This excellent Walt Disney-driven history vehicle depicts an actual 1862 Union sabotage mission that primarily failed to carry off the goal of wrecking a vital Confederate supply rail line. The Andrews Raid (AKA "The Great Locomotive Chase") is one of those ''side-show-of-the-big-show' events that would have been essentially lost to history had it not been for this film.
We owe it to Walt Disney--personally--that this film exists. Walt Disney was very hands-on with this production, and Disney famously loved history, This film adheres more to facts than dramatic fiction.
By comparison; many point to Buster Keaton's comedy classic "The General"--which used the same event as it's focal point--as a 'superior' film, yet Keaton's film strays SO FAR into fiction that it effectively cannot even be considered as a depiction of The Andrews Raid. "The General" is a fun action COMEDY...but comedy has nothing to do with The Andrews Raid.
Disney's "The Great Locomotive Chase" delivers an even-handed and largely-factual depiction of the goals and point of view of both Union and Confederate sides....something that sadly, just does not happen anymore.
Tie that together with dynamic performances and spot-on location filming with actual period trains, and you get a rarity; a Civil War film that has no agenda other than to tell a (dare-I-say-it?) ..moving ...story of motivation, determination, and courage.
We owe it to Walt Disney--personally--that this film exists. Walt Disney was very hands-on with this production, and Disney famously loved history, This film adheres more to facts than dramatic fiction.
By comparison; many point to Buster Keaton's comedy classic "The General"--which used the same event as it's focal point--as a 'superior' film, yet Keaton's film strays SO FAR into fiction that it effectively cannot even be considered as a depiction of The Andrews Raid. "The General" is a fun action COMEDY...but comedy has nothing to do with The Andrews Raid.
Disney's "The Great Locomotive Chase" delivers an even-handed and largely-factual depiction of the goals and point of view of both Union and Confederate sides....something that sadly, just does not happen anymore.
Tie that together with dynamic performances and spot-on location filming with actual period trains, and you get a rarity; a Civil War film that has no agenda other than to tell a (dare-I-say-it?) ..moving ...story of motivation, determination, and courage.