A DVD I have been looking for is "Tough Guys" with Burt Lancaster, Kurt Douglas & SP 4449. Several used VHS copies can be had online, but I have never been successful at locating the DVD version in US format.
I was fortunate enough to see The Train in the theater when it was newly released. I don't recall even being surprised that it was in black and white even though "all" movies were color by then. Paul Scofield and Jeanne Moreau certainly helped make it an all star cast but one of the most fabulous casting choices is Michel Simon who played Papa Boule.
Dave Nelson
I agree that The Train was probably the best movie ever made about wartime railroading. The crew was lucky that in 1964 the French were contracting their railway system and retiring the last of their steamers. Consequently they had a lot of surplus equipment available that could be wrecked and a nice stretch of track to wreck it on. Everything about the railroading in that movie rings true from the in-cab sequences to the pouring of new bearing brasses in the shop. Personally, I liked the actor who portrayed the German railway supervisor. He was a dedicated technician and a hard worker who displayed common sence and some humanity amid the chaos. He was an interesting foil for the fanatical monster portrayed by Scofield.
The film is also available on DVD from amazon.com for $14.98.
This was one of my Dad's favorite movies. We saw it at the theater when it came out and then we'd watch it on TV. He also liked Von Ryan's Express. I have them both on VHS now, but he was dead by the time that technology was invented. Every time I watch them I think of him. I loved the way they tricked the *** and Burt didn't want to help until Papa Boule was executed and he joined the Resistance big time. It's supposedly based on a true story.
One thing that sticks in my mind for some reason is that during the filming Burt Lancaster (who did most if not all of his own stunts) hurt his foot/leg off the set (golfing I think) and they had to write in a scene where he is hurt or shot in the leg or whatever to 'explain' why he's limping in the movie.
p.s. I wonder if "Tough Guys" ever was released on DVD?? It came out c.1984 as I recall, and it wasn't hugely popular, so maybe by the time DVDs came along no one thought to issue it in that format??
Thanks for the HULU site. This was certainly an excellent film, true to the facts of wartime railroading and how things were done to foil the German attempts to loot France on the way out as the war came to an end. That Lancaster did his own stunts (the one on the signal bridge -- and others -- in one take) is tribute to his early training as an acrobat and to his excellent physical condition at the time of the movie's production.
Trains Editor David P. Morgan reviewed 3 railroad-oriented movies in the same issue back then - as I recall they were The Train, Von Ryan's Express, and Cat Ballou. Among other comments, he felt that Burt Lancaster looked most at home in the cab - but then, he was supposed to be an SNCF man. The sequences involving dismantling the track seemed pretty realistic for European practice - they used a lot of 'screw spikes' then. I also liked the sounds of the air compressors cycling whenever the locomotives stopped, such as the climactic last scene - the repetitive sounds seemed to add suspense as we all waited to see what was going to happen next.
- Paul North.
Link to the Internet Movie DataBase - ''IMDB'' - page for this movie:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059825/
I recall reading about the making of "Tough Guys," one of Burt's and Kirk Douglas' last films. It was said that Burt was very much "at home" in the cab of the SP Daylight locomotive they used. Not the greatest movie, but worth seeing anyway. Doyle McCormack has a speaking role!
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