Thread on Railroad Movies, started July 2001 -- ------------------ Hello Gang, Our recent SONGS ABOUT TRAINS thread was fun and interesting and I was just thinking, how about the same thing, except for movies?? Silver Streak is one example, another favorite of mine is The Great Locomotive Chase. Runaway Train was good and probably a little lesser known one. How about it? Dennis - Winter Park - On The CSX A Line At The 786 Dlswpfl@aol.com Visit the Serails web site at: http://www.railspot.com/serails/ ------------------ Cinemax's Vanguard Theatre - Mystery Train: comedy, set in Memphis, Tn. One of my all time favorite movies and nobody has ever seen it, but me, it seems. Does anyone else remember this one? Late 80's early 90's. Very funny, great movie. **** Woody ferroe@bellsouth.net ------------------ Don't belive anyone has mentioned this one yet... "The Fugative".....with Harrison Ford. Was filmed in western North Carolina near Dillsboro on the Great Smokey Mountain RR. The used a ex NW high nose GP30 and a ex CSX U18B I think when filming the first part of the movie.. Great movie. You can see the engines they used from the Dillsboro-Bryson City GSMR trains... Chris cstarnes@mounet.com ------------------ Are we restricting ourselves to "movies about trains" in which the train or trains is the central plot theme, or are we including "movies that have trains in them?" I would cite "North by Northwest" as an example of the latter. Actually, "Silver Streak" is more or less a remake of "North by Northwest." Some of my other favorites: "The Train" (Burt Lancaster) "Tough Guys" (Lancaster again, with Kirk Douglas) "It Happens to Jane" (Doris Day and Jack Lemmon, lots of great scenes shot on the New Haven with steam and brand new FL9s) "Some Like it Hot" (Lemmon and Tony Curtis in drag) "Emperor of the North" (Ernest Borgnine, Lee Marvin) "Breakheart Pass" (Charles Bronson) Some of the worst: Any of the made for TV "train disaster" movies such as "Death Train", etc involving runaway trains carrying nuclear waste, etc. The directors and producers should be strapped to the rails of the Seminole Gulf (you know, where the track speed is about 5 mph). "End of the Line" (Wilford Brimley - stick to oatmeal commercials, Will) Mike Woodruff Largo, FL swaool@mindspring.com ------------------ "Silver Streak" does borrow a lot from the plot of N by NW, but with broad mainstream humor in place of Hitchcock's subtlety, and it makes the train the star instead of a bit player. In the worst movie category, "Under Siege II-Dark Territory"--the scenery is great, but the plot is as bad as they come and the RR plot elements do not ring true. Kent Weissinger railfan@peoplepc.com ------------------ Don't forget: Murder On The Orient Express.. Neel Flannagan Aiken, SC cneelf@aikenelectric.net ------------------ There was a movie starring Frank Sinatra as an officer on a German train where he was leading POWs on an escape in Italian alps I believe. WW2 setting. In the end he was killed at a tunnel entrance or on a bridge. Anyone recall this movie? vern richardson richrail@sanctum.com ------------------ 1985's "Runaway Train" with Jon Voight is a good one, filmed almost entirely in a locomotive cab. 1979's TVM "Disaster On The Coastliner" is a bad one, but had a a fairly all-star cast: Lloyd Bridges, Raymond Burr, Robert Fuller, William Shatner & others. Amtrak got a lot of mileage from that one, first time I saw the new paint scheme (at the time) on TV. I do have this one on tape, do not know if it was ever put on home video (if it was, it's rare). There are actually TWO train films by the name "Silver Streak" that are totally different, the first was in 1934 (black & white) and the second in 1976. I prefer the 1976, one of my fave movies of all time. Patrick McGoohan is an excellent villian. Loved the CP Rail "AMRoad" train!! Was the first movie I audio taped for train sounds. Which led to what I do today. I'll think of more & post later. Let's add a twist to this thread: since "music videos" are regarded as "films" in some cases, shall I mention a few? "Let It Roll" Mel McDaniel (1985), filmed