Favorite train movie

[chatanuga]

Almost forgot Runaway! from 1973, which is also up on YouTube.

Kevin

[PA&ERR]

I ran across this webpage about where and how Ring of Fire was filmed while researching NW logging railroad bridges.

www.brian894x4.com/RingofFire.html

Interesting site and good pictures.

-George 

 

[IRONROOSTER]

My favorites are The Train and Hurricane Express.  I confess I haven't seen all the movies listed here so I'll have to see if I can find some of these.

Enjoy

Paul 

[twhite]

Another one I should mention is an adventure film from 1969 called DARK OF THE SUN starring Rod Taylor and Jim Brown, about mercenaries caught up in the Congolese rebellions of the 1950's.  It's basically a rather brutal film, but it does have some exciting railroad sequences using a train as the mercenaries go behind enemy lines to rescue refugees threatened by Congolese rebels.  The movie was filmed in Jamaica, standing in for the then Belgian Congo, and features a rather handsome Baldwin 4-8-0 and some interesting railroad equipment.  Some very tense action aboard the train, but be warned--this film is not for the kiddies, it's got a lot of rather graphic violence in it.  But the train scenes are really exciting. 

Tom

[O_Kamoto]

"Atomic train"

[Anonymous]

Again?

OK, Emperor of the North, with Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine.

I totally agree - Lee Marvin's parting words at the end of the movie were classic.

[falcon]

Even though it was more of a western about two bank/train robbers mine is "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". "Woodcock is that You?" .... "I work for Mr E. H. Harriman of the Union Pacific Railroad" .....  "Think you used enough dynamite there Butch?" Great train scenes.

[Medina1128]

"Atomic train"

Please tell me you did NOT say "Atomic Train".. LOL

[ChrisNH]

Under Siege II.. because the acting never upstaged the train!

 

Chris 

[PA&ERR]

"Atomic train"

Please tell me you did NOT say "Atomic Train".. LOL

I tried to watch Atomic Train. Really, I did! But my brain threatened to walk out on me and never come back if I did!

And, as Woody Allen once said, "My brain is my second favorite organ"! 

-George

 

[DanLW]

Mystery Science Theater 3000 riffed a short film titled "Last Clear Chance" which talks about safety at the railroad crossing, among other things.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Naix-f6KSIg

For movie, I really liked Silverstreak also.

Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade had a great train chase.  Interestingly, the chase begins in a desert area.  The following scenes during the chase, the train is going through a forest area.  At the end of the sequence the train is back in a desert area, and a shot from the last car of the train reveals a long stretch of flat straight track with no trees in sight!

For train crashes, the end of SilverStreak and Back to the Future Part III is hard to beat.

How about train quotes in movies?

The Blues Brothers

Scene in a tiny one room apartment that shakes every time the Chicago L train passes by
Jake: How often does the train go by?
Elwood: So often you won't even notice.

Back to the Future Part III
In the cab of a steam locomotive, Dr. Emmit Brown has a gun on the engineer.
Engineer: Is this a hold up?
(pause)
Doc Brown: It's a science experiament.

Here's a scary thought.  What if Samuel L Jackson decides to do "Snakes on a Train"?

[HarryHotspur]

The Great Train Robbery

[twhite]

The Great Train Robbery

Edison or Connery?

Tom

[NNeil]

The Woody Guthrie biography, Bound for Glory, had some pretty good railroad scenes.

I too liked The Train, and Silver Streak.

 

[fishplate]

Hows 'bout, "THE GREATIST SHOW ON EARTH" circus trains!?

[Wisconsin Railfan]

Current favorite is - The Station Agent

[jackn2mpu]

Allow me to add 2 James Bond movies:

Octopussy - circus train

Goldeneye - the armored train

There are other Bond movies with trains, but none as good as the above 2

Spy Who Loved Me

Live and Let Die

From Russia With Love 

[Jake1210]

How about "Danger Lights"?  Great scenes of wreck train, big hooks at work, roundhouse interior and even a dynamometer car! Best of all, some beautiful shots of steam locomotives in action!

 

Ditto. (Still no more sign...)

[PA&ERR]

No votes for Murder on the Orient Express?

And, how about Supertrain (you could count the 2hr pilot episode as a movie)?

