While surveying a telegraph line in 1861, Western Union engineer Edward Creighton (Dean Jagger) is severely injured in an accident. He is discovered by Vance Shaw (Randolph Scott), an outlaw on the run from a posse. Forced to travel on foot after his horse was hurt, Shaw at first considers stealing Creighton's horse, but changes his mind and takes the man with him, saving his life.
Sometime later, following his recovery, Creighton returns to Omaha, Nebraska and plans the construction of a telegraph line from Omaha to Salt Lake City, Utah. Facing considerable opposition to the line from Confederate soldiers, Indians, and outlaws, Creighton elicits the help of his sister Sue (Virginia Gilmore), foreman Pat Grogan (Minor Watson), and assistant Homer Kettle (Chill Wills).
Looking to put his outlaw past behind him, Shaw arrives at Creighton's Western Union office looking for honest work and is hired as a scout by Grogan who is unaware of his past. Creighton recognizes him among the men and allows him to stay despite his suspicions. Creighton also hires tenderfoot Richard Blake (Robert Young), a Harvard-educated engineer as a favor to Blake's father. Shaw and Blake are both attracted to Sue and vie for her attention, but their romantic rivalry is cut short when construction of the telegraph line starts on July 4, 1861.
After work commences on the line, one of the men is killed apparently by a mysterious band of cattle-rustling Indians. Unconvinced that Indians are to blame, Shaw rides out to investigate and follows the rustlers' trail to the camp of Jack Slade, a former friend and cohort, whose gang committed the killing disguised as Indians—the gang Shaw left following his last bank robbery. Slade reveals that they are working for the Confederacy to disrupt Western Union because they believe the telegraph service will help the Union. Shaw rides away and returns to the line. Not wanting to turn in his former friends, Shaw tells Creighton that a large band of Dakota Indians stole the cattle, and recommends that they simply replace the herd and not risk a fight with the Indians.
Sometime later, a confrontation takes place between men working on the forward line and a band of drunken Indians. When one of the Indians tries to steal some equipment, a nervous Blake shoots him, ignoring Shaw's order to remain calm. After word arrives that the main camp is under attack by other Indians, the Western Union men rush back to help with the defense. At the main camp, Slade's men, who are again disguised as Indians, steal the Western Union horses. The company discover the ruse when one of the wounded Indians turns out to be a white man. Forced to buy back their stolen horses from Slade, Creighton becomes suspicious of Shaw's involvement, especially when he admits to knowing the gang.
Soon the U.S. Army arrives and announces the Indians have now refused to allow the telegraph lines to go through their territory in response to Blake's shooting of the drunken Indian. Creighton, Shaw, and Blake ride out to convince Chief Spotted Horse to allow them to build the line through Indian territory, even though the man Blake wounded was Spotted Horse's son. Creighton is finally able to persuade the Indians to allow them passage, and work continues until the company approaches Salt Lake City.
Sometime later, Shaw receives word that Jack Slade wants to meet with him. On the way to see Slade, Shaw is captured and bound by Slade's men. Slade says his group is going to burn down the Western Union camp and they don't want Shaw to interfere. After Slade and his men ride off, Shaw escapes from his ropes but arrives back too late to prevent the fire. He helps rescue some of the Western Union men from the flames and burns his hands in the process.
After the fire, Creighton confronts Shaw for an explanation, but Shaw does not reveal what he knows and is fired by Creighton. As Shaw leaves the camp, he tells Blake that Slade is actually Shaw's brother and that he, Shaw, will find Slade's gang and stop them from interfering with the telegraph project. Shaw rides off and finds Slade and his men in a nearby town. At the barber shop, Shaw confronts his brother, whose gun is concealed under the barber's sheet. Slade shoots Shaw through the sheet. Shaw fights back in spite of his wound, killing some of the gang members, and then dies. Blake arrives and continues the fight with Slade who dies from his wounds. Soon after, the Western Union line is completed and the workers celebrate. When Sue laments the absence of Shaw, Creighton tells her that Shaw can hear them.
定格动画，噩梦和重口味奇观展示，剧情意义不明，也可能就没有完整剧情。短片的话可能效果更好，长片到后面看得略显疲劳
这是一部猎奇、诡异、血腥、惊悚、重口、令人作呕、且充满无穷想象力的“定格动画”。但是全程无对白，剧情也极为晦涩杂乱，感觉就是导演玩疯了，然后还把观众看懵了。如果是短片可以这样炫技，但这是电影，讲好故事才是首要任务。
大概是定格动画腻味之后寻求创作突破的具象表现，假设自己成为造物主前提下近乎疯狂的关于噩梦的想象——然而越是偏向自我满足的作品，越是容易排挤“信徒”以外的受众，我向往里面关于秽染世界的描述、夹杂在混沌当中的优雅还有解构糅合宗教神迹的仪式感，但对零碎又漫无目的的内容无感。
卡司里老的少的好演员这么多，电影拍得不错也是理所应当，也确实扭转了我对张伯伦的一些看法，大概是最近几天看了点一战相关吧，多少能够理解他避战的怀柔立场。然后看到演ss的八月和演反抗军杰尼斯的对手戏就一边感叹德国演员中青年交接棒，一边又有点想笑，德国电影圈子这么小，这些人不是在演nazi就是在演jew的路上，再不然就是国防军，反正谁都跑不了
不过影片过于片段式的处理使得故事性较弱，整体的堆砌感很浓，观看过程不免犯困。
结尾归到核爆不好，前面感觉有点在反思生命反思宇宙
剧情已经不重要了，视觉慎宴，神仙做的定格动画
观看那不可能的非一切，录量那不可能生成的实在。
肮脏诡谲的国度，重口程度更甚史云梅耶，像一场想象力溢出流脓的梦。
预告挺惊艳，正片挺失望的，感觉导演没有在好好讲故事，想靠装逼猎奇来吸引观众但那特效和画面还不够装逼
词汇表里 除了封神 只有烂的 对于一切无法理解的事物 只有两种走向的认知思维
7.0
人类的想象力超越无极限。
特效很厉害就是了，不是很恐怖，有种怪诞异形的美，宗教意味很浓厚
这是碳基生物能整出来的活？艺术过于超前了吧。
我愿意相信标题的「疯神」指的是创作者自己，想象力的混乱集合体，一个颓废、疯狂、残忍的世界，充满了死亡和不可名状的生命，机械而又非理性。
只用惊艳到令人乍舌的视觉奇观就撑起了将近九十分钟的电影。
没有一句台词，层出不穷的怪物，充斥着黑暗血腥场面，奈何我就是不太感冒。
（6.5）人们在观赏这类小说和电影时常会迷失于历史与虚构的迷雾中，国人最突出的体会就是《三国演义》。我一直反对将艺术创作——尤其是电影这种感染力极强的视听艺术——作为历史教学的重要辅助手段，它属于电影学的疆域。二战前的国际政治对某一部作品来说都复杂得毫无必要，作者的目的是在其提炼出的简单的世界图景中阐明他的意图。这部电影、小说及所有类似创作中更值得探究的地方在于，作者以及读者和观众是在以多种构建于不同时期互相交错、叠加、融合的历史解释为巨人的肩膀去回溯某一事件。这种后见之明式的优越，让作品中人物的抉择有了它本不该承担的历史责任。以本作为例，哪怕后世的共识如片尾字幕所言慕尼黑协定为盟国争取了备战时间从而最终击败纳粹，也无法证明彼时彼地张伯伦的抉择是理智和道义的，因为他并不如我们般得以窥见未来。
这得多变态的人才能拍出这玩意儿来。邪典中的邪典
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