posse and chase the bandits through the mountains. The posse finally overtakes the bandits, and in a final shootout kills them all and recovers the stolen mail. A standalone final scene, separate from the narrative, presents a medium
close-up A close-up or closeup in filmmaking, television production, photography, still photography, and the comic strip medium is a type of shot (filmmaking), shot that tightly film frame, frames a person or object. Close-ups are one of the standard s ...
of the leader of the outlaws, who empties his pistol point-blank directly into the camera.


Production


Background

In the years leading up to ''The Great Train Robbery'', the film industry was marked by much innovation and variety. Some studios, such as the
Edison Manufacturing Company The Edison Manufacturing Company, originally registered as the United Edison Manufacturing Company and often known as simply the Edison Company, was organized by inventor and entrepreneur Thomas Edison and incorporated in New York City in May 188 ...
and the Lumière company, were best known for short sketches and
actuality film The actuality film is a non-fiction film genre that, like the documentary film, uses footage of real events, places, and things. Unlike the documentaries, actuality films are not structured into a larger argument, picture of the phenomenon or co ...
s presented in a straightforward style, often only a single shot long. However, other filmmakers aimed for more elaborate productions;
Georges Méliès Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès (; ; 8 December 1861 – 21 January 1938) was a French illusionist, actor, and film director. He led many technical and narrative developments in the earliest days of cinema. Méliès was well known for the use of ...
's films, such as the 1902 international success ''
A Trip to the Moon ''A Trip to the Moon'' (french: Le Voyage dans la Lune) is a 1902 French adventure short film directed by Georges Méliès. Inspired by a wide variety of sources, including Jules Verne's 1865 novel '' From the Earth to the Moon'' and its 187 ...
'', became acclaimed for their visual storytelling, often encompassing multiple scenes and involving careful editing and complicated
special effect Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual ...
s. Meanwhile, British filmmakers working in and around
Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
, a group later nicknamed the " Brighton School", made many innovations in
narrative film Narrative film, fictional film or fiction film is a motion picture that tells a fictional or fictionalized story, event or narrative. Commercial narrative films with running times of over an hour are often referred to as feature films, or feature ...
grammar, developing framing and cutting conventions that would become industry standards. Edwin S. Porter had won acclaim making cameras, film printers, and projectors; however, after his workshop was destroyed by a fire, he accepted a special commission for the Edison Manufacturing Company in 1901. His task to improve Edison's existing projecting equipment was a marked success, and Porter was given a regular job as the cameraman for Edison's New York film studio; at the time being a cameraman meant operating the camera as well as exercising creative control in a way that would later be called
film directing A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, pro ...
.) His early films were sketches and actualities in the simple style used by other Edison employees. However, his job also gave him the chance to view the many foreign films the Edison company were distributing and pirating, and around 1901 or 1902 he discovered the more complex works being made by Méliès and the Brighton School. Porter began attempts to bring Edison films to a similar level of achievement, later recalling, "From laboratory examination of some of the popular films of the French pioneer director, George Méliès—trick films like ''A Trip to the Moon''—I came to the conclusion that a picture telling a story might draw the customers back to the theatres, and set to work in this direction." The Edison studio, facing growing competition from other American companies, welcomed Porter's ambitious plans. His first major attempts at elaborate storytelling films included a 1902 adaptation of ''
Jack and the Beanstalk "Jack and the Beanstalk" is an English fairy tale. It appeared as "The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean" in 1734 4th edition On Commons and as Benjamin Tabart's moralized "The History of Jack and the Bean-Stalk" in 1807. Henry Co ...
'' in imitation of Méliès, and a 1903 '' Life of an American Fireman'' in the style of a notable Brighton School film, '' Fire!''. His films did well and were influential, bolstered by his status as the leading filmmaker at the most important American studio. In October 1903 Porter joined forces with a new Edison hire, Max Aronson, who was a young stage actor billed as G. M. Anderson. Anderson's initial jobs for the studio were inventing sight gags and playing occasional roles, but he was soon working with Porter on creative collaborations. Porter's next major film was ''The Great Train Robbery''; Porter was in charge of production and photography, while Anderson may have assisted on staging.