-George

[trainfan1221]

I don't recall Supertrain being very popular, might be why nobody has mentioned it.

[ccaranna]

"Runaway Train" is cool, I don't think anyone mentioned it thus far...

I also like "The Train" and "The Station Agent".  I'm sure there's a lot more that have trains in them but I can't think of them.

Another good one, though the trains are just part of the scenery and set and aren't the centerpiece of the story is "Matewan".

[jamnest]

What about "Bridge on the River Kwai?"

I also liked an old TV show about building a railroad which stared Dale Robertson, "Scalplock"  I think the show only lased for one season.

I also liked the Wild, Wild West; TV and Movie. 

[twhite]

No votes for Murder on the Orient Express?

And, how about Supertrain (you could count the 2hr pilot episode as a movie)?

-George

One problem about Murder on the Orient Express (which I like, BTW) is that all of the nefarious goings-on are accomplished while the train is snowbound and stopped.  For really neat mysterious plot machinations while the train is mostly 'in motion', I'd suggest Alfred Hitchcock's very entertaining 1938 spy thriller THE LADY VANISHES.  Takes place in an unspecified Alpine European country with nasty Nazi's and British secret agents.  A lot of fun. 

Tom  

[twhite]

Hows 'bout, "THE GREATIST SHOW ON EARTH" circus trains!?

THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH has some terrific shots of the circus train--one early in the film pulled by a Pennsy GG-1.  Only thing that bothers me about the film is the long sequence using miniature trains leading up to the famous train-wreck.  If you look closely, you'll see that the locomotives are Hudsons and lettered for the Rock Island.  Don't ever remember the Rock Island having Hudsons, LOL, but the wreck sequence is just jaw-dropping!  Fun movie. 

Tom  

[ABaileyIAm]

     Top three would have to include "The Greatest Show on Earth", "Silver Streak", and "Bridge on the River Kwai".

[gmhtrains]

For outright comedy in a train movie, no one has mentioned Go West with the Marx Brothers. There is not much left of the train at the end as the coaches are chopped up to fuel the wood-burning steam locomotive.

Two films that several mentioned as favorites were The General and Emperor of the North, both filmed on the Oregon Pacific & Eastern shortline east from Cottage Grove, OR. That railway lasted through 1987 primarily to be a featured attraction at the '87 NMRA national convention in nearby Eugene. Today the OP&E right-of-way is a bicycle path.

I think that there would be more agreement on a list of 20 (or 25) best railway movies than on trying to single out one favorite.

Gil Hulin 

 

[goose]

My favorite train movie is one called "The Titfield Thunderbolt" which was made in England back in the 50's.  It is about an English village that is about to lose their local train service, which is being replaced with bus service, and all of the villagers rise up to keep their train service to the extent of taking an old, old steam engine out of a museum and trying to get it to run.  The movie is full of laughs.  You can get the movie from Netflix.

[CSXrules4eva]

I'm going to have to say that my favorite train movie has got to Emperor of the North with 

 Ernest Borgnine and Lee Marvin. I really do think that,  movie shows what happened back in the "golden age" of railroading durring the Great Depression.

[Guilford Guy]

I'm going to have to say that my favorite train movie has got to Emperor of the North with 

 Ernest Borgnine and Lee Marvin. I really do think that,  movie shows what happened back in the "golden age" of railroading durring the Great Depression.

Its also an excellent lesson in bad language~! 

The Journey of Natty Gan has some interesting railroad scenes.

Go West has hilarious train scenes... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02xnnIzjucE

I could only find the mexican one. I like how between 1:34 and 1:39 it changes between a 2-8-0 and a heisler. 

[jayo]

Mystery Science Theater 3000 riffed a short film titled "Last Clear Chance" which talks about safety at the railroad crossing, among other things.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Naix-f6KSIg

Yeh I liked that one, they also did "Days of our Years" which was another UP-made short about these different people who go from happy-go-lucky to miserable-for-life!  Interesting it was seeing a guy running a switcher, have a heart attack, crash, and later sit in front of his house, in good shape again! 

Movies with trains I like:

-Van Ryan's Express

-Disney's "The Great Locomotive Chase"

-Keaton's "General"

-DeMille's "Union Pacific"

-McClintock

-Wild Wild West('99 film)

-The Polar Express

-October Sky