Disneyland Railroad

The Disneyland Railroad (DRR), formerly known as the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad, is a 3-foot () narrow-gauge heritage railroad and attraction in the Disneyland theme park of the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, in the United States. Its route is 1.2 miles (1.9 km) long and encircles the majority of the park, with train stations in four different park areas. The rail line, which was constructed by WED Enterprises, operates with two steam locomotives built by WED and three historic steam locomotives originally built by Baldwin Locomotive Works. The ride takes roughly 18 minutes to complete a round trip on its main line when three trains are running, and 20 minutes when four trains are running. Two to four trains can be in operation at any time, three on average.

The attraction was conceived by Walt Disney, who drew inspiration from the ridable miniature Carolwood Pacific Railroad built in his backyard. The Disneyland Railroad opened to the public at Disneyland's grand opening on July 17, 1955. Since that time, multiple alterations have been made to its route, including the addition of two large dioramas in the late 1950s and mid-1960s. Several changes have been made to its rolling stock, including the conversion of one of its train cars into a parlor car in the mid-1970s, and the switch from diesel oil to biodiesel to fuel its locomotives in the late 2000s.

The railroad has been consistently billed as one of Disneyland's top attractions, requiring a C ticket to ride when A, B, and C tickets were introduced in 1955, a D ticket to ride when those were introduced in 1956, and an E ticket to ride when those were introduced in 1959. The use of E tickets stood until a pay-one-price admission system was introduced in 1982. With an estimated 6.6 million passengers each year, the DRR has become one of the world's most popular steam-powered railroads.

## History

### Attraction concept origins

Walt Disney, the creator of the concepts for Disneyland and the Disneyland Railroad, always had a strong fondness for trains. As a young boy, he wanted to become a train engineer like his father's cousin, Mike Martin, who told him stories about his experiences driving main-line trains on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. As a teenager, he obtained a news butcher job on the Missouri Pacific Railway, selling various products to train passengers, including newspapers, candy, and cigars. Many years later, after co-founding the Walt Disney Company with his older brother Roy O. Disney, he started playing polo. Fractured vertebrae and other injuries led him to abandon the sport on the advice of his doctor, who recommended a calmer recreational activity. Starting in late 1947, he developed an interest in model trains after purchasing several Lionel train sets.

By 1948, Walt Disney's interest in model trains was evolving into an interest in larger, ridable miniature trains after observing the trains and backyard railroad layouts of several hobbyists, including Disney animator Ollie Johnston. In 1949, after purchasing 5 acres (2.0 ha) of vacant land in the Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, he started construction on a new residence for himself and his family, and on the elaborate gauge ridable miniature Carolwood Pacific Railroad behind it. The railroad featured a set of freight cars pulled by the Lilly Belle, a 1:8-scale live steam locomotive named after Disney's wife Lillian and built by the Walt Disney Studios' machine shop team led by Roger E. Broggie. The locomotive's design, chosen by Walt Disney after seeing a smaller locomotive model with the same design at the home of rail historian Gerald M. Best, was based directly on copies of the blueprints for the Central Pacific No. 173, a steam locomotive rebuilt by the Central Pacific Railroad in 1872. The Lilly Belle first ran on the Carolwood Pacific Railroad on May 7, 1950. Walt Disney's backyard railroad attracted visitors interested in riding his miniature steam train, and on weekends, when the railroad was operating, he allowed them to do so, even allowing some to become "guest engineers" and drive the train. In early 1953, after a visitor drove the Lilly Belle too fast along a curve, causing it to derail and injure a five-year-old girl, Walt Disney, fearing the possibility of future accidents, closed down the Carolwood Pacific Railroad and placed the locomotive in storage.

Prior to the incident that closed his railroad, Walt Disney consulted with Roger Broggie about the concept of including his ridable miniature train in a potential tour of Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, north of Downtown Los Angeles. Broggie, believing that there would be limited visitor capacity for the attraction, recommended to Disney that he make the train bigger in scale. The idea of a studio tour was eventually replaced by the idea of an amusement park named Disneyland across the street from the studio, and in one of its first design concepts at that proposed location, a miniature steam train ride was included, as well as a larger, narrow-gauge steam railroad attraction. During this time, Disney proposed that the narrow-gauge Crystal Springs & Southwestern Railroad, which the nearby Travel Town Museum in Griffith Park planned to build, be extended to run through Disneyland. Planned construction of the Ventura Freeway across land between the two sites, and rejection by the Burbank City Council of a new amusement park in their city, led Disney to look for a different location to build the park and its narrow-gauge railroad.

### Planning and construction

By 1953, 139 acres (56 ha) of orchard land in Anaheim in Orange County, southeast of Downtown Los Angeles, were chosen as the location for the planned Disneyland park, and on August 8, Walt Disney drew the triangular route for the future Disneyland Railroad (DRR) on the park's site plan. After financing for Disneyland was secured and all of the parcels of land at the Anaheim site were purchased, construction of the park and its railroad began in August 1954. In order to cut costs, a sponsorship deal was arranged with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF), and when it was finalized on March 29, 1955, the DRR was officially named Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad. The DRR was known by that name until September 30, 1974, when the AT&SF Railway's sponsorship ended.

Prior to the start of construction of the DRR, in the hope of saving money by buying already-existing trains for the attraction, Walt Disney tried to buy a set of gauge ridable miniature locomotives from William "Billy" Jones, but after Jones declined his offer, Disney decided that he wanted the railroad's rolling stock to be bigger and made from scratch. For this task, Disney again turned to Roger Broggie, who was confident that he and the Walt Disney Studios' machine shop team could use the design for Disney's 1:8-scale miniature Lilly Belle locomotive and enlarge it to build the DRR's locomotives. The exact size of the rolling stock for the new railroad was determined after Disney saw a set of narrow-gauge Oahu Railway and Land Company passenger cars that had recently arrived at the Travel Town Museum, whose dimensions Disney found to be favorable. The scale of the design for the DRR's passenger cars, based on the narrow-gauge passenger cars at the Travel Town Museum, was nominally 5:8-scale when compared to the size of rolling stock. The same scale was also chosen for the steam locomotives planned for the DRR, and when its locomotives and passenger cars were completed and paired with its narrow-gauge track, the railroad had nearly identical proportions to those of a conventional standard gauge railroad.

Through WED Enterprises, a legally separate entity from Walt Disney Productions, Walt Disney retained personal ownership of the DRR and financed the creation of two trains to run on it in time for Disneyland's opening day. The names of both trains contained the word Retlaw, which is Walter spelled backwards. The first train, referred to by Disneyland employees as Retlaw 1, would be pulled by the No. 2 locomotive, which was given a turn-of-the-20th-century appearance with a straight smokestack (typical of coal-burning locomotives), a circular headlamp, and a small cowcatcher. The No. 2 locomotive would pull six 1890s-style passenger cars designed by Bob Gurr, consisting of a combine car, four coaches, and an observation coach. The second train, referred to by Disneyland employees as Retlaw 2, would be pulled by the No. 1 locomotive, which was given a late-19th-century appearance with a spark-arresting diamond smokestack (typical of wood-burning locomotives), a rectangular headlamp, and a large cowcatcher. The No. 1 locomotive would pull six freight cars consisting of three cattle cars, two gondolas, and a caboose. Walt Disney Studios built the train cars and most of the parts for the locomotives; Dixon Boiler Works built the locomotive boilers, and Wilmington Iron Works built the locomotive frames. Both locomotives were designed to run on diesel oil to generate steam. Final assembly of the locomotives and their tenders took place at the Disneyland site in the DRR's new roundhouse, which was built in one week by a construction crew directed by Park Construction Administrator Joe Fowler, a former US Navy rear admiral. The two original DRR trains cost over \$240,000 to build, with the two locomotives costing over \$40,000 each.

Before the opening of Disneyland, a station in the Main Street, U.S.A. section and a station in the Frontierland section were built for the DRR. Main Street, U.S.A. Station, an example of Second Empire-style architecture, was built at the entrance to Disneyland using an original design that incorporated forced perspective elements on its upper levels to make it appear taller. Frontierland Station was built based on the design of the depot building located on the Grizzly Flats Railroad, a full-size narrow-gauge railroad owned by Disney animator Ward Kimball in his backyard. Besides the depot building, the DRR's functioning water tower was also built at Frontierland Station.

