Trains In Film And Tv

Discussion in 'Off Topic' started by Calidore266, Jul 17, 2022.

  1. Calidore266

    Calidore266 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 17, 2021
    Messages:
    1,198
    Likes Received:
    1,721
    I thought this might be worth a dedicated thread.

    To start, I've just rewatched Runaway Train (1985) and still love it and recommend it highly. Top-quality suspense, two Oscar-nominated lead performances, and no Hollywood gloss to speak of. Plus, the train is a viable character in its own right.

    And for something a tad less serious, here's a train-based sketch from Dave Allen at Large, highlighted by Michael Sharvell-Martin breaking Dave's composure right on camera.

     
    • Like Like x 5
  2. Mario#8103

    Mario#8103 New Member

    Joined:
    May 8, 2022
    Messages:
    9
    Likes Received:
    0
    so this type of wagon still exists in my country, but a little more modernized, but in the same style in principle
     
  3. Silver streak
    The Cassandra crossing
    Terror by night
    The last passenger
    Murder on the orient express....
     
    • Like Like x 3
  4. matt#4801

    matt#4801 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 8, 2022
    Messages:
    4,358
    Likes Received:
    7,254
    So simple but brilliantly funny and brings back memories from the days of the compartment stock.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  5. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 20, 2020
    Messages:
    11,736
    Likes Received:
    17,949
    Throw Mama From the Train
    Strangers on a Train
    A Hard Day's Night (well, part of it)
    The Brain
    The final fistfights in both From Russia With Love and Live and Let Die

    But the one real TRAIN movie not yet mentioned: Emperor of the North (Ernest Borgnine, Lee Marvin, two hobos face off against a sadistic conductor)
     
    Last edited: Jul 30, 2022
    • Like Like x 3
  6. JJTimothy

    JJTimothy Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 14, 2018
    Messages:
    1,528
    Likes Received:
    975
    Recommend all of these in no particular order:
    The Train
    . John Frankenheimer's cracking war film with Burt Lancaster and Paul Schofield.
    The Silver Streak. Arthur Hiller. Comedy-thriller with Gene Wilder, Richard Pryor and Patrick McGoohan as a satisfying villain.
    The North West Frontier. J. Lee Thompson. Kenneth Moor with the stiffest of upper lips leads a starry cast on adventures in colonial India.
    The General. Buster Keaton's over-indulgent but still great and beautifully made silent comedy. (Keaton's Our Hospitality doesn't have much to do with trains but there's an inventive and hilarious sequence of a journey near the beginning that is on YouTube.)
    The Ladykillers. Alexander McKendrick. Howlingly funny comedy-heist film with trains running in and out of King's Cross creating a sort of Greek chorus for the last act as Alec Guinness' gang starts falling apart and bumping each other off.
    The Narrow Margin. Richard Fleischer's atmospheric and pacey B-movie thriller from RKO. The remake isn't bad either.
    The Titfield Thunderbolt. Charles Crichton. The whimsy is contrived and there's no real enthusiasm but still funny and endlessly watchable.
    For curiosity value check out early talkies The Wrecker and The Flying Scotsman which are both terrible objectively but of interest and have lovely railway cinematography.
     
    • Like Like x 2
  7. Pipe

    Pipe Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2022
    Messages:
    1,724
    Likes Received:
    3,446
    Under Siege 2: Dark Territory - Steven Seagal is a jerk, but maybe wasn´t always. And a very young Kathrin Heigl as his nice ...... uhm.
    The Peace Maker - Nice train collision - never cross a red signal...
    Golden Eye - Sean Bean (the actor with most deaths died in movies) in Stalin´s armored train. He gets away (Bean, not Stalin)......... this time.
    Around the World in 80 Days (The Todd Version) - David Niven and Cantinflas riding on trains in India and the Wild West, these movies had another pace ...
    And, of course, Buster Keaton (already mentioned). Unforgettable...

