Film-lovers won’t want to miss out on this iconic 12-minute film that paved the way for many after it. One person on IMDb called the film a “truly historic masterpiece” while director Martin Scorsese called it a “cornerstone of cinema history.”

The short film tells the story of a group of bandits who stage a brazen train hold-up, only to find a determined posse hot on their heels. The Great Train Robbery (1903) was one of the first narrative films to ever exist – and it’s a fascinating watch. On IMDb, one film fan said: “This movie is probably the best preview to how modern westerns became, at least if you take the best twelve minutes of many westerns, the twelve where people get shot, beat up and alerted.

“The movie follows its storyline perfectly, and is easy to grasp the continuance throughout the film, in all, quite a masterpiece that comes highly recommended.”

The Great Train Robbery is one of the earliest examples of a film with a plot. The movie takes place in the Wild West, in the film, two bandits break into a telegraph office and force the operator to stop the train. 

They then knock him out, tie him up, and board a train together with the rest of their bandit friends.

Acting Magazine reports that Martin Scorsese once said: “The Great Train Robbery was a groundbreaking film in so many ways, from the storytelling to the editing. It’s one of the cornerstones of cinema history.”

The film is home to an iconic shot of one of the outlaws shooting directly at the camera, a familiar image which has been recreated in other movies since.

Even in Goodfellas, Scorsese pays homage to this trope. After 122 years, many of today’s films draw on similar themes and ideas.

If you’re keen to watch the film, the best place to look for it is on YouTube.