entirely on a SCTR train, "Driver 8" REM (1985), used footage of Chessie System yard & mainline operations entirely, "So Serious" ELO (1986), a car stalls on tracks and a FEC train comes along....you have to see it to see what happens....."Like A Rock" Bob Seger (1986), a bunch of people stuck at a railroad crossing for the duration of the video, "Pink Houses" John Cougar Mellencamp (1983), features Chessie & N&W trains, "Morning Train" Sheena Easton (1981), filmed on a British train (locomotive & coaches), "Say You're Wrong" Julian Lennon (1985), he plays a tower switch operator in the UK (steam trains go by), "Back In The High Life Again" Steve Winwood (1987), features a lot of NS (SOU) trains in NC. Kevin D. Andrusia, Orlando FL CSXT A-Line Sanford Sub FBU32804@webtv.net ------------------ Speaking of Frank Sinatra, he was also in an early '50s B&W film called "Suddenly" with Sterling Hayden which prominently featured SP freight and passenger train action behind steam and early diesels. The plot of the movie (Sinatra tries to kill the President of the US when he arrives in town via special train, Hayden is the local sheriff) is pretty bad, but there are some good train scenes. I think it was filmed in the area around Saugus or Newhall, CA, practically right next door to Hollywood. Another film with some great SP (color in this one) footage at the very beginning and very end is "Bad Day at Black Rock" with Spencer Tracy. He arrives in a small desert town via an SP train (Daylight equipment pulled by a pair of black widow F's). It was filmed on the Jawbone Branch in the Mojave Desert, the line which now connects the Trona Railway with the outside world. Finally, our discussion of SP trains appearing in films would be incomplete if I didn't mention "Duel" with Dennis Weaver. Steven Spielburg's first feature effort, Weaver is a motorist terrorized by a truck driver. He parks his car off the road out of sight to take a nap and is awakened by an SP freight pulled by SD9s, 39s and 40s. Filmed in the Soledad Canyon area (again, just north of Hollywood). Oops, no SE-content here at all. Sorry. Mike W. Largo, FL swaool@mindspring.com ------------------ IF you promise not to get upset if people may not agree with each other's favorites: NOT my favorites, but interesting: Von Ryan's Express/Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 (dumb as dirt)/Runaway Train (DUMBER than dirt)/Silver Streak (possibly the best of Wilder/Pryor: a VERY funny movie with some truly great CANADIAN train scenes/PAY ATTENTION NOW, Y'ALL: In the opening of a very good movie called "Sunday in New York," almost at the very beginning, there is a great scene of a New Haven train, then the characters talk for a few moments, and then, incredibly, we get this spectacular view of--are you ready?--an FEC passenger train in red and yellow, for about 6 or 7 seconds. Fantastic!/Murder on the Orient Express/and, of course, many, many more that I can't think of this second. Enjoy the thread! Seth Bramson sbramson@bellsouth.net ------------------ In "Houseboat" with Cary Grant and Sophia Loren, Grant has purchased an old house that has to be moved. As it is being towed across the railroad tracks, the truck driver (Harry Guardino, later Clint Eastwood's fellow officer in the "Dirty Harry" films) becomes distracted (by Loren, perfectly understandable!) and an RF&P train (FP7 and E8) pulling some ACL equipment comes along and plows through the house at track speed. There, finally some SE-content! Mike W. Largo, FL ------------------ 1983's James Bond 007 installment "Octopussy" is another of my faves, Maud Adams plays the femme fatale in the movie and she owns a circus with its own train, which is featured heavily midway thru towards the end. Lots of action shots, including a fight/chase on top of the coaches. 