Railroad-building expert Earl Vilmer created the track layout and operations for the DRR. Roger Broggie hired Vilmer because of his experience building railroads in Iran for the Allies during World War II, in France after the war, and later in Venezuela for U.S. Steel. Vilmer designed the operations of the DRR in such a way that each of its two trains would be assigned to a single station on the rail line, making only complete round trips possible. The Retlaw 1 passenger train pulled by the No. 2 locomotive only serviced Main Street, U.S.A. Station while the Retlaw 2 freight train pulled by the No. 1 locomotive only serviced Frontierland Station, and with sidings at both stations, each train would operate simultaneously and continue down the rail line even if the other train was stopped at its station. The first test run of the DRR's trains along the full length of its route occurred on July 10, 1955, one week before Disneyland's opening. The steam trains of the DRR were the first of Disneyland's attractions to become operational.

On July 17, 1955, Disneyland and the Disneyland Railroad opened, and the day began with Walt Disney driving the DRR's No. 2 locomotive and its passenger train into Main Street, U.S.A. Station with California Governor Goodwin J. Knight and AT&SF Railway President Fred Gurley riding in the locomotive's cab. They were greeted at the station's platform by the park opening ceremony's host Art Linkletter, actor Ronald Reagan, and several television camera crews broadcasting the festivities nationwide. After exiting the locomotive, Linkletter briefly interviewed Disney, Knight, and Gurley before they walked towards the town square in the Main Street, U.S.A. section where Disney officially dedicated Disneyland. The DRR eventually became one of the most popular steam-powered railroads in the world with an estimated 6.6 million passengers each year.

### Additions in the late 1950s

Shortly after the Disneyland Railroad opened, A, B, and C tickets were introduced in Disneyland for admission to its rides, and C tickets, the highest-ranked tickets, were required to ride the DRR. These tickets were joined by the higher-ranked D ticket in 1956, and D tickets from that point forward were needed to gain access to the DRR.

One of the first additions to the DRR occurred in March 1956 when new covered shelters were built on each end of Frontierland Station's depot building. The shelters were added after the DRR's track on the western edge of its route, and the depot building standing next to it, were moved outwards.

Also during 1956, the Fantasyland Depot, a new station with a Medieval theme and consisting of a covered platform with no station building, was created for the DRR in the Fantasyland section. By the time this new station was added, the DRR's system of having one train assigned to a single station and using sidings to pass trains stopped at stations was abandoned and replaced by the current system where each train stops at every station along the railroad's route. Fantasyland Depot was removed by July 1966 when the It's a Small World attraction, originally built for the 1964 New York World's Fair, was installed.

By 1957, the DRR was becoming overwhelmed by ever-increasing crowds; Disney determined that a third train was needed. Instead of having another locomotive built from scratch to pull the train, Disney believed that costs could be saved by purchasing and restoring an already-existing narrow-gauge steam locomotive, and the job of finding one was given to Roger Broggie. With the assistance of Gerald Best, a suitable locomotive was found in Louisiana; it had been built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1894, had previously been used as a switcher at a sugar cane mill in Louisiana owned by the Godchaux Sugar Company, and was initially used by the Lafourche, Raceland & Longport Railway in Louisiana. After its purchase, the locomotive was delivered to the Walt Disney Studios' machine shop where restoration work began, which included installing a new boiler built by Dixon Boiler Works and having its firebox reconfigured to burn diesel oil for fuel to generate steam. This locomotive became the DRR's No. 3 locomotive and it went into service on March 28, 1958, at a cost after restoration of more than \$37,000. Joining the No. 3 locomotive when it went into service were five new open-air Narragansett-style excursion cars with front-facing bench seating collectively referred to by Disneyland employees as the Excursion Train, which was designed by Bob Gurr and built at Walt Disney Studios.

On March 31, 1958, the No. 3 locomotive participated in the inauguration ceremony for the DRR's Grand Canyon Diorama, which features a foreground with several lifelike animals, a background painted by artist Delmer J. Yoakum on a single piece of seamless canvas measuring 306 feet (93.3 m) long by 34 feet (10.4 m) high, and musical accompaniment from Ferde Grofé's Grand Canyon Suite. Located inside a tunnel on the DRR's route, the diorama was claimed by Disneyland to be the longest in the world, and during its inauguration it was blessed by Chief Nevangnewa, a 96-year-old Hopi chief. The diorama cost over \$367,000 and took 80,000 labor hours to construct.

The addition of the Grand Canyon Diorama in 1958 prompted changes to the Retlaw 2 freight train pulled by the DRR's No. 1 locomotive, which involved adding side-facing bench seating pointed towards Disneyland and red-and-white striped awnings on all of the cattle cars and gondolas. The walls on the cattle cars facing the park were also removed to allow for better views of the diorama. That same year, a third gondola with the same modifications as the other gondolas was added, and a fourth gondola with the same attributes was added in 1959. This brought the total number of freight cars in the train set, now referred to by Disneyland employees as Holiday Red, to eight. Prior to these modifications, the cattle cars and gondolas of this train set had no seating, requiring passengers to stand for the duration of the ride. Despite safety concerns voiced by Ward Kimball related to the lack of seats on these train cars, Walt Disney, for the purpose of authenticity, had insisted that there be no seats on them; he wanted the passengers to feel like cattle on an actual cattle train.

In April 1958, Tomorrowland Station, a new station with a futuristic theme and consisting of a covered platform with no station building, was built in the Tomorrowland section for the DRR. The station was updated in 1998 as part of a redevelopment of the Tomorrowland section.

Around the same time that the No. 3 locomotive was placed into service in 1958, Roger Broggie decided that a fourth locomotive was needed for the DRR. After Walt Disney concurred, Broggie once again began searching for a narrow-gauge steam locomotive to purchase and restore. Broggie eventually found an advertisement in a rail magazine offering a suitable locomotive for sale in New Jersey, and after contacting the seller, Broggie passed on the information to Gerald Best to research the locomotive. Best was able to determine that the locomotive had been built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1925, that it had previously been used to pull tourist trains on the Pine Creek Railroad in New Jersey, and that it had been initially used by the Raritan River Sand Company in New Jersey. After its purchase, the locomotive was delivered to the Walt Disney Studios' machine shop where restoration work began, which included installing a new boiler built by Dixon Boiler Works and adding a new tender built by Fleming Metal Fabricators designed to hold diesel oil. This locomotive became the DRR's No. 4 locomotive and it went into service on July 25, 1959, at a cost after restoration of more than \$57,000. 1959 was also the year in which E tickets arrived, and the attractions deemed to be the best in the park required them, including the DRR.

### Changes since 1960

To have sufficient space for the planned New Orleans Square section, the Disneyland Railroad's track on the western edge of its route was expanded outwards again in 1962, Frontierland Station's depot building in that same vicinity was moved across the DRR's track, and a covered platform with no station building was built on the opposite side to serve as the new Frontierland Station. Although the station was no longer in the Frontierland section, its name was not changed to New Orleans Square Station until September 1996.

By 1965, the six passenger cars of the DRR's Retlaw 1 train, due to their slow passenger loading and unloading times, began to be phased out of service. In July 1974, the Retlaw 1 passenger cars were retired and stored in the DRR's roundhouse, except for the Grand Canyon observation coach, which was converted into a parlor car and renamed Lilly Belle after Walt Disney's wife Lillian. The Lilly Belle was given a new exterior paint scheme and a new interior, which included varnished mahogany paneling, velour curtains and seats, a floral-patterned wool rug, and Disney family pictures framed and hung on the walls. The first official passenger to come aboard the Lilly Belle after its conversion into a parlor car in September 1975 was Japanese Emperor Hirohito, and since then it can be regularly seen coupled on the ends of the DRR's trains. In 1996, rail collector Bill Norred acquired the five other Retlaw 1 passenger cars. Norred died two years later, and in 1999 his family sold the four coaches of the former Retlaw 1 passenger train to Rob Rossi, owner of the Pacific Coast Railroad located within Santa Margarita Ranch in Santa Margarita, California, leaving only the Retlaw 1 combine car in the Norred family's possession. On July 10, 2010, the Norred family sold the Retlaw 1 combine car to the Carolwood Foundation, which restored it and put it on display next to Walt Disney's Carolwood Barn within the Los Angeles Live Steamers Railroad Museum complex in Los Angeles' Griffith Park.