Inspirations

Porter (and possibly Anderson) drew on various sources when planning the scenario for ''The Great Train Robbery''.
Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...
themes were already popular in films and other entertainment, reflecting the wide public interest in stories about the past and present of the
American West The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...
. Many American films before 1900 can be classified as Westerns, such as actuality views of
cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaqu ...
life, staged Western anecdotes like ''A Bluff from a Tenderfoot'' and ''Cripple Creek Bar-Room Scene'' (both 1899), and shots of Annie Oakley and of
Oglala The Oglala (pronounced , meaning "to scatter one's own" in Lakota language) are one of the seven subtribes of the Lakota people who, along with the Dakota, make up the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Seven Council Fires). A majority of the Oglala live o ...
and
Brulé The Brulé are one of the seven branches or bands (sometimes called "sub-tribes") of the Teton (Titonwan) Lakota American Indian people. They are known as Sičhą́ǧu Oyáte (in Lakȟóta) —Sicangu Oyate—, ''Sicangu Lakota, o''r "Burnt ...
dancers from
Buffalo Bill William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), known as "Buffalo Bill", was an American soldier, bison hunter, and showman. He was born in Le Claire, Iowa Territory (now the U.S. state of Iowa), but he lived for several years ...
's Wild West Show (both 1894). Studios abroad also began telling Western stories early on, with Mitchell and Kenyon's 1899 British film '' Kidnapping by Indians'' the first known example. Edison's 1901 film ''Stage Coach Hold-up'', based on Buffalo Bill's "Hold-up of the Deadwood Stage" act, probably influenced Porter directly. Porter may have also been inspired by recent real events related to the American West: in August 1900,
Butch Cassidy Robert LeRoy Parker (April 13, 1866 – November 7, 1908), better known as Butch Cassidy, was an American train and bank robber and the leader of a gang of criminal outlaws known as the " Wild Bunch" in the Old West. Parker engaged in crimin ...
and his gang had robbed a
Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...
train and escaped capture, and in September 1903, Bill Miner's gang made an unsuccessful holdup of an Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company train. For the film's title and basic concept, Porter looked to Scott Marble's ''The Great Train Robbery'', a popular stage
melodrama A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or exce ...
that had premiered in Chicago in 1896 and had been revived in New York in 1902. The play covers the adventures of a Texas criminal gang who attempt to steal a $50,000 gold shipment from a
Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California; operational headquarters in Manhattan; and managerial offices throughout the United States and intern ...
office in Missouri. Their initial scheme is for a mole planted in the company to make off with the gold before it leaves Missouri by train; this plan goes awry, and only leads to an innocent man's arrest. However, using information received at a Texas mountain saloon, the gang are still able to stop the train, blast open the car containing the gold, and bring it back to their secret hideout in a Red River canyon. The
United States Marshals Service The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The USMS is a bureau within the U.S. Department of Justice, operating under the direction of the Attorney General, but serves as the enforcem ...
tracks down the gang and finally defeats them in a climactic fight, with cowboys and Native Americans drawn into the fray. For the narrative style, Porter likely drew freely on various recent popular films, made by filmmakers experimenting with elaborate storytelling. ''
A Daring Daylight Burglary ''A Daring Daylight Burglary'' (also known as ''A Daring Daylight Robbery'') is a 1903 British short silent film directed by Frank Mottershaw. The film was produced by the Sheffield Photo Company, and features members from the Sheffield Fire B ...
'', a British chase drama from the Sheffield Photo Company, has frequently been cited as particularly influential; it and another British film, ''
Desperate Poaching Affray ''Desperate Poaching Affray'' (known in the United States as ''The Poachers'') is a 1903 British chase film by Wales-based film producer William Haggar. Three minutes long, the film is recognised as an early influence on narrative drama in Ameri ...
'', were successfully imported to America and started a decade-long vogue for films centered on chases. ''A Daring Daylight Burglary''s story and editing appear to have supplied the overall narrative structure for ''The Great Train Robbery'', though in the latter film the chase is only made explicit in one shot, the twelfth. Porter's plot also profited from the booming popularity of railroad-related film attractions, such as phantom rides and standalone comic scenes set on trains. ''The Great Train Robbery'' would treat the rail theme more elaborately than was common, showing its train from various angles and involving it in a dramatic adventure.