1957's "The Wings Of Eagles" with John Wayne & the incredible Maureen O'Hara has a local "celebrity" in its "cast", "Old Duke", the 0-6-0 Baldwin Locomotive that now sits at Orlando's Church Street Station. Not a train movie per se, but worth seeing. Kevin D. Andrusia, Orlando FL CSXT A-Line Sanford Sub ------------------ Which reminds me: Judy Garland in "Harvey Girls." Then (oh, do I hate to mention this one, because Will Smith seems to go from absolutely great flicks to pure unadulterated junk, and this one is one of the latter: "Vile, Vile West." What a desecration of the memory of one of the best television shows ever. There was never a team (well, OK, there have been a few, but you know what I mean! ( : > )). ) like Robert Conrad (Jim West) and Ross Martin (Artemus Gordon). Having those two movie buffoons try to fill the shoes of Conrad and Martin was blasphemy--like having Mel Gibson play "Maverick" when NOBODY but James Garner could EVER be Bret Maverick! And, of course, the very short train/railroad scenes in "Young Frankenstein" and "Blazing Saddles" just added some extra greatness to two of the best comedies ever made. (Both in the top 25 of the AFI's "100 Best Comedies.") Between the "Chattanooga Choo-Choo" take off in "Young Frankenstein" and the darkies building the railroad in "Blazing Saddles," you can only smile remembering those scenes! Seth Bramson ------------------ Hey!! What about Cecil B. DeMille's "Union Pacific"? Overacted, overwritten DeMille standard from the 1930's, but a good shoot 'em up! Danny Harmon Tampa ------------------ Okay I'll throw mine in..haven't seen anyone mention this one yet. The Greatest Show on Earth, which features, somewhere in the middle, a horrific train derailment that scatters dozens of circus animals across the countryside. Obviously a model train, but certainly spectacular. And a little off the thread but one of my favorite train scenes on TV was watching Gomez Adams blow up his Lionel train going over a bridge. Boy I guess I'm showing my destructive side here, huh? Not to worry. I have no such inklings now.. John in Jax 1dragonz@bellsouth.net ------------------ How about mid-fifties TV? Casey Jones Casey was played by ... ? DavidCofGa@aol.com ------------------ That TV show (Casey Jones) aired in 1958, Alan Hale Jr (The Skipper from Gilligan's Island later on) played Casey Jones of the Cannonball Express for the Midwest & Central Railroad. I don't actually own any of these shows on tape, but I'm sure I could get them. Kevin D. Andrusia, Orlando FL CSXT A-Line Sanford Sub ------------------ Runaway Train was a great movie! I loved that one. I saw it a long time ago though, so I can't remember details. If I recall there were 4 locomotives hooked together that ran away with 2 prisoners and a women on board. I think the engineer had a heart attack. I believe there was a GP40 or 38, an E or an F unit, and then 2 high nose units, could have been GP7s or 9s. I believe it was filmed in Alaska or something? The whole movie was in the snow. Nick NMM2@aol.com ------------------ > That TV show (Casey Jones) aired in 1958, Alan Hale Jr (The Skipper from > Gilligan's Island later on) played Casey Jones of the Cannonball Express > for the Midwest & Central Railroad. Yes, and all filmed on the Sierra Railroad in California, as were all of the train scenes for "Petticoat Junction." I would venture a guess that the Sierra and its equipment has probably appeared in more films and TV shows than any other railroad. Sidebar: whenever I'm sitting around the house doing absolutely nothing (and being very deliberate about even that), my wife says I'm in my "Edgar Buchanan mode." Mike Woodruff Largo ------------------ Some of my favorites include: -Siver Streak (I actually like the old one better, but both were good.) -Von Ryan's Express -Runaway Train Some of the worst I can remember: -End of the line (Yuck!) -Whatever that TV movie on NBC a year or two ago with a runaway train carrying a nuclear bomb While we're on the subject, there was a train at the beginning of Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade. I think it was a circus train bulled by a 2-8-0 or 2-8-2. Just my $.02 Britt Johnson Albertville, AL CSX Alabama Mineral Sub MP 97 yahoo: starfighter104bj ICQ: 122084338 chisox@peoplepc.com ------------------ Speaking of Music Videos: "Thousand Miles From Nowhere" -Dwight Yokam -Dwight is filmed riding in a boxcar