Synopsis for
The Great Train Robbery (1903) More at IMDbPro »

First, in the opening scene, two masked robbers force the telegraph operator to send a false message so the train will make an unscheduled stop. In the very next scene, the bandits board the train and the robbers enter the mail car, and after a fight, they open the safe. In the next scene, two of the robbers throw the driver and fireman off the train and take it over. Next, the robbers stop the train and hold up the passengers. One runs away and is shot. The robbers escape aboard the engine, and in the subsequent scene we see them mount horses and ride off. Meanwhile, the telegraph operator on the train sends a message calling for assistance. In a saloon, a newcomer is being forced to dance at gunpoint, but when the message arrives, everyone grabs their rifles and exit. Cut to the robbers pursued by a posse. There is a shoot-out, and the robbers are killed. There's one extra shot, showing one of the robbers firing point blank out of the screen. (This was, it seems, sometimes shown at the start of the film, sometimes at the end. It gave the spectator a sense of being directly in the line of fire.)