Clint Eastwood successfully made post-westerns by following the cynical, mysterious world-weary character he originated in the Leone films. A wave of train robberies followed the Seymour incident. Lane then leads his gang to rob the train as the film ends. During this heist in the early 1870s, the gang wore KKK uniforms while they loosened the track and tied a rope to it in Adair, Iowa. "[8], The film holds a score of 33% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 6 reviews. Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. Thomas Ketchum, however, decided to give it one last try even though he was the only one left. As they all journey into Mexico in search of the hidden gold they are followed closely by an unnamed Pinkerton agent who is working for Wells Fargo. Sure, $10,000 is a lot of money, but in 1866, it was even more: adjusted for inflation, their haul was worth around $177,000. Working on a tip from a crooked postal inspector, two of the Newton brothers boarded a mail train on the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad. A hoot. The 1973 John Wayne film The Train Robbershad won many hearts upon its release. This time the expressman was tossed out the door before the safes were cleared of over $40,000. After Lane shoots the lock on the chest, when he lifts the latch the lock has completely disappeared without anyone removing it. According to Union Pacific Railroad's senior director of public affairs, Lupe Valdez, from October 2020 to October 2021, train robberies shot up by 356%. Logan then ordered engineer Jones to disconnect the baggage and express cars from the passenger cars and to pull forward again. Though train robbery is nearly obsolete today, the railroads still employ full-time law enforcement personnel to protect their interests. When they ordered him to show them where the good stuff was, he deliberately misled them. Read full review. By this time, they were about 10 miles from the Mexican border, and their horses were waiting for them. That, says Tahoe Quarterly, is when a train left San Francisco carrying the payroll of a mining operation in Virginia City, Nevada: around $41,800 in gold and silver coins (or, about $2.2 million today). As they loaded the loot onto their horses, express messenger Smith asked Logan for a souvenir of the holdup. He is thoroughly soaked top to bottom, including the back of his shirt sleeves and the whole of his shirt front. Find out where was this action thriller filmed. The robbers stopped the train by turning off a green track signal and, with batteries, turning on a red signal. (Photo: Nick Ut/Getty Images), Jarrett Stepman While making his comments, Newsom apologized for using the word gangs to describe the gaggles of looters who had committed the robberies. | The group split into pairs and headed off into the sunset forever. If it wasn't for an alert innkeeper who connected her suspicious visitors with word of the robbery, they may have even gotten away with it. He was finally buried and covered with a cement slab to guarantee his travelin' days were over. The Sundance Kids reputation grew to mythic proportions in part because reporters often confused him with his Wild Bunch cohort Harvey Logan, who was dubbed Kid Curry and was responsible for killing at least nine law enforcement officers in five different shootings. We see a change of camera and a change in the direction of the shadows of the horses/riders. 3 of 4 found this interesting | Share this Opening scene: Lane, Jesse and others walk from the train in bright sunlight. | The Train Robbers is a 1973 movie. Plus, the already wheezing supply chain is handed another weak and breaking link. To sound off, please email letters@DailySignal.com and well consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular We Hear You feature. Guess you _____ of _____ of deputy sheriffs are after someone, aint you? said one of the gang. Its Intentional. A train robbery seemed just the ticket. Lane even gets help from some of his old in retrieving the gold. "[6] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film three stars out of four and declared that John Wayne's "legend not only lives in 'The Train Robbers,' it gleams. However, he has a plan and just the right people to carry it out. Grady says: FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. But when they made the jump to robbing trains, well, it didn't exactly go smoothly from the get-go. Foolishly, the thieves returned to Malta. While the gang initially got away, they were all hunted down and killed over the next 12 years. During this time, the Reno Gang fromIndianabegan to terrorize the Midwest. The Train Robbers is a 1973 American Western film written and directed by Burt Kennedy and starring John Wayne, Ann-Margret, Rod Taylor, Ben Johnson, and Ricardo Montalban. 23 entered by robbers just west of Malta. After switching the gold with their dummy lead weights, they resealed the boxes and disguised the loot in their luggage before exiting the train in Dover. According to the Pinkerton Detective Agency Archives, Madden moved to Oregon City, Ore. The Train Robbers is an above-average John Wayne actioner, written and directed by Burt Kennedy with suspense, comedy and humanism not usually found in the formula. He began to race towards Malta to sound the alarm when the Kilpatrick and Hanks spotted him. This time, unlike Sundance and his pals nine years earlier, the holdup crew behaved like professionals, not amateurs, and rode away with $40,000 in unsigned banknotes. We do. Teeth white and clean with small dark spot on upper front tooth to right of center. "[5] Arthur D. Murphy of Variety called it "an above-average John Wayne actioner, written and directed by