and a flatcar the whole video. I think maybe the railroad was the Copper Basin or something like that. "Iron Horses"-cant remember artist -This was a country song video done a few years ago about a granddad taking his grandson near the railroad tracks and watching steam engines chug by. It appears to have been filmed at TVRM. Cant remember which engines were in it but it might have been the 610, but there may have been others as well "Twang" -Ok this really isnt a video but its a documentary on country music. It was filmed last fall (so I doubt its out yet) but the narrator (Marty Stuart) is riding "hobo-style" in a boxcar. It features a few other country music stars as well. Those scenes were filmed at TVRM also. There might be some more scenes in it as there is a pic in one of my TVRM newsletters showing one of the coaches with a lot of backlights behind it (maybe an interior scene). "Fade Into You"-Mazzy Star -Not really a railroad themed song but there are a bunch of scenes out in the desert of intermodal trains with Santa Fe F45's racing by in the background. Jason Parham gmo1515@hotmail.com ------------------ Oh almost forgot. There is a Pullman sleeper that TVRM owns that was used in the Marilyn Monroe movie "Some like it hot". I haven't seen the movie but people at the museum said there was a scene where she is in an upper berth in one of the Sections (It might have been Section #1, but Im trying to find a copy of the movie so I can find out). The car itself was built in 1920 for Pullman's fleet as a 12-1 named "Bernadotte". It was rebuilt in 1940 as a 8-5 and renamed "Clover Colony", which is how it appears today. The car is typically used for the Georgia trips and other specials. Its pretty easy to spot as its the only car they have that is painted Pullman Green, as opposed to Colonial Red. Jason Parham ------------------ One of my favorites - the opening few minutes of "Bad Day at Black Rock" with the SP Black Widow Fs in a spectacular desert setting. Great Stuff!! And the Spencer Tracy movie ain't bad either. Chuck Hinrichs Trackside at Hopkinsville, KY on CSX's Henderson Sub chuckrail@apex.net ------------------ << > << Runaway Train was good >> > > Runaway Train was a great movie! >>A complete and absolute bubbemisseh. >> I can see we have a difference of opinion. I liked it because: I enjoyed the train scenes and consist was interesting. The snow was nice. The acting was fair. It's been a while since I've seen it, but I can't recall anything extremely wrong, although I'm sure there's something. Nick ------------------ Another music video with a train I can think of is Queen's "Breakthrough" which used a British steam engine & the band riding on...what else...a flat car. Kevin D. Andrusia, Orlando FL CSXT A-Line Sanford Sub ------------------ I don't know if this one has been mentioned yet--"The General" a silent Buster Keaton movie which included crashing a real locomotive off a burning trestle as part of the final Civil War battle sequence. The Circus Train was a "made-up" x-DRGW Narrow Gauge locomotive 2-8-2--I think it is part of the Cumbres and Toltec RR. They painted the counterweights red so they really stand out anytime they show the locomotive. Jim Knerr jim@prepressfl.com ------------------ Bubbemisseh: a fable, a fairytale. A bunch of nonsense. When my students come to me and give me a whole, long sob story on why they didn't turn in a paper and I shouldn't give them a zero, I tell them I can't accept bubbemissehs. (Pronounced EITHER boob-eh-mice-ee's OR bub-eh-mice-ee's. It can also be pronounced, in the singular, bub-eh-mice-eh.) Seth Bramson ------------------ Couple of more that I thought of: -Back to the Future Part III: One of my favroites, with Sierra Railroad No. 3 pushing Doc. Brown's time machine back to the future. -James Bond film 'Golden Eye': Some scenes on something made to look like a Soviet Military train, with a helicopter inside a boxcar (Sounds like they stole that idea from Lionel) Britt Johnson ------------------ The Dwight Yokam clip is a good one, the Mel McDaniel clip is almost exactly the same, but came many years