Filming

Porter filmed ''The Great Train Robbery'' in November 1903. Some scenes were photographed at the Edison studio in New York, and others were done in New Jersey, in Essex County Park and along the
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad) was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey (and by ferry with New York City), a distance of . Incorporated in ...
. The stream-crossing scene was filmed at Thistle Mill Ford in the South Mountain Reservation of Essex County Park. The cast included
Justus D. Barnes Justus D. Barnes (October 2, 1862 – February 6, 1946), named George Barnes in some sources, was an American stage and film actor. He is best known for his role in the 1903 silent short '' The Great Train Robbery'', which the American Film Ins ...
as the leader of the outlaws, Walter Cameron as the sheriff and G. M. Anderson in three small roles (the murdered passenger, the dancing tenderfoot, and one of the robbers). Many Edison workers were among the extras. Edison filmmaker J. Blair Smith was one of the camera operators. According to rumors in a contemporary ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' piece on the film, the Edison Company initially attempted to get the railroad company to lend their tracks and cars for free, arguing that it would be good publicity for the line; the railroad directors disagreed, but eventually allowed their resources to be used if Edison also made a more straightforward advertising film for them. The article adds that a real fireman and engineer play those respective parts in the film, and that the filming caused some disturbance when the dummy thrown off the locomotive was mistaken by passersby for a real accident victim. Porter's visual style for ''The Great Train Robbery'' was not cutting edge for 1903; it is comparable to numerous other films released around the same time, such as '' The Escaped Lunatic'', a popular
Biograph Studios Biograph Studios was an early film studio and laboratory complex, built in 1912 by the Biograph Company at 807 East 175th Street, in The Bronx, New York City, New York. History Early years The first studio of the Biograph Company, formerl ...
comedy about wardens chasing an escapee from a mental institution, and '' Runaway Match'', a
British Gaumont The Gaumont-British Picture Corporation produced and distributed films and operated a cinema chain in the United Kingdom. It was established as an offshoot of the Gaumont Film Company of France. Film production Gaumont-British was founded in 18 ...
film featuring an extended
car chase A car chase or vehicle pursuit is the vehicular overland chase of one party by another, involving at least one automobile or other wheeled motor vehicle in pursuit, commonly hot pursuit of suspects by law enforcement. The rise of the automotive i ...
sequence. ''
Mary Jane's Mishap ''Mary Jane's Mishap; or, Don't Fool with the Paraffin'' is a 1903 British short silent comedy film, directed by George Albert Smith, depicting disaster following when housemaid Mary Jane uses paraffin to light the kitchen stove. The ''trick' ...
'', a landmark
dark comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...
made by Brighton pioneers G. A. Smith and
Laura Bayley Laura may refer to: People * Laura (given name) * Laura, the British code name for the World War I Belgian spy Marthe Cnockaert Places Australia * Laura, Queensland, a town on the Cape York Peninsula * Laura, South Australia * Laura Bay, a bay ...
and released months before ''The Great Train Robbery'', is far more sophisticated in its editing and framing. Porter's style heavily prioritized action over character, with most figures remaining indistinguishable in wide shots; the staging inconsistently mixes stylized theatrical blocking with more naturalistic action. The film also leaves many narrative points ambiguous, requiring explanations to be filled in by a live narrator or by audience imaginations. However, ''The Great Train Robbery'' successfully collected many popular themes and prevalent techniques of the time into a single accessible narrative. Porter cut his shots together to suggest action happening simultaneously in different locations, as he had done (albeit less efficiently) in ''Life of an American Fireman''. The use of real outdoor locations and violent action helped keep the film dynamic, as did technical strategies such as a
matte Matte may refer to: Art * paint with a non-glossy finish. See diffuse reflection. * a framing element surrounding a painting or watercolor within the outer frame Film * Matte (filmmaking), filmmaking and video production technology * Matte pa ...
combining a studio scene with outdoor footage, and three shots in which the camera moves. These three shots add an edge of realism and immediacy, with the frame following the action if recording real life in a documentary style; one of these shots, showing the robbers making off with their loot, even requires the mounted camera to attempt a tricky diagonal pan, creating a jagged effect. The final shot, in which Barnes fires at the camera in a framing reminiscent of a
wanted poster A wanted poster (or wanted sign) is a poster distributed to let the public know of a person whom authorities wish to apprehend. They generally include a picture of the person, either a photograph when one is available or of a facial composite ...
, is the film's only
close-up A close-up or closeup in filmmaking, television production, photography, still photography, and the comic strip medium is a type of shot (filmmaking), shot that tightly film frame, frames a person or object. Close-ups are one of the standard s ...
, and does not function as part of the plot. Porter rarely used close-ups, especially in his later years, preferring to save them for special standalone effects like this one. Edison's promotional leaflet about the film describes this scene as follows, "Scene 14—REALISM. A life size picture of Barnes, leader of the outlaw band, taking aim and firing point blank at each individual in the audience. (This effect is gained by foreshortening in making the picture.) The resulting excitement is great. This section of the scene can be used either to begin the subject or to end it, as the operator may choose." The catalogue's informal approach to where the scene should be placed was not unique to ''The Great Train Robbery''; Porter's film ''
Uncle Tom's Cabin ''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U ...
'', released earlier in 1903, had included a
boat race Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other w ...
scene that was variously advertised as Scene 5 (where it would make some narrative sense) or as Scene 10 (where it would not). Such shots, designed primarily for spectacle rather than for narrative coherency, characterize a popular early-film style later dubbed the "cinema of attractions".


