A Milestone in American and world cinema, Edwin S. Porter's pioneering early western, The Great Train Robbery (1903), was highly ambitious for its time - in its running time (a full 12 minutes), the size of its cast (40), its relatively complex storyline, and its technical brilliance, particularly in its adept juxtaposition of shots and images, which explored and extended the possibilities of the medium. A huge commercial success, it astonished viewers with its closing shot of an outlaw pointing a gun at the camera and firing directly at them.