     
    Last edited: Jul 27, 2022
    • Like Like x 2
  8. smugstarlord#4202

    smugstarlord#4202 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 24, 2021
    Messages:
    714
    Likes Received:
    1,264
    What about "unstoppable" ? Pretty decent film Tbh
     
    • Like Like x 3
  9. Crosstie

    Crosstie Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 8, 2016
    Messages:
    4,530
    Likes Received:
    10,149
    Don't forget " North By Northwest " for some 1959 views of Grand Central and Chicago Union stations and brief views of NYC's Water Level Route.
    I believe I recently sat at the same table as Cary Grant in the Mount Rushmore cafeteria. ;);)
     
    Last edited: Jul 27, 2022
    • Like Like x 1
  10. Blacknred81

    Blacknred81 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 24, 2019
    Messages:
    5,571
    Likes Received:
    11,845
    Haven't seen many films, but have seen this locomotive, not a good pic of her, but there's a good chance you've may of seen it in an old movie or TV show.
    66078456_3423132451045467_3634957914982055936_n.jpg
     
    • Like Like x 3
  11. Calidore266

    Calidore266 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 17, 2021
    Messages:
    1,198
    Likes Received:
    1,721
    North by Northwest is one of Alfred Hitchcock's best films, and probably his most purely entertaining one. That and Silver Streak are a great double feature.
     
  12. junior hornet

    junior hornet Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2018
    Messages:
    1,761
    Likes Received:
    2,651
    I love the scene in Dogma where Silent Bob throws Ben Affleck and Matt Damons’ characters off the moving train, then he lights a cigarette, turns to a terrified passenger and coolly says “No ticket”.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  13. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 20, 2020
    Messages:
    11,736
    Likes Received:
    17,949
    A tribute to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, where Indy does the same from a Zeppelin
     
  14. junior hornet

    junior hornet Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2018
    Messages:
    1,761
    Likes Received:
    2,651
    Yeah but that’s not a train. :)
     
  15. fabdiva

    fabdiva Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 13, 2019
    Messages:
    906
    Likes Received:
    809
    Mugen Train? (The Demon Slayer Movie)

    Bullet Train is currently being pushed heavily - it looks awful and what is that CGI train (because I suspect JR told them to sod off)
     
  16. Calidore266

    Calidore266 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 17, 2021
    Messages:
    1,198
    Likes Received:
    1,721
    U.S. viewers of a *cough* certain age have universally fond memories of the Schoolhouse Rock series of educational animated shorts that appeared between the main Saturday morning cartoons. One of the most popular from the Grammar Rock series, "Conjunction Junction", used trains to illustrate the concept.

     
    • Like Like x 1
  17. Kitten

    Kitten Active Member

    Joined:
    Jul 9, 2022
    Messages:
    118
    Likes Received:
    120
    Train to Busan (2016), Source Code (2011), and Snowpiercer (both film and TV series) are all worth a watch. Quatermass and the Pit (1967) is worth a mention too; it featured a fictional LU station setting.
     
  18. james64

    james64 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2020
    Messages:
    1,176
    Likes Received:
    2,750
    Genuinely shocked no one has mentioned the iconic "The Railway Children" yet. Also "The Railway Children Return" just came out, and features on the poster and in the opening scenes of the film LMS Jubilee 45596 "Bahamas"- an engine that is drivable in TSW2. Both films were, err, filmed on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, and the new one also features an LMS 4F and (for some reason), and American S160 2-8-0. More or less the American equivalent of our 8F.

    Here's a less well known film- Last Passenger. This is a 2013 thriller film, set on a runaway train from London to Tunbridge Wells. It was filmed on board and features Class 421 EMUs (despite being released in 2013 it's set in 2004). It's been a while since I've seen it but I caught it on TV once and ended up really enjoying it. It's very much a more budget version of films like Taken. Plenty of action and things get pretty intense, especially towards the end of the film. Does a very good job of portraying the average commute out of London.
    The Ladykillers is a fantastic film. One of my Dad's favourites when he was a kid and I also love it. The shots of trains were taken at Belle Isle, between Gasworks Tunnel and Copenhagen Tunnel, immediately out of King's Cross. What's really great is that it's an uphill gradient so you see the engines working quite hard. One of Video 125's "Steam on 35mm" DVDs (I'm afraid I can't remember which volume) contains the full, unedited shots, including the ones not used in the film (i.e. most of them). It's great seeing and hearing A3s, A4s and V2s etc pounding up the line, in much better quality than other archive footage from that time.
    If I remember rightly that train is actually just a Class 20 with some casing over it. I believe that sequence was shot on the Nene Valley Railway, near Peterborough.
     
  19. DTG Protagonist

    DTG Protagonist Has left the building Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jun 2, 2020
    Messages:
    1,331
    Likes Received:
    7,877
    For shame, team.