Release and reception

In 1903, the most common American film venue was
vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
houses, where films were exhibited as part of a varied bill of entertainment; other informal venues also sometimes showed films. The Edison Manufacturing Company announced ''The Great Train Robbery'' to exhibitors in early November 1903, calling it a "highly sensationalized Headliner". To secure copyright, they submitted a rough cut of the film (about fifteen feet longer than the final cut) to the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...
, where it survives as a paper print. The final release print was made available in early December 1903. Edison sold it to exhibitors for , as a 740-foot reel. The first known showing of ''The Great Train Robbery'' was at a New York City
dime museum Dime museums were institutions that were popular at the end of the 19th century in the United States. Designed as centers for entertainment and moral education for the working class ( lowbrow), the museums were distinctly different from upper mi ...
, Huber's Museum. By the following week it was appearing at eleven venues in the city area, including the Eden Musée, a major amusement center. Edison advertisements touted the film as "absolutely the superior of any moving picture ever made" and a "faithful imitation of the genuine 'Hold Ups' made famous by various outlaw bands in the far West". Several prints of ''The Great Train Robbery'' survive; a few of these were heavily edited and altered by their owners, but most are in their release state, and at least one is
hand-colored Hand-colouring (or hand-coloring) refers to any method of manually adding colour to a monochrome photograph, generally either to heighten the realism of the image or for artistic purposes. Hand-colouring is also known as hand painting or overp ...
. ''The Great Train Robbery'' was a major commercial success for the Edison company. It played as the headlining attraction in many vaudeville houses, and showed up frequently at two other entertainment venues that proliferated across the country in the following years: immersive venues where the spectator took simulated railroad journeys, such as Hale's Tours of the World, and a new kind of film venue, the
nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...
, where ''The Great Train Robbery'' was often the first attraction shown. Overall, it may have had the biggest success of any film made before 1905. Its popularity was helped by its timely subject matter (as train robberies were still a familiar news item), as well as its striking depictions of action and violence. Unusually for the time, the film was even described in detail in the ''New York Times''; the anonymous reviewer criticized most of the players, but praised the horse riding and stunts, concluding: "All this is the result of poor acting, but the results are certainly astounding." The film was also widely imitated and copied; the
Lubin Manufacturing Company The Lubin Manufacturing Company was an American motion picture production company that produced silent films from 1896 to 1916. Lubin films were distributed with a Liberty Bell trademark. History The Lubin Manufacturing Company was formed in ...
made a
shot-for-shot remake Shot-for-shot (or shot-for-shot adaptation, shot-for-shot remake) is a way to describe a visual work that is transferred almost completely identically from the original work without much interpretation. Production uses In the film industry, most ...
in August 1904, changing only small details. (Film copyright was legally murky until 1912, so despite the film's Library of Congress registration, unauthorized remakes and adaptations could be made with impunity.) Porter himself directed a 1905 parody of the film, '' The Little Train Robbery'', with children robbing candy and dolls from a miniature railroad car. But despite its wide success and imitators, ''The Great Train Robbery'' did not lead to a significant increase in Western films; instead, the genre continued essentially as it had before, in a scattered mix of short actualities and longer stories. The Western genre would not proliferate in earnest until 1908; one of the leading contributors to this boom was G. M. Anderson, now billed as
Broncho Billy Anderson Gilbert M. "Broncho Billy" Anderson (born Maxwell Henry Aronson; March 21, 1880 – January 20, 1971) was an American actor, writer, film director, and film producer, who was the first star of the Western film genre. He was a founder and star ...
. Porter continued to make films for more than a decade after, usually in a similar editing style to ''The Great Train Robbery'', with few additional technical innovations. One historian commented that later efforts like ''
The Count of Monte Cristo ''The Count of Monte Cristo'' (french: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) is an adventure novel written by French author Alexandre Dumas (''père'') completed in 1844. It is one of the author's more popular works, along with ''The Three Musketeers''. L ...
'' (1913) were "if anything a retrogression from ''The Great Train Robbery'' and had less innate cinema sense." However, some of Porter's post-''Robbery'' works continued to be imaginative in content, including ''
The Kleptomaniac ''The Kleptomaniac'', is a 1905 American silent drama film, directed by Edwin S. Porter partly filmed on location in New York City, New-York denouncing the discriminatory treatment of the poor by the justice system. It is one of the first America ...
'', a notable 1905
social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals ...
film.


