One of the last bills signed by President Lincoln authorizes pushing the Union Pacific Railroad across the wilderness to California. But financial opportunist Asa Barrows hopes to profit from obstructing it. Chief troubleshooter Jeff Butler has his hands full fighting Barrows' agent, gambler Sid Campeau; Campeau's partner Dick Allen is Jeff's war buddy and rival suitor for engineer's daughter Molly Monahan. Who will survive the effort to push the railroad through at any cost?
Practical Effects
Real steam trains, real explosions, real 5,000 extras—CGI could never.
Production
DeMille built 30 miles of functioning railroad in Utah wilderness.
Stunts
Train collision finale required perfect timing and possibly insane stuntmen.
Director
Cecil B. DeMille
Barbara Stanwyck
Mollie Monahan
Joel McCrea
Jeff Butler
Akim Tamiroff
Fiesta
Robert Preston
Dick Allen
Lynne Overman
Leach Overmile
Brian Donlevy
Sid Campeau
Robert Barrat
Duke Ring
Anthony Quinn
Cordray
Stanley Ridges
Gen. Casement
Henry Kolker
Asa M. Barrows
Francis McDonald
Gen. Dodge
Willard Robertson
Oakes Ames
Harold Goodwin
Calvin
Evelyn Keyes
Mrs. Calvin
Richard Lane
Sam Reed
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released months before WWII began, this was Hollywood's last gasp of unironic American frontier mythology.
DeMille hired actual Civil War veterans as extras; the Golden Spike ceremony used the real hammer and spike from 1869.
US