In 1966, a five-gondola train set with green-and-white-striped awnings and a five-gondola train set with blue-and-white-striped awnings, referred to by Disneyland employees as Holiday Green and Holiday Blue respectively, were added to the DRR's rolling stock. Both train sets had side-facing bench seating like the Holiday Red freight train. By the time that the new Holiday Green and Holiday Blue trains sets were introduced in 1966, the DRR's original roundhouse, located on the end of a spur line connected to the main line near the Rivers of America in the Frontierland section, had been replaced by a larger roundhouse, located on the end of a new spur line connected to the main line in the Tomorrowland section. The new roundhouse, where the DRR's locomotives and train cars are stored and maintained, was also built to house the storage and maintenance facility for the Disneyland Monorail.

The DRR's Primeval World Diorama was put on display later in 1966, adjacent to the Grand Canyon Diorama. One year prior, the DRR's track on the eastern edge of its route had been expanded outwards to accommodate the diorama's construction. The Audio-Animatronic dinosaurs from Ford's Magic Skyway, one of the attractions created by Disney for the 1964 New York World's Fair, were incorporated into the diorama, including a Tyrannosaurus confronting a Stegosaurus. The diorama was one of the last additions made to the DRR, and Disneyland in general, before the death of Walt Disney on December 15, 1966.

From 1982, A, B, C, D, and E tickets were discontinued in favor of a pay-one-price admission system for Disneyland, allowing visitors to experience all of the park's attractions, including the DRR, as many times as desired. In June 1985, the new Videopolis Station, consisting of a covered platform with no station building, was constructed in the Fantasyland section for the DRR. That same year, the DRR's track on the northern edge of its route was expanded outwards in order to make room for the new Videopolis stage. With the Mickey's Toontown expansion of the park, Mickey's Toontown Depot, a cartoon-themed depot building, replaced Videopolis Station in 1993.

Out of a desire to have four trains regularly running at once each day on the DRR, in the mid-1990s the Disneyland park began to search for an additional narrow-gauge steam locomotive to add to the railroad's rolling stock. One such locomotive was acquired from Bill Norred in 1996 in exchange for the combine car and four coaches from the DRR's retired Retlaw 1 passenger train set, but after the park received it, the new locomotive was deemed to be too large for the DRR's operations. In 1997, it was sent to the Walt Disney World Railroad in the Magic Kingdom park of Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida, where the locomotive was dedicated, despite being too small for the railroad's operations, and named after Disney animator and rail enthusiast Ward Kimball. Still needing a fifth locomotive for the DRR, the park traded the Ward Kimball locomotive in 1999 to the Cedar Point & Lake Erie Railroad in the Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio, for a new locomotive suitable for the railroad. Named Maud L., the locomotive was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1902 and was originally used to haul sugar cane at the Laurel Valley Sugar Plantation in Louisiana owned by the Barker and Lepine Company. After arriving in Disneyland, the Maud L., later renamed Ward Kimball like the locomotive for which it was traded, was given a new cab built by Disney and a new boiler built by Hercules Power, which was subcontracted by Superior Boiler Works.

Due to budget issues, the restoration of the locomotive was suspended not long after its arrival, and its parts were planned to be placed in long-term storage in late 2003. The Ward Kimball locomotive's restoration efforts were resurrected soon after, when it was decided that its addition to the DRR would be incorporated into the celebration of Disneyland's fiftieth anniversary in July 2005. In late 2004, Boschan Boiler and Restorations in Carson, California, led by Paul Boschan, a former roundhouse manager and engineer at the Roaring Camp & Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad in Felton, California, was awarded the contract to complete the restoration of the Ward Kimball. The restoration work performed included installing new driving wheels, attaching a new smokebox door, and applying gold-leaf silhouettes of Kimball's Jiminy Cricket character on the sides of the headlamp. The Ward Kimball locomotive, which entered service on June 25, 2005, became the DRR's No. 5 locomotive, and on February 15 the following year, John Kimball, the son of Ward Kimball, who died in 2002, christened the locomotive during its dedication ceremony. In 2011, Ward Kimball's grandson Nate Lord became a DRR engineer and drove the Ward Kimball locomotive.

A few weeks before the debut of the No. 5 locomotive, the railroad, for the first time in its history, hosted a privately owned train on its track. On the morning of May 10, before Disneyland opened for the day, a private ceremony was held at New Orleans Square Station to honor Disney animator and rail enthusiast Ollie Johnston, supposedly to thank him for helping to inspire Walt Disney's passion for trains, which led to the creation of Disneyland. The true motive for having Johnston there was soon revealed when a simple steam train not part of the DRR's rolling stock, consisting of a locomotive named Marie E. and a caboose, rolled towards the station and stopped at its platform. Johnston, a previous owner of the steam train, used to run it on his vacation property, which he sold, along with the train, in 1993. The man who now owned the train was Pixar film director John Lasseter, who had brought the train to Disneyland in order to give Johnston, his mentor, an opportunity to reunite with and drive his former locomotive. Johnston, then in his nineties, was helped into the Marie E., and with Lasseter at his side, he grasped the locomotive's throttle and drove his former possession three times around the DRR's main line. Although Johnston died in 2008, Lasseter continues to run the Marie E., the caboose, and an assortment of train cars on his private Justi Creek Railway.

The diesel oil used for fuel to generate steam in the DRR's locomotives was replaced in April 2007 with B98 biodiesel, consisting of two percent diesel oil and ninety-eight percent soybean oil. Due to problems with storing the soybean-based biodiesel, the DRR briefly switched back to conventional diesel oil in November 2008 before adopting new biodiesel incorporating recycled cooking oil in January 2009.

On January 11, 2016, the DRR temporarily closed to accommodate the construction of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge. Additionally, the original DRR roundhouse building, which became a maintenance facility for ride vehicles of other Disneyland attractions, was demolished around April 2016. The DRR reopened on July 29, 2017, with a new route along the northern edge of the Rivers of America named Columbia Gorge, which features rock formations, waterfalls, a trestle bridge, and the line's only left-hand turn. The DRR's dioramas were also given new special projection effects. During a media preview for the attraction's reopening the previous day, John Lasseter brought his Marie E. locomotive and drove it along the DRR's new route. Pulled behind the Marie E. were an inoperable locomotive and train car, which were both previously owned by Ward Kimball and run on his former Grizzly Flats Railroad. The inoperable locomotive, named Chloe, and the train car are now owned by the Southern California Railway Museum (formerly the Orange Empire Railway Museum) in Perris, California, which was in the process of restoring the Chloe to operating condition at the time of the DRR's media preview.

On May 31, 2023, the Splash Mountain log flume attraction containing one of the DRR tunnels permanently closed to be rethemed as the new Tiana's Bayou Adventure ride. The DRR temporarily closed between August 24 and 25 due to work being done on the former Splash Mountain tunnel.

## Ride experience

Beginning at Main Street, U.S.A. Station adjacent to Disneyland's entrance, where a pump-style handcar built by the Kalamazoo Manufacturing Company can be seen on a siding, the trains of the Disneyland Railroad travel along its single track in a clockwise direction on its circular route. The train will take around 18 minutes to complete a round trip on the main line when three trains are running, and 20 minutes when four trains are running; on any given day, between two and four trains run, with three trains running on average. Each train arrives at each station every 5-10 minutes. An engineer accompanied by a fireman operates the locomotive, while conductors at each end of the train supervise the passengers. Prior to departing Main Street, U.S.A. Station, the engineer must confirm whether the signal light in the locomotive's cab is green, indicating that the track segment ahead is clear, or red, indicating that the track segment ahead is occupied by another train. The DRR's route is divided into eleven such segments, or blocks, and each locomotive has a block signal in its cab to communicate the status of each block. Prior to the installation of cab signalling in the locomotives around 2005, the status of each block along the railroad's 1.2 miles (1.9 km) of main-line track was displayed by track-side block signals, of which only the ones at the four stations remain. The speed limit of the DRR is 10–15 mph (16–24 km/h).