     
    • Like Like x 5
  20. JJTimothy

    JJTimothy Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 14, 2018
    Messages:
    1,528
    Likes Received:
    975
    Runaway Train is OK. Go ahead- I can take it.

    The Taking of Pelham 123, the original of course, is a stone cold classic. At one point Steven Spielberg was in the running to direct but the studio decided it was director proof- not that craftsman Joseph Sargent is any slouch (though he did make Jaws 4) but it is the editing that really shines.

    The First Great Train Robbery from Michael Crichton (best known for tech' thrillers like Westworld and Coma) doesn't quite fulfil his ambition to, "Lovingly recreate Victorian England then use it as a setting for The French Connection" but is good fun with an extended robbery sequence on a vintage train (which is Irish- looks splendid but not quite right) and Sean Connery doing his own stunts.
     
  21. Calidore266

    Calidore266 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 17, 2021
    Messages:
    1,198
    Likes Received:
    1,721
    Hey, I started the thread with Runaway Train.

    I've still never seen Taking of Pelham though and really need to remedy that.
     
  22. Crosstie

    Crosstie Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 8, 2016
    Messages:
    4,530
    Likes Received:
    10,149
    Also, don't forget " 4:50 From Paddington " and " Night Train To Munich ".
    And how come no-one mentioned " Von Ryan's Express ".
    And " Brief Encounter "??? Shame on Y'all. :D
     
    Last edited: Aug 5, 2022
  23. Calidore266

    Calidore266 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 17, 2021
    Messages:
    1,198
    Likes Received:
    1,721
    Just remembered Horror Express, which has the classic team of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing (plus Telly Savalas!), doing battle with a murderous creature aboard a steam train. Don't want to link the trailer in case some of the imagery is inappropriate for the forum, but this is ace B-movie stuff.
     
  24. Pipe

    Pipe Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2022
    Messages:
    1,724
    Likes Received:
    3,446
    Sure, sure. But they painted a nice, big, fat red star on it, no.

    Did somebody mentioned "Unstoppable"? Anyway, nice trailer ...

     
  25. james64

    james64 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2020
    Messages:
    1,176
    Likes Received:
    2,750
    My dad keeps trying to get me to watch Brief Encounter. I will eventually, I've seen a few clips and I liked what I saw. As with the Ladykillers the shots of the trains are all featured uncut on Video 125s" Steam on 35mm", which is a compilation of archive steam footage taken for films from around the 1930s up until the 60s. The shots from Brief Encounter are beautifully atmospheric.

    Seeing as you mentioned Paddington... What about Paddington? Some great shots of London Paddington taken in around 2015 in the first film, and the second one features an excellent sequence towards the end of the film with 60163 Tornado.
     
  26. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 20, 2020
    Messages:
    11,736
    Likes Received:
    17,949
  27. pjwilson15

    pjwilson15 Member

    Joined:
    Nov 6, 2020
    Messages:
    56
    Likes Received:
    62
    Go West with the Marx Brothers from 1940. Very funny movie, where the highlight is the cutting up of the coaches to provide fuel for the loco and the train running off the rails and causing havoc before getting back on the rails again.
     
  28. Pipe

    Pipe Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2022
    Messages:
    1,724
    Likes Received:
    3,446
    How can we forget, the movie is crap but the train is quite something.

     
  29. Calidore266

    Calidore266 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 17, 2021
    Messages:
    1,198
    Likes Received:
    1,721
  30. Rybnicki

    Rybnicki Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2020
    Messages:
    360
    Likes Received:
    459
    An amazing b-movie featuring some incredibly hammy performances from some big, big names. Has the wonderful line,
    "Better 1 day late to Paris than 40 years early to the grave!"
    Actor's name was OJ something, wonder what happened to that guy?
     
  31. TheCadManFan

    TheCadManFan Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 15, 2018
    Messages:
    303
    Likes Received:
    293
  32. tutystant

    tutystant New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 5, 2022
    Messages:
    1
    Likes Received:
    1
    Can you advise me which TV series to watch at Christmas?
     
    • Like Like x 1
  33. matt#4801

    matt#4801 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 8, 2022
    Messages:
    4,358
    Likes Received:
    7,254
    Call me an old fool but I have been going through 3 old sitcoms on Britbox recently: Fawlty Towers, Dads Army and The Royle Family. They are classics and I can't think of any modern sitcoms bar Not Going Out which make me laugh as much as these three do.
     
