why such a big deal?


I just do not get what the fuss is all about.
--is it such a big deal to ride the non passenger train without a ticket?
-- After all it is a time of great depression and people are just trying to get by.

-- How come the conductor was not chastised, when his brute action resulted in a death of a decrepit man. He was sitting outside the cabin for pets sake and does not deserve to be cut in half by a brute! the conductor came across as a psychopath to me. His obsessiveness nearly caused a collision god damn it!

-- For the few of the folks who do not know in asia and africa, especially in india, the 3rd class barely draws any tickets. you only have economically weak:farmers,students, beggars, homeless and hobos- traveling there without a ticket- even in the modern era. the conductor does not bother stepping in to those bogies.
this is true since the train ran in india right from the british era.

--Most of the passenger trains in india have 3rd class section which barely garner tickets! And if the guy is caught no body goes on to kill them!

--I have also seen even in US. If you are not traveling without a ticket no body is gonna stop the train and make a ruckus! Normally if you come across a stern conductor, he would let you get off next section with a fine or sometimes without with a warning with a not so austere conductor.for students and economically weakened they don't even bother!

so though the movie was great. I just did not get this premise of the movie- extreme despise on the part of 'hitler' conductor, that too during such harsh economic times!

reply

During the Great Depression it was in fact a big deal. Railroad Bulls were determined to keep hobos off of the trains they attempted to ride.

In his autobiography American actor, author and singer Burl Ives tells about a time when he was hoboing across the country (in his younger days) and recounts an encounter he had;

"I hopped on the side of a boxcar as a freight slowly moved out. I
caught her just in time because she was picking up speed. Another few
moments and she would have been going too fast. I climbed to the top of
the boxcar, hoping to walk back and find a flatcar. Just as I reached
the top, a railroad bull appeared. We reached the top at different ends
and opposite sides of the car at the same time. He started after me.
I scrambled back down as fast as I could go, and just as I had gone two
steps down the ladder he came down on my fingers with his billy stick.
It hit my right hand and went between my first and second fingers, tore
the flesh from my big middle finger clear down to the bone, and blood
squirted. He hit my other hand and I fell off into the ditch.
The train was going a good clip by this time and I fell backward and hit
the ground and lay there for five or ten minutes before I could get my
breath back. All the wind had been knocked out of me and I thought I was
dying. When I got my wind back I could scarcely breath. I saw my finger
bleeding and it had been crushed and the raw bone was sticking out. I
took a handkerchief and made a tourniquet. The neck of my banjo was
broken, and the head was broken, and it was worthless, so I threw it
away and walked back toward the town."

(The Wayfaring Stranger - 1948)

reply

great info. but I still fail why it was such a big deal. And that too in a -great-country like america. It was not as though people wanted to evade paying deliberately. they had no option and were just trying to get by! I just do not see what the fuss in indulging in this kind of harassment and vice against people who were socially deprived-due to not fault of their own come to think of it.
so the premise is not clear to go this far!

reply

In his autobiography Ernest Borgnine had this to say about EMPEROR OF THE NORTH;

"I played a railroad conductor named Shack, the most evil, sadistic
scoundrel who ever existed. Nobody rode my train without a ticket, and
nobody had tickets because this was a freight train. And I didn't want
any hobos on my train - it's a point of honor for my character. No one
even attempts to go on my train - except Lee (Marvin), who let it be
known that he is going to try.
"

It was against the law for hobos to ride on the trains and the Railroad Companies had guards on these trains to keep them off.

Borgnine's character is someone who goes to the extreme in brutalizing anyone he catches stealing a free ride. He is someone who, as you put it, is a psychopath who seems to relish in the cruelty he inflicts on others.

reply