Night Passage is a traditional American Western that's only unusual in treating accordion music as though it were just as powerful as a gun.
Grant McLaine (James Stewart) is a traveling accordion player. He's pretty good, but he doesn't make nearly as much money as he once did working as a trouble shooter for the railroads. 5 years after a mysterious betrayal, railroad boss Ben Kimball (Jay C. Flippen) calls McLaine back into service. He needs Mclaine to take a payroll to a rail camp at the end of the line. Whitey Harbin (Dan Duryea) and his gang have stolen the last three payrolls and the workers are ready to walk off the job if they don't get their money. McLaine takes the job and he and a boy named Joey (Brandon deWilde) that McLaine saved from a violent beating on the trail set off with the payroll hidden in McLaine's clothes.
Here's where the story gets a bit complicated. A team of armed guards is secretly aboard the train, ready to ambush Whitey's gang if they attack. Ben Kimball and his wife Verna (Elaine Stewart) also join the train, Elaine having once been in love with McLaine but having abandoned him when things went bad 5 years ago. The gang attacks the train successfully, thanks to some inside information, but can't find the money. So instead, Whitey decides to hold Verna for ransom. Things aren't so swell for Whitey, however. A member of his gang called the Utica Kid (Audie Murphy) is always needling him and looking to take over. The Kid is cool and controlled while Whitey is wild and erratic. Whitey is, in fact, a terrible leader but he's so fast with his gun no one will challenge him. The Kid is in love with Charlie (Dianne Foster), a waitress who knows both the Kid and McLaine and has known them since 5 years ago when McLaine was ordered to track down the kid but instead helped him escape. The connection between McLaine and the Kid becomes the key to everything when McLaine somehow walks in on the gang's secret hideout, determined to leave with Verna, Joey and the railroad's money.
This film certainly gets points for handling such an involved plot very well. There are a series of intertwined relationships at work in Night Passage and the story gives each one a chance to breathe on screen. Even though it's just a bit more than 90 minutes long, it allows the actors to have some meaningful interaction with each other. The movie starts out focusing on Grant McLaine, shifts to The Utica Kid for the middle of the story and then brings those two main characters together for the conclusion.
But as I mentioned earlier, other than an emphasis on accordion music, there's really noting noteworthy or exceptional about Night Passage. Stewart is excellent, there's some traditional Western action and excitement and a moral to the story about the choice between good and evil. The morality of Night Passage is of a fairly corny and simplistic variety, however, and the main plot point of the story doesn't make a whole lot of sense. If the railroad payroll is small enough to hide in a person's clothes, why put McLaine on the train in the first place? Why not have him just ride his horse to the rail camp, making himself a much tougher target for the gang? Why in the world does Kimball bring his wife along, when he expects there to be a big gun battle between his guards and Whitey's gang? How does McLaine know how to find the gang's hideout?
Those problems, though, are fairly minor for this sort of good-natured adventure story. If you like traditional Westerns, you'll find Night Passage to be quite fun. If you prefer postmodern Westerns or aren't a fan of the genre at all, there's nothing out of the ordinary in the film to make it worth your while.
Grant McLaine (James Stewart) is a traveling accordion player. He's pretty good, but he doesn't make nearly as much money as he once did working as a trouble shooter for the railroads. 5 years after a mysterious betrayal, railroad boss Ben Kimball (Jay C. Flippen) calls McLaine back into service. He needs Mclaine to take a payroll to a rail camp at the end of the line. Whitey Harbin (Dan Duryea) and his gang have stolen the last three payrolls and the workers are ready to walk off the job if they don't get their money. McLaine takes the job and he and a boy named Joey (Brandon deWilde) that McLaine saved from a violent beating on the trail set off with the payroll hidden in McLaine's clothes.
Here's where the story gets a bit complicated. A team of armed guards is secretly aboard the train, ready to ambush Whitey's gang if they attack. Ben Kimball and his wife Verna (Elaine Stewart) also join the train, Elaine having once been in love with McLaine but having abandoned him when things went bad 5 years ago. The gang attacks the train successfully, thanks to some inside information, but can't find the money. So instead, Whitey decides to hold Verna for ransom. Things aren't so swell for Whitey, however. A member of his gang called the Utica Kid (Audie Murphy) is always needling him and looking to take over. The Kid is cool and controlled while Whitey is wild and erratic. Whitey is, in fact, a terrible leader but he's so fast with his gun no one will challenge him. The Kid is in love with Charlie (Dianne Foster), a waitress who knows both the Kid and McLaine and has known them since 5 years ago when McLaine was ordered to track down the kid but instead helped him escape. The connection between McLaine and the Kid becomes the key to everything when McLaine somehow walks in on the gang's secret hideout, determined to leave with Verna, Joey and the railroad's money.
This film certainly gets points for handling such an involved plot very well. There are a series of intertwined relationships at work in Night Passage and the story gives each one a chance to breathe on screen. Even though it's just a bit more than 90 minutes long, it allows the actors to have some meaningful interaction with each other. The movie starts out focusing on Grant McLaine, shifts to The Utica Kid for the middle of the story and then brings those two main characters together for the conclusion.
But as I mentioned earlier, other than an emphasis on accordion music, there's really noting noteworthy or exceptional about Night Passage. Stewart is excellent, there's some traditional Western action and excitement and a moral to the story about the choice between good and evil. The morality of Night Passage is of a fairly corny and simplistic variety, however, and the main plot point of the story doesn't make a whole lot of sense. If the railroad payroll is small enough to hide in a person's clothes, why put McLaine on the train in the first place? Why not have him just ride his horse to the rail camp, making himself a much tougher target for the gang? Why in the world does Kimball bring his wife along, when he expects there to be a big gun battle between his guards and Whitey's gang? How does McLaine know how to find the gang's hideout?
Those problems, though, are fairly minor for this sort of good-natured adventure story. If you like traditional Westerns, you'll find Night Passage to be quite fun. If you prefer postmodern Westerns or aren't a fan of the genre at all, there's nothing out of the ordinary in the film to make it worth your while.