Once the signal light in the locomotive turns green, the journey from the Main Street, U.S.A. section begins with the train traversing a small bridge, passing by the Adventureland section, and going through a tunnel before arriving at New Orleans Square Station in the New Orleans Square section. While the train is stopped at this station, where the locomotive takes on water from the railroad's water tower if needed, the train crew will perform a boiler blowdown on the locomotive. At the old Frontierland Station depot building, a sound effect of a telegraph operator using a telegraph key to enter Morse code can be heard emanating the first two lines of Walt Disney's 1955 Disneyland dedication speech. Adjacent to the old Frontierland Station depot building, a freight house building used as a train crew break and storage area can be seen, as well as a fully functioning historic semaphore signal connected to the station's block signal.

After the journey restarts, the train travels past the Haunted Mansion dark ride attraction, enters a tunnel through the upcoming Tiana's Bayou Adventure log flume attraction, and crosses a trestle bridge over the Critter Country section. It then moves over another trestle bridge that wraps around the Rivers of America in the Frontierland section. Occasionally, the Mark Twain Riverboat can be seen in the Rivers of America alongside the train, at which time they will sound their whistles at each other to the tune of Shave and a Haircut. Afterwards, the train rolls through another tunnel before reaching Mickey's Toontown Depot between the Mickey's Toontown and Fantasyland sections. While the train is stopped at this station, a non-functioning water tower can be seen on the opposite side of the track to the station's depot building.

Once the journey resumes, the train moves across an overpass and passes by the façade of the It's a Small World water-based dark ride attraction before reaching a fuel pump disguised as a boulder, where the train stops if the locomotive needs to be refueled. From this point, the train cuts across an access road and goes underneath the track of the Disneyland Monorail before stopping at Tomorrowland Station in the Tomorrowland section.

When the journey continues, the train goes across another access road and enters a tunnel containing the Grand Canyon Diorama followed by the Primeval World Diorama. As the train runs alongside the Grand Canyon Diorama, the main theme from On the Trail, the third movement of Ferde Grofé's Grand Canyon Suite, can be heard; and as the train runs alongside the Primeval World Diorama, music from the 1961 film Mysterious Island can be heard. Shortly after leaving the tunnel, the train arrives back at Main Street, U.S.A. Station, completing what the park refers to as The Grand Circle Tour.

The DRR usually runs at night during evening fireworks shows, but sometimes closes due to adverse weather conditions. An option to ride on a seat in the tenders of the DRR's Nos. 1 and 2 locomotives is available upon request at Main Street, U.S.A. Station at the start of each operating day. The option to ride in the DRR's Lilly Belle parlor car is also available upon request at Main Street, U.S.A. Station when a Disneyland employee is available to monitor the passengers aboard it and no heavy rain is falling. The DRR's roundhouse, which cannot normally be viewed by the public, is made available for viewing to participants of specific runDisney events where the race course organized for the runners goes past the facility.

## Rolling stock

### Locomotives

The first four steam locomotives to enter service on the Disneyland Railroad are named after former AT&SF Railway presidents. The fifth is named after a former Disney animator. Walt Disney himself, after putting on an engineer's outfit, occasionally drove the DRR's locomotives when they were pulling trains with passengers on board. Each year, the DRR locomotive fleet consumes about 200,000 US gallons (760,000 L) of fuel. The DRR locomotives each require 75 US gallons (280 L) gallons of water for one trip around the park. Since 2006, the DRR locomotives have been featured as static displays multiple times at Fullerton Railroad Days, an annual festival that takes place at the Fullerton Transportation Center in Fullerton, California. Since 2010, the DRR locomotives received overhauls one by one at the Hillcrest Shops in Reedley, California.

### Train cars

The Disneyland Railroad today operates four sets of train cars, as well as a parlor car. The combine car from the railroad's former Retlaw 1 passenger train, one of the DRR's two original train sets, was Walt Disney's favorite train car on the railroad, as it brought back memories from his youth working as a news butcher on the Missouri Pacific Railway. On May 5 and 6, 2012, the Retlaw 1 combine car and the Lilly Belle parlor car were temporarily put on static display at Fullerton Railroad Days.

## Incidents

- Within a week of Disneyland's opening on July 17, 1955, a brakeman pulled the switch connecting the Disneyland Railroad's main line with a siding at Main Street, U.S.A. Station too soon as the Retlaw 2 freight train on the siding was passing the Retlaw 1 passenger train stopped at the station on the main line. The caboose on the end of the freight train had not made it fully across the switch when it was pulled, and as a result the caboose's front set of wheels correctly traveled along the siding while the rear set of wheels incorrectly traveled along the main line towards the passenger train, causing the caboose to swing to the side before colliding with a concrete slab and derailing upon impact. During the ensuing commotion, the erring brakeman, presumably to avoid disciplinary action, quietly left the scene of the accident, exited the park, and was not seen again. No injuries were reported, and by the following year the use of sidings at stations on the DRR's main line came to an end.
- In February 2000, a tree in the Adventureland section fell onto the DRR's Holiday Red freight train while it was in motion, damaging the awnings and their supports on the gondolas as well as knocking off the cupola on top of the caboose before the train came to a stop. No injuries occurred as a result of this accident.
- On the night of April 4, 2004, at Tomorrowland Station, accumulated diesel fumes in the firebox of the DRR's No. 3 locomotive exploded after its fire suddenly went out. The explosion ejected the engineer from the locomotive's cab and inflicted serious burns on the fireman.
- On the afternoon of August 11, 2019, the DRR's No. 5 locomotive broke down on a trestle over the entrance to Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge with a broken axle, forcing an evacuation of the train. No injuries were reported and the DRR was back in service by the following day.
- Between the night of December 28 and early morning of December 29, 2022, a fire broke out in the New Orleans Square section, damaging the freight depot. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
- On May 26, 2023, one of the DRR locomotives broke down on a trestle bridge over the Critter Country section near the entrance to Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, forcing an evacuation of the train 45 minutes later.

## See also

- AT&SF No. 3751 steam locomotive
- Ghost Town & Calico Railroad
- Rail transport in Walt Disney Parks and Resorts

Steam railroad system in Disneyland

3 ft gauge railways in the United States

Passenger rail transportation in California

Railroads of amusement parks in the United States

Walt Disney Parks and Resorts attractions


Give It Away (Red Hot Chili Peppers song)

"Give It Away" is a song by American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers from the group's fifth studio album, Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991). It was released as the lead single from their album in September 1991 by Warner Bros. Records. The music was written by guitarist John Frusciante and bassist Flea during a jam session months prior to the album recording sessions. Vocalist Anthony Kiedis wrote the song's most prevalent lyrical refrain in response to an experience he shared with former girlfriend Nina Hagen regarding altruistic behavior and the value of selflessness.

"Give It Away" went on to achieve international fame, reaching number one on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks in late 1991, giving the band their first ever number one single. In 1992 the single charted inside the top 75 of the US Hot 100 in the wake of the huge success of the record's second single "Under the Bridge". "Give It Away" also became the band's first top ten hit in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number nine on the UK Singles Chart; this did not occur until February 1994, nearly two and a half years after it was first released in the US.

The accompanying music video, which was directed by French film-maker Stéphane Sednaoui, was put into heavy rotation on music-television stations such as MTV and added to the band's success. Since its release, "Give It Away" has gone on to receive numerous accolades, including a Grammy Award for the Best Hard Rock Performance With Vocals in 1992. Steve Huey of AllMusic noted that while the single "didn't achieve the massive pop success of its follow-up, 'Under the Bridge' [...] it did become one of the band's most instantly recognizable songs."

