- Stand tall, just like John...
Part of the 2002 Disney anthology Disney's American Legends, hosted by James Earl Jones, though unlike the other shorts, Paul Bunyan, The Brave Engineer and Johnny Appleseed (originally part of Melody Time), this short was a contemporary animation created in 2000, while the others were created in the 1940's and 1950's.
Shortly after the American Civil War and the resulting Emancipation of the Black slaves, John Henry and his wife Polly set out to find work and a place of their own. At the same time, the transcontinental railroad is slowly being built across the U.S, but progress is slow, and the workers run the risk of losing their promised wages and land if they can't meet the railroad companies' hard deadlines. The mighty John Henry joins one of the railroad crews, and his near-superhuman strength and stamina inspires the other workers and makes him a legend in his own time. However, the greedy railroad tycoons have no intention of paying their workers if they can get away with it, and bring automatization to the construction in the form of a steam hammer. With the workers close to open revolt over this treachery, John Henry instead lays down a challenge: if he can outperform the steam hammer, the workers will be given the land they were promised. And so, the ultimate contest of Man Versus Machine is about to begin...
John Henry provides examples of:
- 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: The steam hammer is animated in 3-D, to emphasize the Man Versus Machine theme of the story.
- Adaptational Badass: In the original story, John Henry makes it fourteen feet into the mountain, beating the steam hammer's nine feet. This version ups it to him making it all the way through the mountain in a single night, with the steam hammer only giving out shortly behind him. And as noted under Artistic License – History, this feat is all the more impressive when you recall that he did it with just a hammer, as opposed to the explosive charges that would have been used in the era.
- Adaptational Heroism: In the most common telling of the John Henry legend, he seems to want to face the steam hammer out of a sense of destiny or a desire to prove himself. In fact, some interpretations of the legend claim it started as a cautionary tale—that is to say, it was advising rail workers to not try to do what he did, for fear that it would kill them. This version adds on the idea of him being a freed slave whose motivation is to help both his wife and his fellow workers.
- Artistic License – History: This version heavily simplifies the actual process of steel-driving. The process of digging through stone in those days would have been done using charges of explosive black powder—a steel-driving man's job was to make a hole for the black powder to go into, with the aid of another man using a drill. The short cuts out most of these elements, largely for reasons of making the animation work—instead, John Henry is shown simply using his hammer to smash through the stone.
- Art Shift: The main action is done in a rough, sketchy style reminiscent of a woodcut print, but the segments illustrating the backstory and the tall tales told about John are drawn as animated quilt patches. The battle with the steam drill in the tunnel was entirely 3-D.
- Big Eater: One of the songs about John's childhood mentions that it "took a lot of cookin' to keep John fed", and his massive breakfast alone included 10 dozen (120!) eggs and 8 loaves of bread. While this is obviously a tall tale, it WOULD take a ton of food to fuel someone of John's size and strength, even if it's never shown on screen.
- Bittersweet Ending: John Henry wins the challenge but the physical toll on it means that he dies shortly thereafter. However, through his sacrifice he earned the land promised to his wife and friends, and the former ultimately gives birth to his son.
- Blink-and-You-Miss-It: Polly's name is only mentioned twice in the story, and both lines are easy to miss.
- Breaking the Bonds: Shown in the intro, John physically shattered the chains that had once kept him imprisoned as a slave once the Emancipation forced the plantation owners to free their slaves, and Polly used the broken links to forge into his signature hammer.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: John has no superhuman abilities like some of his contemporaries like Paul Bunyan or Captain Stormalong, his unnatural strength and endurance is the result of a lifetime of backbreaking labor, proper nutrition thanks to his mother, and sheer lucky genetics.
- The Coats Are Off: When the challenge is set, John's shirt comes off, and his suspenders come on.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Both the driver, and the other railroad owners, who go out of their way to cheat the workers of their promised pay.
- Dual Wield: John uses two huge sledgehammers during the climax to tunnel his way right through the mountain.
- Dying Moment of Awesome: It may have cost John Henry his life, but he managed to beat the steam drill and win his wife and his friends the land they were promised.
- Ethnic Menial Labor: John's fellow rail workers are all Black men or Irish immigrants (including the foreman).
- The Faceless: The man driving the steam hammer is shown entirely in shadow, and every inch outside of the shadows is covered in gloves and clothes.
- Genre Throwback: To Disney's various animated shorts based on American Folk Hero stories that were produced in the 1940s and 50s.
- Go Out with a Smile: John gives a reassuring smile to Polly just before he dies.
- Free Wheel: After the steam hammer breaks down short of breaking through the mountain, one of its wheels rolls out.
- Heroic BSoD: John Henry undergoes one when he realizes the tycoon driving the steam hammer intends to go through the mountain to win their bet, even though John had won the first part of the race fairly. Polly inspires him to keep going.
- Heroic RRoD: John won the contest against the Steam hammer, but the physical exertion of tunneling through the mountain was so great that he died shortly thereafter.
- Heroic Sacrifice: "He was smiling, cause he moved that mountain, and led us to the Promised Land."
- Heroic Second Wind: Just when it looks like John's about to call it quits when the Steam Drill start drilling through the mountain, Polly gives him a second hammer and a Triumphant Reprise of his song, and he catches up to it in no time.
- I Die Free: John's sacrifice not only allows the other workers and Polly to find their promised land, he also proved once and for all that no one would ever chain him again, be it literally or symbolically.
- I Lied: When the foreman complains that they have a contract agreement with the railroad about the land agreement, the driver just snatches the contract out of his hand and throws it into the steam hammer's furnace.
- Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: John firmly believes this. When John's angered coworkers try solving the problem of the steam hammer by tipping the steam hammer over, John catches it single-handedly and pushes it back onto its wheel and wants to earn his victory fair and square.
- Line Boil: The animation is left a little rough with minimal clean-up. Even the Cel Shaded CGI steam hammer is rendered with randomly shifting lines to match the characters.
- Logo Joke: The Disney castle logo is depicted as a quilt pattern.
- Man Versus Machine: Possibly one of the Ur Examples in fiction. John Henry wins, but it costs him his life.
- Moses Archetype: All the classic elements are there — born a slave, challenging The Man, leading his people to their Promised Land but dying along the way. The Gospel music soundtrack makes the connection even stronger.
- One-Sided Arm-Wrestling: A scene is shown depicting John winning arm-wrestling competitions against his fellow rail workers, even when they team up. He does eventually lose one - to his wife Polly, after she gives him a distracting kiss.
- Politically Correct History: Subverted, the fact that John was born a slave is a plot point.
- Post-Victory Collapse: John collapses after going through the mountain and promptly dies shortly thereafter.
- The Promised Land: The railroad workers were promised 50 acres of land if they finished the railroad. Thanks to John's sacrifice, they were given their promised land, and built a thriving new country.
- Retraux: The animation style in this short harkens back to the Xerox-era Disney films of the 1960s-1970s such as 101 Dalmatians, with the use of scratchy black lines on the characters.
- Someone to Remember Him By: John dies, but Polly gives birth to a son, who she raises with stories of his brave and strong father.
- Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: "John and me were born slaves, with nothing to call our own. Not even each other..."
- Super-Strength: John's immense strength and stamina makes him a Living Legend, and lets him do the same work as a dozen men. Or, as it turns out, just a bit more than one steam hammer.
- Heck, when John's angered coworkers try solving the problem by tipping the steam hammer over, John catches it single-handedly and pushes it back onto its wheels.