earlier!! In that one, Mel is riding on a flat car & on a SCTR RS-11. Kevin D. Andrusia, Orlando FL CSXT A-Line Sanford Sub ------------------ Circus train sequence on "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" "Broken Arrow", John Travolta, Christian Slater; big fight scene on a train. "Switchback", Dennis Quade, Danny Glover; good, (but gory) suspenser. "Top Secret!", Val Kilmer. Absolutely hilarious scene sequence on a passenger train "somewhere" in Europe. The departure from the station stop is a classic. More as I think of 'em. Ken Kanne kkrkanne@gulftel.com ------------------ Thought of another one: "Narrow Margin", Gene Hackman, Anne Archer. O goodly portion takes palce on a train in the Canadian wilderness. Gorgeous scenery, and one of my favorite Gene Hackman lines: "You know what I like about you? You're tall.............." *WHACK!* I you haven't seen it, that won't make any sense. If you have seen it, well, it may stir some queasy memories. Ken ------------------ I think the movie is called "Trading Places" with Dan Akroid and Eddie Murphy. Dan is an ececutive at a trading firm, and Eddie is a bum... the two owners of the firm (they are brothers in the movie, one named Mortimer), switch Dan and Eddie's places in the world... Anyway, there are a few scenes on an Amtrak train, as well as a few outside NECorridor shots. Later, David ------------------ Another good one is "Denver and Rio Grande" from the early 1950s. I haven't watched it in a while, but believe it is the one with the famous head on collision that destroyed a couple of DRGW narrow guage consolidations. Also it is the movie that got 268 into its orange paint. The train in the Indiana Jones movie was either on the Cumbres and Toltec or the Silverton (both ex DRGW narrow guage). And speaking of the Cumbres and Toltec, "Bite the Bullet" with Gene Hackman, James Coburn, Candace Bergen et al had a lot of great shots of CATS equipment and scenery. Jim Larduskey jiml@pcola.gulf.net ------------------ I thought of a couple more: "French Kiss", Meg Ryan, Kevin Kline, long segment on train through French countryside. How did we miss "Mission Impossible"? Chunnel train at speed, and another , what did you call it, Seth?.......... oh, yeah: Bubbemisseh: a fable, a fairytale. A bunch of nonsense. Fun, though! Ken Kanne ------------------ On Tue, 17 Jul Seth Bramson writes: ...It was still a bubbemisseh ... OK, I give up. I don't speak Miamian. What does that mean?? Something to do with Bubba? And besides, I liked the movie because Rebecca DeMornay was a railroad worker. And laying around the cab of an F unit at that! Pure fiction but enjoyable. OTHER RR MOVIES...(Don't have a clue what some of the names are.) - The one where Danny Glover kills the poor old brakeman in the caboose/spreader of a DRG freight. - The movie where Earnest Borgnine chases a hobo all over his train. - The Natural: The perfect American movie! It has baseball, good guys & bad guys, good girls & bad girls and A STEAM LOCOMOTIVE! What could be better. - The Color Purple: Sou #4501 in it. - Matewan: With James Earl Jones. N&W #1218 I think. (Or maybe #611?) - Coal Miners Daughter: Had the "Southernized" Canadian Engine the Steam program ran in the early 80's - October Sky: The last year of #4501 running. O.W. Link was in it. - Biloxi Blues: My teacher, S&A #750, was in many scenes. You have to hear Mr. Heywood tell the story about almost hitting the helicopter that was filming. Unbelievable! thefireman (Robet J Duncan) southernrr.ps4@juno.com I'll ask my wife in the morning, she's the movie nut in the family. I'm just the regular nut! ------------------ EMPEROR OF THE NORTH AND FRIED GREEN TOMATOES GWDeason@aol.com ------------------ OK, here's one I haven't seen mentioned, remember "Dirty Mary & Crazy Larry" where the modern day Bonny & Clyde elude the cops by using a scanner tuned to the police frequencies. Too bad they didn't add a local RR channel or two or they might have avoided the Union Pacific train that busted them at a fiery grade crossing collision in the last scene in the movie! "Runaway Train" is one of my favorites, evil