## Origins and recording

Guitarist John Frusciante and bassist Flea wrote much of "Give It Away" during jam sessions in the early 1990s. Following the Chili Peppers' tour in support of Mother's Milk (1989), the duo spent time in a side project called H.A.T.E. with members of Fishbone. During their tenure in the group, the guitarist and bassist created the main riff and accompanying bassline for "Give It Away". The rhythm was played at several H.A.T.E. performances shortly thereafter, but when the side project disbanded Frusciante and Flea believed the track would be appropriate for the Chili Peppers' upcoming record. Vocalist Anthony Kiedis agreed, and upon hearing the rest of the Chili Peppers play the song he began chanting "give it away, give it away, give it away now". The phrase had been something the vocalist intended to incorporate into a song for the band's new record, but it was not until he heard the bassline that the lyrics fit. Kiedis said, "I was so struck by Flea's bass part, which covered the whole length of the instrument's neck, that I jumped up and marched over to the mic, my notebook in tow. I always had fragments of songs and ideas or even specific isolated phrases in mind."

The song was recorded between April and June 1991 at The Mansion in Los Angeles, California. Through the recording of "Give It Away" came a practice of crafting songs that the band would continue to use on every album following Blood Sugar Sex Magik. When the group encountered difficulty in composing a bridge for the song, it developed a tool the members colloquially termed "face-offs". Flea and Frusciante were unable to come to an agreement on guitar or bass progressions, but separately crafted part of the song. The band then reconvened at a later time and chose the most appropriate inclusion. With "Give It Away", a chorus and verse had already been written but a bridge was lacking, so thus they partook in a "face-off".

## Lyrics and meaning

The lyrical meaning behind "Give It Away" is centered on the philosophy of selflessness and altruistic behavior. The song is titled after its most prevalent lyrical phrase "give it away", which is taken from an experience Kiedis had with his former girlfriend—punk rock singer Nina Hagen—in the early 1980s. Hagen was several years Kiedis's senior and became a role-model during his drug addiction to heroin: "she realized how young and inexperienced I was then, so she was always passing on gems to me, not in a preachy way, just by seizing on opportunities." When Kiedis was looking through her closet he came across a jacket he liked, and commented to Hagen that it was "really cool". Upon expressing this, Hagen immediately told him to keep it. Her reasoning behind this selflessness was due to an attempt to constantly make her life more enjoyable, and explained to Kiedis that "if you have a closet full of clothes and you try to keep them all, your life will get very small. But if you have a full closet and someone sees something they like, if you give it to them, the world is a better place."

The act was something that affected Kiedis significantly because he had never before experienced such an enlightening ideology on life. Growing up in Los Angeles, he had always thought differently from Hagen. Instead of giving material possessions away and being free thinking, the vocalist believed one must take what one wants, as no one else will provide. Instead, he now adopted Hagen's philosophy: "It was such an epiphany that someone would want to give me her favorite thing. That stuck with me forever. Every time I'd be thinking 'I have to keep,' I'd remember 'No, you gotta give away instead.' When I started going regularly to [drug and alcohol] meetings, one of the principles I had learned was that the way to maintain your own sobriety is to give it to another suffering alcoholic. Every time you empty your vessel of that energy, fresh new energy comes flooding in." Flea's bassline for the song allowed Kiedis to recall this incident and he believed the music paired perfectly with the lyrics. During the verses, Kiedis departs from the idea of unselfishness and sings about a variety of topics including long-time friend River Phoenix, musician Bob Marley and various sexual themes including fertility and lust.

## Music and composition

"Give It Away" is performed in the time signature of 4/4 time. The track begins with a distinctively "dry" guitar tone that is similar in style to the rest of the record. Producer Rick Rubin had a considerable influence on the sound of Blood Sugar Sex Magik by removing much of the reverb and guitar layering that epitomized the band's previous album Mother's Milk. This caused the record to contain simpler and dryer guitar and bass chords that were not filtered through guitar effects—those that did, however, were made with vintage electronics from the 1960s and 70s. For "Give It Away", along with the rest of the album, Rubin sought to achieve a sense of atmosphere that was similar to 60s records that were made without commercialism or viability in mind and to downplay on "big" sounds: "What you hear is what you get—there's not a lot of trickery. A lot of people want the biggest sound, with walls of guitar and huge drums. But I don't think those things matter." The song follows a traditional verse-chorus-verse structure; when Kiedis begins singing, Frusciante jumps into a funk-oriented riff that is repeated throughout the verse while Flea plays a bass line that uses virtually the entire length of the fretboard.

During the chorus, Kiedis sings "Give it away, give it away, give it away now" repeatedly over a more rapid guitar riff before Frusciante provides, according to Steve Huey of Allmusic, a "sudden contrast to Kiedis's hyperactivity in the form of a languid solo pre-recorded and dubbed backwards over the rhythm track." The solo was recorded in one take because Frusciante had developed a preference towards speedy execution and a raw feeling; according to Flea, "We did very little fix-up stuff. John's philosophy was that he would only play a solo twice. He'd play it once, and if he didn't like it or we didn't like it, he'd play it again—completely different. And that was it." "Give It Away" also makes use of other instruments like the jew's harp, which was played by band friend Pete Weiss. The song continues through several verses and choruses before reaching a bridge that introduces the outro, which consists of "a hard-rocking riff" that, according to Huey, strongly resembles the main riff from Black Sabbath's "Sweet Leaf" from their 1971 record Master of Reality. Kiedis repeats "Give it away now" for several measures before the guitar, bass and drums drop out.

## Release and reception

"Give It Away" was released as the lead single from Blood Sugar Sex Magik in early September 1991, shortly before the record went on sale. Warner Bros. sought to premiere the song on a popular rock radio station in Texas, but were turned down when the format refused to air the track—they told employees at the label to "come back to us when you have a melody in your song". The band then embarked on a short press tour through Europe in order to promote the record; it was during this time that KROQ-FM, a Los Angeles-based modern rock station, began to place "Give It Away" on heavy rotation. According to Kiedis, "That was the beginning of the infusion of those songs into mass consciousness."

Critical reception to the song, much like the album, was highly positive. Jeff Vice of Deseret News noted "[this] dynamic first single that pays homage to Bob Marley, may start a new musical trend with its brilliant Rasta-funk." Patrick MacDonald of The Seattle Times commented that "[Blood Sugar Sex Magik] includes one of the best songs the Peppers have done—'Give It Away', the first single. The hook is irresistible and the message, about 'material excess,' is delivered simply and straightforwardly." Steve Huey of AllMusic felt the song was enhanced by Kiedis's lyrics, which were "a free-associative mixture of positive vibes, tributes to musical heroes, and free love, and their literal meaning was often as difficult to understand as Kiedis's nasal, staccato enunciation. But that distinctive vocal style helped make the most comprehensible lines even catchier and more memorable, greatly enhancing the song's appeal." He continued by praising the track's music, "John Frusciante's guitar should not be underappreciated either; his noisy, scratchy funk-rock work add[s] depth and texture to the powerhouse rhythm section of Flea and Chad Smith." Steven Wells from NME declared it as "screamingly anti-materialist". Another editor, Terry Staunton, opined, "A tad sluggish compared to usual Chili Peppers fare, this has been a big hit in America but will not be here. Anthony Kiedis sounds horribly like Aerosmith's Steve Tyler". Jay Clarke of the Richmond Times-Dispatch felt "Give It Away" was "a journey into the funky world of Kiedis and Flea. This song invigorates better than the heaviest metal or the most hard-core rap." Tom Moon of Rolling Stone noted, "The pummeling 'Give It Away' [...] established a template for rock punctuated by the beatcentric relentlessness of hip-hop that would be appropriated by everyone." Mark Sutherland from UK magazine Smash Hits gave it four out of five, declaring it as "an almighty funky beast of a rock stomper that will have entire nations dancing like constipated chickens and might just make them as hay-uge here as they are in the States."

