The thread about The General being shown on TCM got me thinking about other train themed movies so I'm starting this thread so others can post their own favorites, knowing full well this has probably been done before.
In the above mentioned thread, I mentioned The Great Locomotive Chase, a Disney Civil War movie starring Fess Parker.
Another of my favorites is Silver Streak starring Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. This movie has significance for me because it came out at about the time I was first reentering this hobby as a young adult, something I haven't been for a long time now. I remember it taking place aboard a fictitious Amroad train which was a very thinly disguised version of Amtrak. It was set on the old Santa Fe route between LA and Chicago.
I invite others to post some of their favorite train movies.
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
jeffrey-wimberly wrote:There's a movie called 'The Silver Streak' that was made in 1934 that stars the Burlington Zephyr. I also like 'The Train' from 1966 starring Burt Lancaster.
Just saw The Train last year. Wasn't Burt Lancaster a dispatcher sympathetic to the French Resistance. Black and white movie but very well done. I wish I had recorded it. It was worth seeing again.
Don't remember seeing the 1934 version of Silver Streak. Who was in it and was it a similar plot line as the 1970s version?
jecorbett wrote:Don't remember seeing the 1934 version of Silver Streak. Who was in it and was it a similar plot line as the 1970s version?
The movie titles in my previous post are clickable. Click 'The Silver Streak' for more info.
There was an extensive thread on favorite train flicks a while back.
I have a few favorites that I either have in tape\dvd or I watch when they're on, Emperor of the North is an excellent flick, Von Ryans Express, Runaway Train [which isn't a train just some locos MU'ed and outta control],The Train and Atomic Train [if you like cheezy Hollywood writing and improbable plot lines], theres a whole lot more and if you search that old thread you'll see a lot of movies you've probably never heard of.
Back in the late 1970s, there was a very short lived series called Super Train which seemd to be an exceptionally wide train that ran on a gauge similar to the the Erie's 6 foot gauge or possibly even wider. I don't remember much about this show because it was gone in the blink of an eye but I think singer Steve Lawrence starred in the pilot.
It seems to me at about the same time there was another short lived series about a time traveling train and the canned shots were of a train that looked a lot like the gold and black F-units of the Monon. Does anyone else remember this series and what the name pf it was?
Encore has been running Breakheart Pass with Charles Bronson, Ben Johnson, Jill Ireland and Richard Crenna this month. The movie is set on a train that's purportedly taking troops and supplies to an Army outpost that's been hit with an epidemic.
Jeff
"Terror Train" (1980) starring Jamie Lee Curtis.
Throw Mama from the Train.(I can sympathise with Owen...)
Hard to get hold of, but it shows up on TCM occasionally is a 1930 film called DANGER LIGHTS about railroad workers. Filmed on the old Milwaukee 'Pacific Extension' near Deer Lodge, Montana, and featuring a lot of nifty Milwaukee steam (sorry, not an electric motor in sight, though). Silly plot that's been used time and time again, but absolutely GREAT photography both on the line and around the shops and roundhouse. In fact, it has some of the best train scenes I've ever seen in a Hollywood film. And not a 'special effects' model in sight.
Another favorite: A TICKET TO TOMAHAWK, a nifty little western comedy starring Rio Grand Southern 4-6-0 #20, all back-dated and gussied up in one of the most attractive paint schemes I've ever seen for a 19th-century loco. Neat plot, too. And great photography around Durango and Silverton.
And for a 'Big' train movie, it's hard to beat John Ford's 1925 epic THE IRON HORSE about the building of the first transcontinental railroad. Lots of authentic 1860's rolling stock and locomotives and a pretty exciting plot to boot.
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
Who could forget Thomas and The Magic Spike or whatever the heck it was?
Craig
DMW
Can't forget Runaway! (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070615/) from 1973, Disaster on the Coastliner (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079056/) from 1979, and Runaway Train (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089941/) from 1985.