  34. junior hornet

    junior hornet Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2018
    Messages:
    1,761
    Likes Received:
    2,651
    I fail to recall any trains in these.
     
  35. matt#4801

    matt#4801 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 8, 2022
    Messages:
    4,358
    Likes Received:
    7,254
    I may or may not have just got carried away and just read the post above mine and not realised which thread I was in.
    Come to think of it though wasn't there an episode of Dads Army where they had a tank engine in a station when the King was coming, they drove it away and were chased on a pump trolley. Series 6 I think.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  36. TSW Nathan

    TSW Nathan Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 17, 2022
    Messages:
    3,276
    Likes Received:
    3,463
  37. aqvanader

    aqvanader New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 6, 2022
    Messages:
    1
    Likes Received:
    0
    I recommend watching Christmas with you now" (2021) is a sweet romantic story with a drop of humor. The acting is excellent, and it's an optimistic movie. However, the plot and everything is pretty predictable. But for the right atmosphere, the film is perfect, in my opinion. The character of Max's dog is incredibly charming. I adore animals in such films. I watched it on ดูซีรี่ย์ใหม่ล่าสุด, so it's very convenient if you want to go to your family for the Christmas holidays and don't have anything to look at on the train.
     
    Last edited: Dec 6, 2022
  38. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 20, 2020
    Messages:
    11,736
    Likes Received:
    17,949
    Just rewatched Runaway Train. Darn, what a great movie! An art film disguised as an action film. Oh, and some really nice in-cab shots of vintage EMDs (GP7s, F7, GP40).

    BUT.....
    Would that engineer really have started from a dead stop in Run 8 in the snow???
    (Also, I can't imagine an emergency blow wouldn't have stopped a light MU only doing about 10-15 mph, full throttle or not).
     
  39. sisucyclone08

    sisucyclone08 New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 9, 2022
    Messages:
    3
    Likes Received:
    0
    Runaway Train is one of the things I have loved the most. I can never imagine something perfect than it. I am truly overwhelmed whenever I watch it.
     
  40. marcsharp2

    marcsharp2 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 18, 2019
    Messages:
    1,423
    Likes Received:
    2,560
    Doctor Who has visited Barry Island several times since its return in 2005, most obviously in the episode "Flatline" which also had scenes filmed on the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire railway 08.jpg capaldi-twelve-climbs-out-of-tardis-flatline-doctor-who-back-when_edit_3420800567185.jpg
     
  41. fabdiva

    fabdiva Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 13, 2019
    Messages:
    906
    Likes Received:
    809
  42. e.leerentveld

    e.leerentveld Member

    Joined:
    Nov 13, 2021
    Messages:
    68
    Likes Received:
    90
    While not a train movie, Mission Impossible features a very rare train: a French TGV Reseau that apparently doesn't require catenary like they do in real life.


    One should always be careful being sadistic against Ernest Borgnine. He has a friend with a quite deadly attack helicopter.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  43. Luke8899

    Luke8899 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 14, 2020
    Messages:
    604
    Likes Received:
    1,697
  44. andrewandjane66

    andrewandjane66 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 20, 2020
    Messages:
    380
    Likes Received:
    684
    The BBC sketch show Goodness Gracious Me has it's own take on Great Railway Journeys of the World
     
  45. JJTimothy

    JJTimothy Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 14, 2018
    Messages:
    1,528
    Likes Received:
    975
    To anyone who's interested Von Ryan's Express is on BBC2 tomorrow afternoon (as I type- Wednesday 21) at 3:05.

    ...and yet somehow I missed The First Great Train Robbery on before it for a double bill. No doubt it would be "edited for content" (badly cut to a point where some scenes become incomprehensible) anyway because it's a 12 certificate and the alternative is to show it at a suitable time which would obviously be silly.
     
    Last edited: Dec 21, 2022
  46. TheCadManFan

    TheCadManFan Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 15, 2018
    Messages:
    303
    Likes Received:
    293
    BBC must be taking a page out of ITV/2/3's book. They like showing Licence To Kill (the most violent Bond), at 3:00 in the afternoon, and end up having to cut the film up. Why not show it from 9:00 at night?????
     

Share This Page