Night Passage

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Night Passage
DVD Cover for Night Passage
Directed by	James Neilson
Produced by	Aaron Rosenberg
Written by	Norman A. Fox (story) Borden Chase (screenplay
Starring	James Stewart Audie Murphy
Music by	Dimitri Tiomkin (score) Ned Washington (lyrics)
Cinematography	Clifford Stine
Editing by	Sherman Todd
Distributed by	Universal
Release date(s)	July 24, 1957
Running time	90 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

This article is about the 1957 film. For the Weather Report album, see Night Passage (Weather Report album)

Night Passage is a 1957 western film starring James Stewart and Audie Murphy. The film is reminiscent of the popular western collaborations between Stewart and director Anthony Mann. This is largely because the project was slated to be their sixth collaboration. Mann backed out of the project before production due to other obligations and a disagreement over the casting of Audie Murphy. Aaron Rosenberg, who produced many of the Stewart-Mann collaborations, stayed on as producer with the new director James Neilson.

Dimitri Tiomkin scored the film, and co-wrote the songs "Follow the River" and "You Can't Get Far Without a Railroad" with Ned Washington, which were performed by James Stewart himself. The film also offered Stewart the rare opportunity to play the accordion, an instrument he had played since childhood. The film was the first to utilize the Technirama process by Technicolor. This process helped crispen the blue skies and brighten the autumn footage photographed by cinematographer Clifford Stine. Though not as memorable as other Stewart-Mann films, Night Passage was a commercial success upon its release and has become a staple of cable television.

[edit] Plot

Grant McLaine (James Stewart) is assigned to guard a train transporting over $10,000. His outlaw brother, Lee, a.k.a The Utica Kid (Audie Murphy) and his gang use this opportunity to hold up the train and steal the money. Fearful of being held responsible for the robbery and already on thin ice with the company, McLaine heads off after his brother to recover the stolen money and convince "The Utica Kid" to go straight.