Here are some clips from Disaster on the Coastliner:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hhnh6jr3l04
http://youtube.com/watch?v=lbdczXeZv9c
http://youtube.com/watch?v=pS8uBeq3kMM
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Fx17niW0CmA
http://youtube.com/watch?v=k14Tgh_LZPY
Kevin
http://chatanuga.org/RailPage.html
http://chatanuga.org/WLMR.html
twhite wrote:Hard to get hold of, but it shows up on TCM occasionally is a 1930 film called DANGER LIGHTS about railroad workers. Filmed on the old Milwaukee 'Pacific Extension' near Deer Lodge, Montana, and featuring a lot of nifty Milwaukee steam (sorry, not an electric motor in sight, though). Silly plot that's been used time and time again, but absolutely GREAT photography both on the line and around the shops and roundhouse. In fact, it has some of the best train scenes I've ever seen in a Hollywood film. And not a 'special effects' model in sight. Tom
Danger Lights is, IMHO, one of the best railroad movies in terms of train photography and sound. NO studio recorded train sounds there. The opening shot of the steam engine was done by coupling a flat car with a camera mounted on it to the front. The same camera-mounted-on-flat-car shots were done for the 5 hr hospital run to Chicago. Another great scene is of the "push-of-war" (opposite of tug-of-war) between two steamers with bells and whistles screaming, drivers spinning, and all that was done with the crowd no further than 5 to 6 feet away! Another "close" scene is with Robert Armstrong and Jean Arthur on the trestle as a freight runs by.
Oh yes, Dan Thorn (Louis Wolheim). Now, there is a District Super who I would not want to mess around with
Take care,
Russell
Although I enjoy them all, The Train with Burt Lancaster seems to me to have been exceptionally well done. Excellent story, great characters and terrific visuals throughout the movie.
TCM recently ran The Narrow Margin and Terror on a Train (released as Time Bomb in the UK) - both "B" movies but pretty good none-the-less. And there's always the short about the post-WWII Freedom Train.
Yea, I'm an old movie buff - old referring to the movies, not me!
Trainnut484 wrote: twhite wrote: Hard to get hold of, but it shows up on TCM occasionally is a 1930 film called DANGER LIGHTS about railroad workers. Filmed on the old Milwaukee 'Pacific Extension' near Deer Lodge, Montana, and featuring a lot of nifty Milwaukee steam (sorry, not an electric motor in sight, though). Silly plot that's been used time and time again, but absolutely GREAT photography both on the line and around the shops and roundhouse. In fact, it has some of the best train scenes I've ever seen in a Hollywood film. And not a 'special effects' model in sight. Tom Danger Lights is, IMHO, one of the best railroad movies in terms of train photography and sound. NO studio recorded train sounds there. The opening shot of the steam engine was done by coupling a flat car with a camera mounted on it to the front. The same camera-mounted-on-flat-car shots were done for the 5 hr hospital run to Chicago. Another great scene is of the "push-of-war" (opposite of tug-of-war) between two steamers with bells and whistles screaming, drivers spinning, and all that was done with the crowd no further than 5 to 6 feet away! Another "close" scene is with Robert Armstrong and Jean Arthur on the trestle as a freight runs by.Oh yes, Dan Thorn (Louis Wolheim). Now, there is a District Super who I would not want to mess around with Take care,Russell
twhite wrote: Hard to get hold of, but it shows up on TCM occasionally is a 1930 film called DANGER LIGHTS about railroad workers. Filmed on the old Milwaukee 'Pacific Extension' near Deer Lodge, Montana, and featuring a lot of nifty Milwaukee steam (sorry, not an electric motor in sight, though). Silly plot that's been used time and time again, but absolutely GREAT photography both on the line and around the shops and roundhouse. In fact, it has some of the best train scenes I've ever seen in a Hollywood film. And not a 'special effects' model in sight. Tom
The cinematography of "Danger Lights" is absolutely superb. When I saw it this last Wednesday (April 16) , I was floored by how good it was and I was quite happy I stayed up late to see it (fortunately, I'm on the West Coast). The story is a throw away, but if you want to get some excellent shots of Mikes and Pacifics in the glory years of steam, this one is a must see.
