At ten minutes long, it is considered a milestone in film making, expanding on Porter's previous work Life of an American Fireman. The film used a number of innovative film technique including composite editing, camera movement and Filming location shooting. The film is one of the earliest to use the technique of cross cutting, in which two scenes appear to occur simultaneously but in different locations. Some prints were also hand colored in certain scenes.
The Great Train Robbery was directed and photographed by Edwin S. Porter, a former Edison Studios cameraman. Actors in the movie included Alfred C. Abadie, Broncho Billy Anderson and Justus D. Barnes, although there were no credits. Though a Western, it was filmed in Milltown, New Jersey. In 1990, The Great Train Robbery was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot

The film opens with two bandits breaking into a railroad telegraph office, where they force the operator at gunpoint to stop the train and give the engineer orders to fill the train up at the station's water tank. Afterwards they knock him out and tie him up. As the train stops to fill up, the bandits, now four, board the train. While two of the bandits enter an express car, kill a messenger and open a box of valuables with dynamite, the others kill the fireman and force the engineer to halt the train and disconnect the locomotive. The bandits then force the passengers off the train and ransack them of their belongings. One passenger tries to escape, but is instantly shot down. Carrying their loot, the bandits escape in the locomotive, later stopping in a valley to continue on horseback.
Back in the telegraph office, the operator wakes up and tries to escape, collapsing again. His daughter enters and restores him to consciousness by throwing water in his face. At a nearby dance hall, there is comic relief when a "dude" is forced to dance when the men fire at his feet. The operator goes to the dance hall to gather assistance, and the men grab their guns and pursue the bandits. The posse catches up with the bandits, and in a final shootout all of the bandits are killed.

=Final shot=

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An additional scene of the film consists of a close up of the leader of the bandits, played by Justus D. Barnes, firing point blank towards the camera. While usually placed at the end, Porter stated that the scene could also be played at the beginning.

Cast

• Alfred C. Abadie as Sheriff
• Broncho Billy Anderson as Bandit / Shot Passenger / Tenderfoot Dancer
• Justus D. Barnes as Bandit Who Fires At Camera
• Walter Cameron as Sheriff
• Donald Gallaher as Little boy
• Frank Hanaway as Bandit
• Adam Charles Hayman as Bandit
• John Manus Dougherty, Sr. as Fourth bandit
• Marie Murray as Dance-hall dancer
• Mary Snow as Little girl
• George Barnes (uncredited)
• Morgan Jones (uncredited)

Production notes

Porter's film was shot at the Edison studios in New York City, on location in New Jersey at the South Mountain Reservation, part of the modern Essex County Park System, New Jersey, as well as along the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad. Filmed during November 1903, the picture was advertised as available for sale to distributors in December of that same year.
The film's budget was an estimated United States dollar150.< name=souter></> Upon its release, The Great Train Robbery became a massive success and is considered one of the first Western films.< name=winter></> It is also considered one of the first blockbuster (entertainment)s and was one of the most popular films of the silent era until the release of The Birth of a Nation in 1915.</>

In the 1966 Batman (TV series) entitled "The Riddler's False Notion", silent film star Francis X. Bushman as the wealthy film collector who owns a print of The Great Train Robbery.<></>

The final shot is paid homage in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas when Joe Pesci's character fires a gun at the camera at the end of the movie.

Ridley Scott also paid homage after the final credits of American Gangster (film) when Denzel Washington's character in a darkened bar fires a gun into the camera.

The .45 Long Colt shot clip appears in the historical introduction to the film Tombstone (film), as do numerous other clips from the film, notably the man shot while attempting to escape the robbers.

According to media historian James Chapman (media historian), the gun barrel sequence featured in the James Bond films are similar to that scene featuring of Justus D. Barnes firing at the camera. The sequence was created by Maurice Binder.<></>

In Martin Scorsese's 2011 film Hugo (film), there is a clip while the main characters were reading a book, with other famous movie clips such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

The 1904 film The Bold Bank Robbery was inspired by the success of this film.

In 1996 during an Arthur episode, the film was remade, but had background music and dialogue by the voice actors from the TV Show.

Category:1903 films
Category:1900s Western (genre) films
Category:American films
Category:American silent short films
Category:American Western (genre) films
Category:Black-and-white films
Category:Films based on plays
Category:Films directed by Edwin S. Porter
Category:Films shot in New Jersey
Category:Heist films
Category:Rail transport films
Category:Films about hijackings
Category:Thomas Edison
Category:United States National Film Registry films