Since the song's release, it has become a notable factor in the Red Hot Chili Peppers' success and has won a variety of accolades. "Give It Away" won a Grammy award at the 35th Ceremony in 1993 for the "Best Hard Rock Performance". In 1994 "Give It Away" was included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's unordered list of the "500 Songs That Shaped Rock"; in 2002 Kerrang! placed the song at number 67 in their list of the "100 Greatest Singles of All Time"; in 2004 Q included it in their unordered list of the "1001 Songs You Must Own!"; and VH1 awarded the song the 50th spot in its 2009 compilation of the "100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs". Kerrang! and Rolling Stone both named "Give It Away" as the Red Hot Chili Peppers' fourth-best song.

## Music video

The music video for "Give It Away" was made by French fashion photographer and director Stéphane Sednaoui. Kiedis wanted the video to be visually distinct and readily identifiable but disliked much of the material Warner Bros. sent for him to choose from: "I started viewing reels and reels and reels of video directors but nothing looked good to me. Everything was the same, boring, homogenized, contrived shit." Upon finding Sednaoui's reel, however, the singer said it was "like nothing else. It was slower and poetic, shot in black and white. It seemed like authentic art, not something shot for MTV." He and Flea met with Sednaoui to talk about the video, for which the director proposed a "very desolated [and] very graphic landscape," while heavily focusing on the band members with little to no outside influence. It was decided that the video would be filmed in black and white while Sednaoui took the idea of painting the band members with silver acrylic from previous photo shoots he had done. The photographer recalls that he was "amazed by what [the band] gave me because they went far far far beyond what I was expecting and I think that's one of my best experiences in that regard". The overall mood of the video was intended to be a personification of the song, upbeat and lively.

Sednaoui experimented with a variety of cinematography techniques including wide-angle lenses, shots from below the subjects, superimposition, vertically cut screens displaying different angles of the same shot, reverse film effects, multiple lighting situations and flashy clothing to convey his concept. Frusciante noted the feeling of the video to be extremely vibrant and over-the-top: "When it was us just painting ourselves silver and wearing these big silver boots and stuff, I mean it felt like glam rock or something."

The video begins with a wide-angle shot of Flea in a desert setting wearing pants with several gold-colored horns protruding from each leg. The bassist is standing in a meditative stance and brings his arms together above his head when the music begins to play. The video then transitions between a variety of shots edited together that consist of the four band members standing with their eyes closed; the band dancing around in a dimly lit setting; a ground view of Frusciante playing a reflective silver Fender Stratocaster in between his legs while wearing pants made up entirely of small pieces of mirror; the band members moving around with full makeup on; and the band members dancing frenziedly. Kiedis adopted a deliberately outlandish wardrobe which incorporated gold lipstick, revealing mesh shorts and bright silver boots.

During the backwards guitar solo, Frusciante was filmed waving a large aluminum ribbon; Kiedis was initially apprehensive about Sednaoui's desire for the guitarist to do so, believing he would tell the director "'Fuck you and take that dancing ribbon and shove it up your French ass, buddy' but [Frusciante] gladly went off and made love to the air with this dancing ribbon. He would have danced around for hours with that thing." The footage was edited in reverse to complement the solo. While some of the scenes were planned with a storyboard, much of it was improvised or made up on the spot over the two-day shoot. During a particular scene Kiedis began to move his tongue flamboyantly to dramatically accentuate the lyrics, which Sednaoui believed was extremely beneficial to the exuberant nature of the video. Where the video begins in what appears to be the daytime, it concludes at dusk with silhouettes of the band members running into the setting sun.

The video—which cost an estimated \$140,000 to produce—was completed while Kiedis and Frusciante were on a promotional trip through Europe in support of Blood Sugar Sex Magik. When the vocalist first saw it, he was "more hysterically ecstatic about that piece of visual footage than anything [the band had] ever done." Warner Bros. executives, however, were worried that the content would be "too weird" or "too artsy" for the general public and favored a more traditional premise in contrast to the experimental approach Sednaoui took. The video was ultimately released on September 4, 1991, without being edited by the record label; since then it has been widely credited as being a considerable factor in the Red Hot Chili Peppers' success and greatly increased their international popularity. Journalist Jeff Apter noted the video's "funky brew of goofy looks, a subtle invasive hook, Flea's spindly fingered baseline and Kiedis's crotch-hugging shorts made the clip essential viewing across MTV throughout the last few months of 1991." Steve Huey of AllMusic wrote in his review of the song that "MTV jumped all over the visually distinctive video." Nominated for three awards—"Best Alternative Video", "Breakthrough Video", and "Best Art Direction"—at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards, it won the latter two.

## Live performances

"Give It Away" has been performed live by the band over 775 times, the most out of any of the band's songs and 29 years after its first performance; it remains a staple in the band's setlists, often closing the show. The band has performed the song on various talk shows and other events, including Saturday Night Live on March 6, 2006; as well as during the Super Bowl XLVIII halftime show on February 2, 2014. The Los Angeles Rams (of which the band members are fans) play the song prior to the start of the fourth quarter during home games at SoFi Stadium.

## Formats and track listing

- US cassette single (1991)

1. "Give It Away"  – 4:43
2. "Search and Destroy"  – 3:34

- European cassette single (1991)

1. "Give It Away"  – 4:43
2. "Soul to Squeeze"  – 4:52

- 7-inch single 1 (1991)

1. "Give It Away"  – 4:43
2. "Give It Away" (12-inch Mix)  – 6:02

- 7-inch single 2 (1991)

1. "Give It Away"  – 4:43
2. "Search and Destroy  – 3:34

- 12-inch single (1991)

1. "Give It Away" (12-inch Mix)  – 6:02
2. "Give It Away" (Rasta Mix)  – 6:47
3. "Give It Away" (Single Mix)  – 4:46
4. "Search and Destroy"  – 3:34
5. "Give It Away"  – 4:43

- CD single 1 (1991)

1. "Give It Away"  – 4:43
2. "Search and Destroy"  – 3:34
3. "Soul to Squeeze"  – 4:52

- CD single 2 (1991)

1. "Give It Away" (Single Mix)  – 4:46
2. "Give It Away" (12-inch Mix)  – 6:02
3. "Search and Destroy"  – 3:34
4. "Give It Away" (Rasta Mix)  – 6:47
5. "Give It Away"  – 4:43

- CD single 3 (1992)

1. "Give It Away" (Single Mix)  – 4:46
2. "Give It Away" (12-inch Mix)  – 6:02
3. "Search and Destroy"  – 3:34
4. "Give It Away" (Rasta Mix)  – 6:47
5. "Give It Away"  – 4:43
6. "Soul to Squeeze"  – 4:52

- European 12-inch (1993)

1. "Give It Away" (12-inch Mix)  – 6:02
2. "Give It Away" (Rasta Mix)  – 6:47
3. "If You Have to Ask" (Disco-Krisco Mix)  – 7:12

- CD single 4 (1994 CD1 re-release)

1. "Give It Away" (Single Mix)  – 4:46
2. "Give It Away" (12-inch Mix)  – 6:02
3. "Give It Away" (Rasta Mix)  – 6:47
4. "Soul to Squeeze"  – 4:52

- CD single 5 (1994 CD2 re-release)

1. "Give It Away" (Edit)  – 3:46
2. "If You Have to Ask" (Friday Night Fever Blister Mix)  – 6:34
3. "If You Have to Ask" (Scott & Garth Mix)  – 7:12
4. "Nobody Weird Like Me" (Live)  – 5:03

## Personnel

Red Hot Chili Peppers

- Flea – bass, scream
- John Frusciante – lead and rhythm guitar
- Anthony Kiedis – vocals
- Chad Smith – drums, tambourine

Additional musicians

- Brendan O'Brien – Hammond B3 organ
- Pete Weiss – Jew's harp

## Charts

## Certifications

## Cover version

- A double-parody of "Give It Away" and "Under the Bridge" titled "Bedrock Anthem" was recorded by "Weird Al" Yankovic in his 1993 album Alapalooza.
- Mr. Bungle performed a mock version of the song in 1999, as part of a halloween concert parodying Red Hot Chili Peppers.
- Busta Rhymes used the "Give it away, give it away, give it away now" lyrics in his 2001 song Break Ya Neck. The members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers are listed in the songwriting credits.
- Idina Menzel performed a few bars of the song as part of her exit music on her 2015 World Tour.

