Kansas Pacific (1953)

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The acting in this movie is really good.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Yeah, many old films were a real cliché - good cause, good guys, bad guys, war looming, fights, beautiful lady in between the fights, lone hero, sandy mountain views, horse riders, gun fights, silly dialogs, pathetic phrases, shallow plot, very correct and inspiring words written across the screen either at the beginning or at the end credits - well, this is more or less this old film about Bleeding Kansas and all in the interim that follows. There is nothing exciting, unusual, fresh or new here, just a bunch of predictable baddies, bunch of heroic goodies, lady, sands, trains, railroad, fights and yes, this is over before you can say Kansas Pacific. Very trite and banal

On Civil War's eve, the Union pushes for completion of a railroad to the West, while the Confederacy works to prevent it.Decent western that makes good us of its limited budget. The cannon duel is imaginative as heck and a good effect that avoids western cliché. Lots of familiar faces in supporting roles, especially MacLane, Hadley and Fowley. Since the plot concerns Civil War rivalries, the bad guys can't be too bad since they're fighting for the Southern cause. I like the way attention is paid to technicalities of railway building, which lends realistic atmosphere. Too bad they have to work in a romance that dangles like a needless appendage, but I guess that's commercial filmmaking Something should be said for Sterling Hayden, always an interesting actor even if he hated the profession. Too gangly and taciturn to be a leading man, he's perfect for an action role like this. And who can forget his grim- faced attachment to his horses in The Asphalt Jungle (1950). It's an outward stoicism that still conveys unexpected feeling. Or his philosophical resignation upon leaving the airport in Kubrick's masterpiece The Killing (1956). By all accounts he was a fascinating man as well as an underrated actor.Anyway, this is a nicely done outdoor western with a good cast.

I would have given this a 10, backing down because it played loosely with history. Otherwise, it was a helluva good movie - rousing, exciting, constantly moving like a train with the tracks intact.It has to do with building the rail through Kansas to the Colorado border, train/tracks coveted by the Confeds and the Union.The action is never-ending, most of the fight scenes convincing and leading man, Sterling Hayden is rock solid (not Rock Hudson). His own life was far more exciting. Check his unbelievable bio. Wow!! All in all, there is not a thing wrong with the movie. If you like westerns, if you like action, it is all there on the "Kansas Pacific." Final thought: If Sterling Hayden married Robert Sterling, he would be Sterling Sterling.Speaking of sterling - as in silver - the hi-yo man has a small part in this adventure.

In this well made western, the builders of the railroad have a problem: the civil war will start at any moment, and the sympathizers of the south will do everything they can to sabotage it. After many incidents they go to Washington to ask for the army to help them, but as the war had not started, they send only one man:Sterling Hayden, and he sure knows how to deal with it. Very entertaining, worth seeing for anybody who likes westerns