Burt Kennedy with suspense, comedy and humanism not usually found in the formula. The train's fireman went to investigate and was captured, unharmed; the engineer was severely injured by a blow on the head. The train was going to pass through a little town called Adair on July 21, so they decided that was the perfect time to strike. It's an odd one, for sure, but sometimes, it happens. The train continued on its regular route, stopping only to telegraph the news of the holdup: Express car on No. The only one that stood in their way, says HistoryNet, was a Wells Fargo & Co. messenger named David A. Trousdale, who was not about to put up with any of this nonsense. At a rate of 90 freight cars ransacked per day, Union Pacific estimates that thefts against its trains are up by more than 160 percent over the last year . Shooting the lock would not have caused it to disintegrate. The twin hubs handle about 40% of the nations maritime imports, with the majority of nearly $450 billion worth of goods eventually moving by rail.. Located in: Niagara Falls, New York, United States. Bass was immediately rearrested on the courthouse steps on charges of burglary, based upon Maddens confession. Smith, escapee and do-gooder, got 30 years. After receiving a 20-year hard labor sentence for the robbery, he escaped jail in June 1903, but did not elude the law for long. Ebaugh, alias J.E. Today, that haul would be worth around $2.8 million, and there's still a lot of it out there. Great Train Robbery by Strobridge & Co., 1896, Eugene Bunch A GentlemanlyTrain Robber, DeAutremont Brothers Wanna Be Train Robbers, Farrington Brothers Confederate Train Robbers, Kit Joy The Evolution of aTrain Robber. As the train neared the town of Kakori, ten armed revolutionaries led by Ram Prasad Bismil overpowered the guards, hijacked the locomotive and brought all the cars to a screeching halt. But over time, the railroads wised up. The robbers took about 120 mail bags by Land Rovers to their farm hideaway, where they divided the loot. This train-robbing phenomenon isnt new, but it is escalating rapidly. Dates . Thomas, Kevin (February 7, 1973). 23 out of St. Paul, Minn., made its regular mail and water stop at Malta. The Train Robbers (1973) Movie Poster Parodies (Don't delete, but you can add some more) The Train Robbers (1973)/Thomas The Train Robbers (1973)/TUGS The Train Robbers (1973)/Buffy the Vampire Slayer The Train Robbers (1973)/Dark Shadows The Train Robbers (1973)/Cheaper by the Dozen (2003) Aftermath [ edit] A widow who wants to recover her husband's stolen gold enlists the help of a man to ride to Mexico with her and retrieve the loot. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. The year was 1877, and according to South Dakota Public Broadcasting, the Black Hills Bandits hit a Union Pacific train just outside of Ogallala, Nebraska. Gads Hill Missouri Great Train Robbery. The Great Train Robbery: Directed by Michael Crichton. Prison records indicate that Bass received a pardon and early release on January 1, 1897; he then disappeared from all record. It was hit during the night of June 1 to 2, 1899, and the story as it's often told is the heist was pulled off by Butch Cassidy and his gang. Union Pacific operates in 23 states across the West. The Train Robbers (1973) by wonder85 for 90to5 - YouTube 0:00 / 5:54 The Train Robbers (1973) by wonder85 for 90to5 9,705 views Jul 11, 2014 Enjoy this edit of The Train Robbers. And theres looted packages as far as the eye can see. Yet behind them, to the right of the picture, as the camera moves to the right slightly, we get a clear view of the camera dolly track, shiny and sand-free. You can find the Jesse James HIstorical Site at 1156 . He was born in 1880, and headed West to get involved in some heists that, unfortunately for him, turned more into hijinks. Longabaugh had earned his nickname for serving an 18-month sentence for horse theft a few years earlier in a jail in Sundance, Wyo. Burrow Brothers - Outlaw Train Robbers. But the man wasn't actually his brother: he was a guy who sold embalmed corpses to carnival sideshows. That was in 1892, and they ended up hitting the jackpot: around $20,000, or a whopping $575,000, adjusted for inflation. The manhunt for the brothers was massive, and at the forefront was UC Berkeley lecturer Edward Oscar Heinrich. The environmental and financial costs of Mexico's Maya Train tourism project are already massive, but authorities revealed another, unexpected cost of President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador's pet project on Tuesday. After Lane shoots the lock on the chest, when he lifts the latch the lock has completely disappeared without anyone removing it. When one conjures up fanciful notions of Wild West lawlessness, the image that comes to mind is that of movie scenes of daring train robberies by gangs of robbers on horseback. The other was former Wild Bunch member and Butch Cassidy associate, Ben Kilpatrick. Police were later called to the scene, where they discovered heaps of evidenceincluding fingerprints on the gangs Monopoly boardthat helped them track down the thieves. What do you say? The officers saw they were powerless. But, they are being followed by the villain of the film Pinkerton played by Ricardo Montalban. And it's no wonder, really: his very first robbery was accidentally one of the biggest. One by one, members of the gang started getting picked off, caught, or killed. The gang escaped in their cars, but in the confusion of the robbery an accomplice accidentally shot one of the Newton brothers several times. Ann-Margret Olsson (born April 28, 1941) is a Swedish-American actress, singer, and dancer. Bored, and probably a little drunk, the three cowboys decided to add a little excitement and some easy money to their lives. In long shots, Calhoun's vest (waistcoat) flaps in the wind. Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated December 2021. As their target rounded a blind curve, the thieves used a rope to dislodge the track, causing the locomotive to derail and topple into a ditch. The now-masked and armed robbers forced Adams employee Elem Miller to open one safe, and while they couldn't get the other open, they still got around $10,000 in gold and $33 in bank notes; then, they took off into the darkness after signaling that the train needed to stop. However, railroad special agents also investigate train derailments, extortion attempts, crimes of violence, and many other felony and misdemeanor crimes that involve railroad interests. They hit another train in 1897 for around $60,000 in gold and silver (or almost $2 million in today's money), and yet another in 1899 for only slightly less: $50,000. Starring: Luke Evans,Jim Broadbent,Paul Anderson Watch all you want. The caper came on the night of June 12, 1924. His neckerchief was in then out of then under his collar. Bass (and the members of his gang who survived) were back to train robbing the next year, and did they need it? They boarded the train and ordered it to stop, which it did. Filming took place in Sierra de rganos National Park in the town of Sombrerete, Mexico. During the shootout at the abandoned railroad crash site, when John Wayne is talking to Ann Margret, tire tracks can be clearly seen in the sand. The fine art of train robbing made it almost as far west as you could go in November of 1870. Most rail heists are inspired by blind greed, but many in India saw 1925s Kakori Train Robbery as an act of political protest. The Los Angeles train robberies dont look like the daring scenes of old Hollywood Westerns, but they do create an incredible image in their own way. . Around $250,000 of the money he stole throughout his career is still unaccounted for. Federal Bureau of Investigation Opening scene: Between Grady arriving in town and the train arriving, the detail of the cloudscape behind Jesse changes. The biggest rail heist in American history was the work of the Newton Boys, a band of four Texas brothers who robbed at least 60 banks and six trains during their lucrative criminal careers. "[4] Roger Greenspun of The New York Times wrote, "I don't think that tone and attitude are quite enough to sustain a movie, or that an air of good feeling can take the place of meaningful dramatic action. Kilpatrick was arrested in St. Louis on November 5, 1901; he was sentenced to prison for forging signatures on the stolen bank notes. In the late 19th century, Robert LeRoy Parkerbetter known as Butch Cassidyled a gang of train robbers who went by the colorful nickname The Wild Bunch. This band of stickup men was responsible for several railway heists, but perhaps none was as famous as 1899s Wilcox Train Robbery in Wyoming. Lounghbo Harry Longabaugh, alias the Sundance Kid was never recaptured or tried for the Malta train robbery. According to the State Historical Society of Iowa, it was 1873 when the James gang got wind of a massive shipment of gold that was on the rails. After the initial wave of post-Civil War robberies, they quickly escalated to their peak in 1893-1894. Harry Alonzo Longabaugh, alias the Sundance Kid, had recently arrived in Malta after working as a horse wrangler for three years near Calgary, Canada. Send an email to Jarrett. Donna B. Ernst, who lives with her husband, Paul, in Pennsylvania, is a frequent contributor to Wild West magazine and has written five books. There's a neat balance between action and comedy, and Wayne himself is in top form. But Sundance was allowed to leave town because the authorities did not realize that he was, in fact, Loungbo, the second man implicated by Madden. Unfortunately for the brothers, the Adams Company had a relationship with the Pinkerton Detective Agency, who almost immediately arrested them. The station about 50 miles from Flagstaff was in an area of Arizona where, well, the weather just didn't cooperate. What did everyone else do? For a while, he worked on the N Bar N Ranch near Culbertson, Mont. He headed to Texas and came up with the brilliant idea to bury his share of the money, but later, he realized he'd been so drunk when he buried it that he had no idea where it was. One would hope that the Justice Department take this as seriously as it took parents showing up at school board meetings to express concerns about how their local schools operate. Alternate Versions A Yavapai County Sheriff called William O'Neill gave chase, and he wasn't about to give up. Trending. Travel back in time to the exciting world of Outlaws and The Wild West! Quotes They returned to Great Falls and sent out the following wanted notice: The above reward will be paid by the Great Northern Express company for the arrest and detention of Harry Lounghbo, who in company with others held up and robbed the west bound train on the Great Northern Railway, near Malta, Montana, on the morning of November 29th, 1892. Unfortunately, they used way, way too much dynamite, destroyed the entire car, all of the contents, and killed the mail clerk. He escaped from jail, and in 1921, he hopped onto a Southern Pacific train, grabbed $187,000 in securities and cash, then hopped right off. Some even added cars with armed men and horses who could be deployed to chase down any bandits who robbed the train. 1. Union Pacifics general director of public affairs, Adrian Guerrero, wrote a letter to Gascon demanding action, according to The Washington Free Beacon. 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