black, numberless, nameless engines flying down the tracks at 80+ mph in sub zero weather, covered in thick snow & ice, busting a caboose to smithereans, carrying 3 helpless humans for a ride toward the CHEMICAL PLANT! The young rookie convict (Robbie Benson?) trips out and starts yelling " Manny, we all gonna die, Manny OHHH MANNY!!! SPAT! Blane in Andalusia, AL Stephens henley@alaweb.com ------------------ Eric Roberts. Aside from some relatively minor problems with RR operating issues, this is a highly recommended movie. Perhaps Jon Voight's best performance ever, and an underlying theme about the blurred line between brutality and humanity, simply an excellent movie. Warning--be prepared for a lot of profanity/vulgarity, unless you catch the edited version on TNT/TBS, like I did a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, hearing these brutal convicts saying minor league profanities while their lips are showing something else is more laughable than the language in the original was disturbing. The language, like the violence in Clockwork Orange, is a key to the plot development, which focuses on the personality of Manny (Voight). Kent Weissinger railfan@peoplepc.com ------------------ I actually liked Runaway Train. A fairly good story and I like anything with Rebecca Demornay. (Uff, uff, uff!!) What I didn't like was the same thing I hate about many movies. The hard-boiled railroad manager, cursing at his employees to "just do what I says, idiot, even though what I'm tellin' ya will result in disaster" And the renegade cop, who'll stop at nothing, break any rule, hit anyone with a rifle butt to get his man. But all the train stuff was very cool....and of course, there was Rebecca Demornay!!!! It's worth a rental. Now as far as Mission Impossible goes...... just plain stupid. Regards, Danny Harmon at the A886.3 Tampa ------------------ Okay, since we're putting "train scene movies" in the mix now, I'm nodding to 1980's "Bronco Billy" with Clint Eastwood & Sondra Locke. Clint plays a cowboy with a modern day Wild West show falling on hard times & Sondra is a rich witch who falls for him...It's one of those movies I only like 'cos I saw it when I was young & impressionable. Had a GREAT train chase scene with a full fledged UP passenger train out in the desert. Yup, they chased the train on horse and the E-units pulling the train outdistanced them with no problems. Again, another film I used for train sounds. Kevin D. Andrusia, Orlando FL CSXT A-Line Sanford Sub ------------------ Continuing this thread, did anybody mention "In the Heat of the Night" yet, with the GM&O E-unit cameo shots at Sparta, Illinois? Other clips included "Screaming Eagle" MoPac SDs with a dubbed in monotone air horn sound (quite a bit ahead of its time setting) and a pair of old MoPac Geeps. How about other glaring time continuity problems with trains in movies and TV shows?? Here's a whole new thread. A couple of my favorites is a movie called "The Farmer", from back in the mid-80s or so, of a tough guy type driving an old Ford or Chevy pickup down main street in a 1940-ish era small town, where in the distance in clear view is a train led by a set of Southern high hood SDs as it rolls blaring away thru town!! I recall a TV mini-series based in the old days, maybe 40s or 50s, not that long ago with a poverty stricken black couple putzing along a multi-lane highway in an old vehicle along a rail yard full of glistening shrouded autoracks. Hmmm. Goes to show how little some production people know or care about historic railroad accuracy, and what little they can do about if a train shows up on the set unannounced. Mike Hasbargen KCSHSCrow@aol.com ------------------ A trio of WWII movies I've seen in the past had some interesting foreign railroad sequences: 1.) Dr. Zhivago(1965): Omar Sharif, Julie Christie 2.) Schindler's List(1993): Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes 3.) Enemy at the Gates(2001): Joseph Fiennes, Raquel Weisz, Bob Hoskins -Eddie cburg35151@yahoo.com ------------------ ------------------ ------------------ ------------------ ------------------