The Great Train Robbery (1903)

directed by: edwin s. porter
genre: western, action, heist, silent
lists: most influential
traces to: greed, the general, stagecoach, butch cassidy and the sundance kid

bandits hijack a train, have a dance party, and then are disposed of by the cops in a forest shootout. as an epilogue, a bandit shoots directly at the camera.



the first action/suspense/heist film! noteworthy for crosscutting between simultaneous action in two different scenes, location photography, train-mounted camera, and even has an optical effect in the station window that shows the train pulling in.