Legacy

In the decades after ''The Great Train Robbery'', various inaccurate legends developed, exaggerating its historical significance. By mid-century, mistaken claims that it was the "first Western" or even the "first story film" were common. Critiquing these inaccurate legends and citing the film's actual lack of impact on the Western genre, historian Scott Simmon comments that in fact the film's "main surprise in retrospect is how it led nowhere, either for its creator or the genre, beyond serving loosely as a narrative model for gun-wielding crime and horse-chase retribution." Claims about historical priority continued to be repeated by general-audience writers into the early twenty-first century. Later film critics, abandoning the exaggerated claims, have tended to explain the film's significance mostly in terms of its wide popularity and Porter's influential action-driven storytelling. William Everson and George Fenin dubbed it "the first dramatically creative American film", while
Robert Sklar Robert Anthony Sklar (December 3, 1936 – July 2, 2011) was an American historian and author specializing in the history of cinema. Sklar began his career as a reporter for the ''Los Angeles Times''. He received a Ph.D. in the History of Am ...
praised the film's capacity "to unite motion picture spectacle with myth and stories about America that were shared by people throughout the world." Historians have cited ''The Great Train Robbery'' as Porter's most important film, and noted it as a popular early film that collects numerous important Western tropes, such as "elements of fisticuffs, horseback pursuit and gunplay". Film historian Pamela Hutchinson highlights especially the iconic close-up scene, "a jolt of terror as disconcerting as a hand bursting from a grave": ''The Great Train Robbery'' was added to the United States
National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...
in 1990. In popular culture, numerous films and television shows have referenced the film and the iconic Barnes close-up: * Historian James Chapman compares the ''
James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors hav ...
'' gun barrel sequences, conceived by
Maurice Binder Maurice Binder (December 4, 1918 – April 9, 1991) was an American film title designer best known for his work on 16 James Bond films including the first, '' Dr. No'' (1962) and for Stanley Donen's films from 1958. Early work He was born in ...
, to the close-up. * The ''
Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on March 30, 1939. I ...
'' episode "The Riddler's False Notion" (1966) guest-stars silent film icon Francis X. Bushman as a film collector who owns a print of ''The Great Train Robbery''. * The German ZDF series '' Western von gestern'' (1978–1986) uses the Barnes close-up for its opening and closing sequences. * The final scene of
Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, incl ...
's ''
Goodfellas ''Goodfellas'' (stylized ''GoodFellas'') is a 1990 American biographical crime film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Nicholas Pileggi and Scorsese, and produced by Irwin Winkler. It is a film adaptation of the 1985 nonfiction book '' W ...
'' (1990), in which Tommy DeVito (portrayed by
Joe Pesci Joseph Frank Pesci ( , ; born February 9, 1943) is an American actor and musician. He is known for portraying tough, volatile characters in a variety of genres and for his collaborations with Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese in the films ''Rag ...
) shoots at the camera, recreates the close-up as a
homage Homage (Old English) or Hommage (French) may refer to: History *Homage (feudal) /ˈhɒmɪdʒ/, the medieval oath of allegiance *Commendation ceremony, medieval homage ceremony Arts *Homage (arts) /oʊˈmɑʒ/, an allusion or imitation by one arti ...
. Scorsese has commented that the shot is "…a reference to the end of ''The Great Train Robbery''… And the plot of this picture is very similar to ''The Great Train Robbery''." * The ''
Breaking Bad ''Breaking Bad'' is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. Set and filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the series follows Walter White (Bryan Cranston), an underpaid, overqualified, and dispirited h ...
'' episode " Dead Freight" (2012) pays homage to ''The Great Train Robbery'', with a matching final shot.


References


Works cited

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External links

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''The Great Train Robbery''
at Filmsite.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Great Train Robbery (1903 film) 1903 Western (genre) films American black-and-white films American films based on plays American heist films American silent short films Articles containing video clips Edison Manufacturing Company films Films about hijackings Films about train robbery Films directed by Edwin S. Porter Films set in the 1870s Films shot in New Jersey Silent American Western (genre) films Surviving American silent films Thomas Edison United States National Film Registry films 1900s American films