1991 single by Red Hot Chili Peppers

Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance

Music videos directed by Stéphane Sednaoui


Kill the Irishman

Kill the Irishman is a 2011 American biographical crime film directed by Jonathan Hensleigh, and starring Ray Stevenson, Vincent D'Onofrio, Christopher Walken, and Val Kilmer. Written by Hensleigh and Jeremy Walters, it is based on the life of the Irish-American gangster Danny Greene, and was adapted from the book To Kill the Irishman: The War That Crippled the Mafia by Rick Porrello.

Before entering production, Kill the Irishman had a troubled development stage that lasted over a decade. Production commenced in 2009, and filming took place in and around Detroit.

The film chronicles the rise and fall of Danny Greene. He worked as a longshoreman on the Cleveland docks, until being chosen to serve as interim president of the International Longshoremen's Association in 1961. In 1964, he was convicted of embezzling \$11,500 of the union's funds. After his conviction, Greene rose through the criminal underworld in Cleveland and waged war on the Mafia for control of the city. After many failed attempts on Greene's life, he was assassinated on October 6, 1977, by contract killer Ray Ferritto. Greene's death ultimately led to the demise of the Cleveland Mafia.

Kill the Irishman was released in the United States on March 11, 2011 and premiered at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema in New York City. Most of the cast, including Stevenson and D'Onofrio, were in attendance as was Shondor Birns' niece. The film received mixed reviews upon its release, with some reviewers criticizing the purported similarities to Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas. Kill the Irishman grossed \$1,188,194 at the domestic box office, against a production budget of \$12 million.

## Plot

In 1960, Danny Greene and his childhood friends Billy McComber and Art Sneperger are longshoremen on the Cleveland docks. Sneperger's gambling leaves him in a huge debt with Cleveland Mafia captain John Nardi. In return for Sneperger's debt being forgiven, Danny supplies Nardi with goods stolen from the docks. Corrupt labor union boss Jerry Merke finds out, demands a cut of Danny's profits, and sends his enforcer Joe Buka to kill him. Danny provokes Buka into a fist fight and beats him unconscious. He kicks Merke out of his office, and is elected local union president. He improves the working conditions at the docks and starts doing business with Nardi.

Danny's own corruption as union president is revealed in an exposé by the local newspaper. Cleveland police detective Joe Manditski, who grew up with Danny in Collinwood, arrests him. Broke and facing prison, Danny pleads to lesser charges in return for becoming an FBI informant. Danny moves his unhappy wife and daughters back to Collinwood and Nardi gets him work as an enforcer for Jewish loan shark Shondor Birns. Nardi then brokers a deal with Mafia captain Jack Licavoli for Danny to force the city's garbage haulers to join a union Licavoli controls. Danny's crew terrorizes trash haulers into join the union, but Danny's friend Mike Frato refuses. Licavoli orders Danny to kill Frato, but Danny balks because Frato has ten children. Nardi counsels him privately that Frato's refusal can not go unpunished.

Danny learns from the FBI that Sneperger has returned to gambling and has become a police informant. Sneperger is assigned to set a remote controlled bomb under Frato's car, but Danny sets it off as he is doing it. An enraged Frato later starts shooting at Danny in a park. Danny returns a single shot to Frato's head, killing him. Danny is arrested, but released when Frato's driver tells Manditski that Danny acted in self-defense. Having had enough, Danny's long suffering wife leaves him and takes their children.

Danny wants to open an upscale restaurant and lounge and asks Birns for help. Birns arranges a \$70,000 loan from the Gambino family, but Birns' courier buys cocaine with the money and gets arrested. Birns and Danny have a falling out over who should pay the money back and Birns hires a hitman to kill Danny. Danny narrowly escapes, and kills Birns with a car bomb. After Mafia boss John T. Scalish dies, both Nardi and Licavoli are considered for succession. Licavoli is chosen due to his close ties to the New York Mafia families and decides to charge Danny a 30% "street tax" for doing business in Cleveland. Danny refuses to pay, crudely mocks Licavoli's Italian heritage, and vows, "The Irishman's in business for himself now."

An outraged Licavoli has Danny's house blown up, but he and his girlfriend survive. Licavoli then attempts to demote Nardi and take away his business, only to have the latter join forces with Danny. Vowing to take over Cleveland together, Danny and Nardi start by organizing the murders of several of Licavoli's men. Danny escapes several attempts on his life and the summer of 1976 sees 46 bombings in the Cleveland area between the warring gangs. The national attention it draws humiliates Licavoli and he asks Genovese boss Anthony Salerno in New York for help.

Wanting a new life away from Cleveland with his new fiancé, Danny makes Salerno an offer: in return for Danny surrendering the war to Licavoli, Salerno will invest in a Texas ranch that Danny will start. Salerno arranges for hitman Ray Ferritto to travel to Cleveland and work for Licavoli. Ferritto turns the tide for the Cleveland Mafia and all of Danny's closest allies, including Nardi, are killed. Detective Manditski offers Danny protection, but Danny refuses. Ferrito taps Danny's girlfriend's phone and learns that Danny has a dentist appointment. After the appointment, Danny checks his car for any explosive devices before realizing Ferritto planted a bomb in the parked car next to his. Ferrito detonates the bomb, killing Danny.

## Cast

## Development

Kill the Irishman had been in development since 1997. Producer Tommy Reid heard that Rick Porrello, an Ohio policeman, was about to publish a book about Greene called To Kill the Irishman. Reid flew to Ohio and met with Porrello, who told Reid his grandfather was a high-ranking Mafia figure in Cleveland during the Prohibition era. On March 17, 1998, they signed a deal for the film rights to the book. Getting Kill the Irishman produced was difficult. Reid frequently left deals unconcluded, and discovered that the script he'd commissioned was attached to a cover with another screenwriter and producer's name listed. According to Reid, this was a common occurrence in Hollywood, and he claims to have spent over \$1 million to ensure the film was made.

## Pre-production

### Inspiration

Reid was a fan of Mafia movies (including The Godfather and Goodfellas) and aspired to become a filmmaker. Being of Irish and Italian ancestry, he wanted to make a film that would relate to both nationalities. Reid first heard about mobster Danny Greene from his roommates in Ohio, and believed that New York City, Chicago and Boston were the "three meccas of mafia crime". According to Reid, there wasn't much documentation on Greene's life, but after hearing that Porrello was about to publish a book on Greene and the Mafia in Cleveland, he was determined to make a movie about him.

### Background research

Prior to making Kill the Irishman, Reid and screenwriter Jeremy Walters conducted research on Greene's life and organized crime in Cleveland. Reid spoke with Sister Barbara Eppich, a nun who helped raise Greene during his childhood. Sister Barbara told Reid of how Greene was abandoned during childhood and was raised by his grandfather. Because his grandfather worked nights, Greene was left to walk the streets. He would go to school dirty on a regular basis, and Sister Barbara would have to wash him. She also stated that Greene would sleep all the time but was a "phenomenal athlete".

Reid spoke to a number of law enforcement agencies, including the FBI. The FBI wanted to make sure that Reid wasn't glorifying the Mafia. Reid stated he had no intentions of glorifying crime and that "the whole message at the end of the movie is that crime doesn't pay". On a similar subject, Hensleigh also said the "film [doesn't suggest Greene] was a hero". However, he did note the film provides a balanced perspective.

While researching his role, Stevenson looked at TV footage of Greene and read Porrello's book, To Kill The Irishman. According to Stevenson, there was "quite a bit" of research material available. D'Onofrio, on the other hand, had the opposite experience. Information on Nardi was scarce, so Hensleigh allowed him to improvise on his character.

### Screenplay

Although the screenplay was adapted from his book, Porrello had "minimum involvement" in its writing. Hensleigh regularly contacted Porrello, and they agreed not to use the real names of anyone who was still alive, "out of respect and sensitivity" towards them.

