Great RR Movies

[jcohnvt]

I hope other readers enjoyed the special issue on RR movies as much as I did.  I certainly agreed on the top choice (won't spoil if for those who have not yet looked at the issue) and saw it in the theaters about 3 times as a kid and on TV a  couple of times before finally purchasing a copy on DVD.  it would be inteesting to know what he runners up would be that did not crack the "top 100"; I'd usggest "Denver & Rio Grande" for starters.  Maybe even Saratoga Trunk-with the D&H as a subplot to all the romance etc.  What would you add to the list?

[twhite]

Jeff:

I picked the book up yesterday at my hobby shop.  It's a good read, and I think the staff for the most part did a pretty good job, but there are films that I'd substitute for some of the films quoted where the train is more of a 'dramatic' device than a real 'character' in the film.  For instance, HIGH NOON as a great train movie?  Hm. 

Films I might have substituted would be DENVER AND RIO GRANDE, which is a really rousing and exciting western with some excellent train photography.  I would have also included THE CASSANDRA CROSSING, which I like a lot, and takes place almost entirely on a doomed train (even if the final sequence looks as if it were filmed with HO scale Marklin models). 

I agree with their #1 pick--terrific movie.  I was also glad to see that the French WWII film BATTAILE DU RAIL made the cut--that's a fascinating look at Maquis sabotage during the closing days of the German occupation of France.   And I certainly agree with the writer about the train wreck in the film, that pile-up goes on FOREVER! 

The rowdy western THE GOOD GUYS AND THE BAD GUYS should have been included, IMO.  That's one funny western with some terrific train photography along the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic RR.  And I would definitely have included A TICKET TO TOMAHAWK, one of the first movies to be filmed along the Durango and Silverton, back when it was a Rio Grande branchline.  A great comedy-western with a scene-stealing little locomotive (Rio Grande Southern 4-6-0 #20 with one of the best paint jobs I've ever seen on a 19th Century locomotive). 

Republic's fine "B" westerns ROCK ISLAND TRAIL and THE LAST OUTLAW should have made the cut simply for their excellent railroad photography of 19th century period equipment.  

But by and large, I was pretty happy with the choices.  The book is a good read. 

Tom  

[eridani]

 I find it a bit ironic that there's an ad on the back cover for Around the World in 80 Days, with lots of great railway scenes in India, the United States and the UK, the Indian railway isn't completed, so they travel by elephant,  in the US the collapsing trestle and riding the rails by wind, the arrest at the railway station in Liverpool (?) that puts Fogg in jail for a while. Yet that Around the World isn't on the list and a large number of movies with less railway content are mentioned.

 

Otherwise a great and handy reference volume for when next I go shopping for DVDs. (although to be up to date the editors could have mentioned which ones are on Blu-ray. )

[domefoamer]

I finished the issue today. Good reading, and it reminded me of many movies I need to see, or see again. There were some curious omissions, though. "The Darjeeling Limited" is a recent movie by a noted director, Wes Anderson. I haven't seen it yet, but after enjoying his "Fantastic Mr. Fox," I'm anxious to. Wonder why it was omitted? It would have been fun to conclude the issue with a list of 10 of the WORST train movies ever made. I'd nominate "Atomic Train" for its countless lapses of realism and logic.

[domefoamer]

Last night I enjoyed watching "North by Northwest" for the umpteenth time. And I spotted one curious irony, or ironic curiosity, that escaped me before. The film devotes a third of its time to a loving portrayal of a train, but it's actually named for an airline. Cary Grant flies Northwest Orient Airlines towards the climax at Mt. Rushmore. Hitchcock doesn't even step aboard the plane with a camera, but that's the name up on the marquee. I suppose "West by New York Central" wouldn't have the same ring, except among us...

[Southwest Chief]

I enjoyed the issue as well.

However I was somewhat puzzled that neither Denver & Rio Grande nor Ticket to Tomahawk made the list.  Maybe the author is not a Rio Grande fan, or perhaps just forgot about them.  I can see how one would miss Ticket to Tomahawk, but Denver & Rio Grande?  That is a shocker to me.

I'm not sure but both may not be available on DVD.  So perhaps that was partially the criteria to make the list, as most that did are on DVD.

Otherwise I agree with the list for the most part.