That "push-of-war" was between a MILW F-3 Pacific and an L-3 Mike (USRA Heavy). There was never any doubt as to who would win. Anyone know when the F-6 Baltics were sent west? I sure would have liked to have seen one of them in action.
Andre
"Danger Lights" was I believe the first Hollywood sound movie to be shot entirely 'on location' c.1930 or 1931. It's actually not a bad story, you just have to remember it was copied in a variety of later movies. Lots of good train stuff in it. "YOU CAN'T PUT THE OLYMPIAN IN THE HOLE!!"
The 1934 "Silver Streak" used the brand new CB&Q Zephyr. In the movie, the Silver Streak / Zephyr was the creation of a young engineering wiz trying to sell the railroads on diesel engines and streamlining. When some early tests fail (due to an engine problem diagnosed by Dagwood Bumstead) the railroad decides it's no good - until the son of the RR president is hurt building Hoover Dam, and has to be rushed to Chicago for emergency surgery. The SS/Z gets him there in time and everyone decides diesels are OK.
. Read about it here.
lvanhen wrote:I'll second Breakheart Pass, but my favorite is The Emporer of the North, with Lee Marvin & Ernest Borgnine! Union Pacific runs a close second - you won't believe Angela Landsbury, Judy Garland (looking like in their 20's!) and many more in the flic!
Emperor of the North is an excellent choice. I first saw it in 1974 and that may have been the last drive-in movie I went to.
It's been even longer since I saw Union Pacific. Barbara Stanwyck starred in it. Are you sure about Angela Landsbury and Judy Garland? I don't remember them and they aren't list in IMDB.
Andre--
According to a book I have on the Milwaukee, two of the F-6 Baltics were assigned to the non-electrified portion of the line between Othello and Spokane during WWII for assignment on the "Olympian Hiawatha" between those two points. The book has some photos of them on assignment in Othello and Spokane. Wow--4-6-4's in the Pacific Northwest. Neat.
twhite wrote: Andre--According to a book I have on the Milwaukee, two of the F-6 Baltics were assigned to the non-electrified portion of the line between Othello and Spokane during WWII for assignment on the "Olympian Hiawatha" between those two points. The book has some photos of them on assignment in Othello and Spokane. Wow--4-6-4's in the Pacific Northwest. Neat. Tom
Thanks for the info, Tom.
For several years, I've been trying to find some kind of copy of "Webs of Steel," a silent film made about 1925. According to John Signor's excellent book on Union Pacific predecessor LA&SL, a portion of the movie was shot at Crucero, Calif., a very lonely outpost in the desert where the line located a junction (and a few employees) with the now-defunct Tonopah & Tidewater RR.
One of the actors in the movie was Walter Brennan, a fine character actor who probably achieved his greatest fame many years later as Grandpappy Amos in the TV series "The Real McCoys."
loathar wrote:Not a movie, but I'm amazed at how many train scenes Little House on the Prairie had in it. My mom watches it a lot and it seems like every time I walk through the room there's a train on the screen! Wonder what their train budget was??
Aw come on Loathar - it wasn't near as good as Petticoat Junction!!
lvanhen wrote: loathar wrote:Not a movie, but I'm amazed at how many train scenes Little House on the Prairie had in it. My mom watches it a lot and it seems like every time I walk through the room there's a train on the screen! Wonder what their train budget was??Aw come on Loathar - it wasn't near as good as Petticoat Junction!!
Guess your right! Little House never had any hot babes skinny dippin in the water tower!
If you want comedy on a train, here it is. Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone.
Click here for details.
Ryan BoudreauxThe Piedmont Division Modeling The Southern Railway, Norfolk & Western & Norfolk Southern in HO during the merger eraCajun Chef Ryan