### Casting

Due to the troubled development of Kill the Irishman, Reid decided to make a documentary about Greene's life, known as Danny Greene: the Rise and Fall of the Irishman. From his research for the movie, Reid became specialized in the Northern Ohio crime scene and Greene's life, and felt that by making the documentary, at least he could go to his "grave 'saying I tried'".

In 2009, with 17 hours of the documentary shot, Reid was told his film had been green-lit. He joined forces with the production company Code Entertainment and engaged with a "reliable" director; Jonathan Hensleigh. They then signed the actors Val Kilmer and Christopher Walken, and later Vincent D'Onofrio (Full Metal Jacket), Paul Sorvino (Goodfellas), and the Irish actor Ray Stevenson, respectively. Stevenson was filming The Book of Eli when he got a telephone call from Hensleigh, so they arranged to meet in Los Angeles; according to Stevenson, he was drawn to the script and immediately made a deal.

## Production

### Filming

On May 19, 2009, the film entered principal photography. It was shot within seven weeks, mostly in and around Detroit. This was partly because the city gave tax credits which Cleveland would not match. According to the 2009 report by the Michigan Film Office, Kill the Irishman received roughly \$3 million in subsidies. Michigan's film rebate pays up to 42 percent of filmmakers' expenses for costs incurred while filming in the state. Ohio offers only 25 to 35 percent in subsidies, meaning that if the producers spent the same amount filming in Cleveland, they would have received \$500,000 to \$1.25 million less in subsidies. On the other hand, Stevenson said that they wanted to film in Cleveland, but the city had "prettied itself up" and changed, whereas Detroit was - in his opinion - still "on its knees".

Two incidents occurred during filming. On the first, seven bullet holes were shot into one of the trucks used during production. On the second, the cast and crew were driving from the set, and a pedestrian was shot in the neck outside a supermarket. The ambulance took 35–45 minutes to arrive, and waited a further 35–45 minutes for the police to arrive. The paramedics refused to take the victim to the hospital without a police escort. According to Stevenson, there was a possibility that rival gangmembers would shoot at the paramedics for trying to resuscitate the victim.

## Post-production

### Effects

Due to the limited budget, some of the effects seen in the film couldn't be replicated. Stevenson said everyone "had to be on point," and that any mistakes couldn't be rectified by re-filming. For example, the producers couldn't afford to shoot the film's final scene (in which Greene is killed via a car explosion) twice. Before filming, the production crew and actors had to check everything on the set. Time was also lacking, with Stevenson saying everyone "had to be extremely focused."

### Editing

Porrello had second thoughts about one scene being included in the film. This particular scene included the murder of two police officers. Porrello felt uncomfortable approaching Hensleigh, but did so anyway. Porrello said to him: "if you are going to kill a cop", it is "going to change the tone of the story". The scene was nevertheless included in the final cut.

## Reception

### Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 62% based on 50 reviews, with an average rating of 5.6/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Kill the Irishman may not add much in the way of new ingredients to its crowded genre, but the admirable efforts of a solidly assembled cast add extra depth to a familiar story." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 50 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". A number of critics have called the film a ripoff of Goodfellas (1990).

Giving the film a positive review, Mike LaSalle, of the San Francisco Chronicle, said "What makes this film special and memorable is the character of Danny Greene, who is not the usual neighborhood hoodlum you see in movies, the kind who gets in deep and gradually loses his soul". Marshall Fine, of the Huffington Post, gave the film a mixed review. He criticized it for jumping through different events in a "jerky fashion", but summed up the review by calling it a "movie with a lot of meat on the bone, even if some of it is tough or stringy. It's not fancy, but it's always tasty".

Robert Abele, of the LA Times, said "the film plays like an explosion's aftermath; shards of mob movies that add up to the usual Goodfellas knockoff". Scott Tobias, of the A.V. Club, had similar views; saying "the biggest problem" with the film "isn't that it rips off Goodfellas", but that plenty of "good films" have "ripped it off well". In regards to the controversy surrounding Kill the Irishman and its purported similarities to Goodfellas, critic Dave Van Houwelingen said:

> There are certain movies that serve as a standard bearer for a genre – a high water mark that filmmakers always try to hit, but seem to always come up short. To me, I think Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas is that type of film for the gangster genre. In the 21 years since the film was released, so many filmmakers have tried so hard to copy Goodfellas''' success, and so few have gotten even close to capturing the magic that Scorsese did in one of his very best films. The 21 years have been littered with a bunch of pale imitations. To that list, you can add Jonathan Hensleigh's Kill the Irishman, which wants so desperately to be Goodfellas, and comes up so very, very short.

Hensleigh's directing was criticized. Scott Tobias said the directing "doesn't do much beyond filling in the template". He noted that Hensleigh was telling the "true-life tale" of the mob's decline in Cleveland, but also said that "every character and setpiece felt like it fell off a truck". LA Weekly's Nick Pinkerton held similar views, saying that although "Hensleigh perks up when filming violence, the atmosphere throughout is past-prime, stymieing any strut". Lisa Schwarzbaum, of Entertainment Weekly, also concurred, calling the film's structure "pretty square".

Despite criticizing the film's structure, Schwarzbaum called the cast "tasty", and singled out D'Onofrio, Kilmer, and Walken for praise. Clint O'Connor, of The Plain Dealer, held similar views, saying the "film's greatest strength is its cast". On the contrary, David Rooney held the opposite opinion; saying the "low-wattage cast" is what turned the "potentially strong" film into a "routine crime thriller".

### Box office performance

On its opening day, Kill the Irishman earned \$42,925 from five theaters (with an average gross of \$8,585 per theater). On its second day, the box office receipts increased by 46 percent; earning \$62,446 from five theaters (with an average gross of \$12,489 per theater). Then on the third day, the film's box office performance dropped by 36 percent; earning \$40,059 from five theaters (with an average gross of \$8,012 per theater). The gradual decline in box office receipts continued until the eighth day, where the film's gross sharply increased by 373 percent; earning \$36,119 from 21 theaters (with an average gross of \$1,720 per theater). The film continued to have periodic fluctuations at the box office. By the end of its box office run, Kill the Irishman grossed a total of \$1,188,194 at the domestic box office, against a production budget of \$12 million, considering it a box office bomb.

### Home media

After a limited theatrical release, Kill the Irishman'' was released on DVD by Anchor Bay Entertainment on June 14, 2011. As of October 22, 2015, the movie has grossed \$2,498,115 in US DVD sales.

## Soundtrack

The soundtrack for the film includes 26 songs.

1. "I'm Gonna Keep On Loving You" - Kool Blues
2. "Crazy Little Notion" - The Two Guys
3. "All I Want Is You" - Leroy Osbourne
4. "I Like the Way You Look at Me" - The Pentagons
5. "Wrong or Right He's My Baby" - Helene Smith
6. "How About You" - Steven Lang
7. "Meet Me for a Martini" - Daniel May
8. "Paddy on the Landfill" - The Irish Experience
9. "Courting Clarinets" - Stefan Maciejewsk
10. "Heart of Gold" - Norman Chandler
11. "This Is It" - Lewis Lamedica
12. "Get in a Hurry" - Eugene Blacknell
13. "You're a Prisoner" - Death
14. "Broadway Shing-a-Ling" - Soul Blenders
15. "Daffy Dotty Day" - Lake Smash
16. "I'm Running Out of Time" - Gary Michael Allen
17. "Cielo e Mar" - Amilcare Ponchielli
18. "Sulla Riviera" - Bruno Bertoli
19. "Eternal Father For" - Michael Hankinson
20. "Your Smiling Face" - Norman Chandler
21. "It's Not Too Late" - Christopher Blue
22. "Drive Drive Drive" - Pat Cusick
23. "Like a Moth into a Flame" - The Automatics
24. "Don't Worry Tracy" - Christopher Blue
25. "Bonny Portmore" - The Rogues
26. "Seaport Lane" - Athena Tergis

2011 film by Jonathan Hensleigh

Films based on non-fiction books about organized crime

Films with screenplays by Jonathan Hensleigh