Hollywood of the Rockies

Hollywood of the Rockies. . , . Hollywood came to the San Juans in 1948 when 20th Century Fox filmed Sand and Warner Brothers filmed Colorado Territory. Sand was about an expensive show horse that escaped from a train and ran wild in Colorado wilderness. Some scenes were shot at the Durango airfield, where Fort Lewis College now stands, at Hermosa Park, and around Molas Lake. It was nominated for an Academy Award in Best Color Cinematography. Colorado Territory was about a train robbery. Some scenes were shot at the Durango depot and on the Farmington Branch south of town. , . In 1949 20th Century Fox came back to Durango and shot A Ticket to Tomahawk, starring Rio Grande Southern Locomotive 20 (RGS 20) dressed up as Emma Sweeny. It was the first Hollywood movie filmed in the Animas Canyon and Silverton. The color film caused a surge of tourists to ride the train from Durango to Silverton, helping to save the railroad. , . Given the success of A Ticket to Tomahawk, Paramount Pictures in 1951 filmed Denver and Rio Grande in the Animas Canyon, north of Rockwood, with an 1880 town set built in the Tall Timbers area. It was based on the 1878 battle between the D&RG and the Santa Fe railroads for the line through the Royal Gorge on the Arkansas River. , . In 1952, after ten films had been made in this area, Durango, already known as “Narrow Gauge Capital of the World,” was called “Hollywood of the Rockies.” , . In 1955 Warner Brothers used the 315 for Around the World in 80 Days, filmed in Animas Canyon and near Durango. Since it was too expensive to repair the 315 boiler for the movie, a diesel locomotive disguised as a baggage car pushed the 315. , . In 1968 Hollywood came back a few months before the D&RGW main line to Alamosa and the Farmington Branch were abandoned. 20th Century Fox filmed part of Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid in the Durango area. , Saved from Abandonment , . In the 1930s cars, buses, and trucks began replacing trains for short trips, and D&RGW slated its narrow gauge lines for abandonment. , . In 1954 D&RGW saved The Silverton, the last D&RGW passenger train. The railroad said it wasn't a matter of making money on the line, but rather of preserving it. , Movie Bubble , . In the first decade, 1948-57, known as the Golden Era of moviemaking in the San Juans, Hollywood made twenty films in the Durango/Silverton area, ten of which involved the railroad. , . The next four decades saw nineteen films made, but only about one per decade involved the railroad. , Durango and Silverton Area Railroad Movies , 1917 , Small Town Vamp, Jim Jarvis , 1918 , Snow Wonderland, Jim Jarvis , 1949 , Colorado Territory, Joel McCrea, Virginia Mayo, Dorothy Malone; Locomotive № 315 (15) , 1950 , Ticket To Tomahawk, Dan Dailey, Anne Baxter, Walter Brennan; Locomotive № RGS 20 (1) , 1952 , Denver and Rio Grande, Edmond O'Brian, Sterling Hayden; Locomotive № 268, 319, 345 , 1952 , Viva Zapata!, Marlon Brando, Jean Peters, Anthony Quinn; Locomotive № RGS 20 , 1954 , Three Young Texans, Mitzi Gaynor, Jeffrey Hunter; Locomotive № 453 , 1954 , Siege at Red River, Van Johnson, Joanne Dru, Richard Boone; Locomotive № 453 (8) , 1955 , Run for Cover, James Cagney, Ernest Borgnine; Locomotive № 476 (7) , 1956 , Maverick Queen, Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan; Locomotive № 476 , 1956 , Around the World in 80 Days, David Niven; Shirley MacLaine; Locomotive № 315 (60) , 1957 , Night Passage, James Stewart, Audie Murphy, Dan Duryea; Locomotive № 476, 478 , 1969 , Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katherine Ross, Sam Elliott; Locomotive № 473, 478 , 1971 , Support Your Local Gunfighter, James Garner, Jack Elam; Locomotive № 478 , 1988 , Dead or Alive (HBO: The Tracker), Kris Kristofferson, Scott Wilson; Locomotive № 473 , 1999 , Durango Kids; Locomotive № 481, 482 , 2000 , The Claim, Peter Mullan, Milla Jovovich, Nastassia Kinski; Locomotive № 482 , 2006 , The Prestige, Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale; Locomotive № 473 , [photo captions] , . 1948 , Denver and Rio Grande Western (D&RGW) Engine No. 315 in movie props and lettering as Engine No. 15 for Colorado Territory at the Aztec (actually Durango) depot. The man standing in front of the engine in the center of the photo is Henry (Hank) Phillips, who was a fireman on the 315 in 1947-49. , . 1951 , Hollywood explosive pyrotechnics made a dramatic scene in the collision of two steam locomotives for Denver and Rio Grande. After the explosion, Engine 319 (left) and Engine 345 formed an almost seamless mating of the boilers. , . 1955 , Diesel 4700N is being totally covered up to represent a baggage car to push dead Engine 315 in Around the World in 80 Days , on a spur south of the Animas River Bridge near 15th Street in Durango. , . 1956 , On display in Brookside Park at about 2200 Main Ave. , . 1968 , Blowing up the safe used more dynamite than necessary. Veteran actors Paul Newman and Robert Redford stayed in character.