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Runaway Train (film)

From Wikipedia, in a visual modern way
Runaway Train
Runaway trainposter.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAndrei Konchalovsky
Screenplay byDjordje Milicevic
Paul Zindel
Edward Bunker
Story byAkira Kurosawa
Hideo Oguni (uncredited)
Ryūzō Kikushima (uncredited)
Produced byMenahem Golan
Yoram Globus
Starring
CinematographyAlan Hume
Edited byHenry Richardson
Music byTrevor Jones
Production
companies
Northbrook Films
Golan-Globus Productions
Distributed byThe Cannon Group, Inc.
Release dates
  • December 6, 1985 (1985-12-06) (Limited)
  • January 17, 1986 (1986-01-17) (Wide)
Running time
110 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$9 million[2]
Box office$7.7 million (US)[2]

Runaway Train is a 1985 American independent action thriller film directed by Andrei Konchalovsky and starring Jon Voight, Eric Roberts, Rebecca De Mornay and John P. Ryan. The screenplay by Djordje Milicevic, Paul Zindel and Edward Bunker was based on an original 1960s screenplay by Akira Kurosawa, with uncredited contributions by frequent Kurosawa collaborators Hideo Oguni and Ryūzō Kikushima. The film was also the feature debut of both Danny Trejo and Tommy "Tiny" Lister,[3] who both proceeded to successful careers as "tough guy" character actors.

The story concerns two escaped convicts and a female assistant locomotive driver who are stuck on a runaway train as it barrels through snowy desolate Alaska. Voight and Roberts were both nominated for Academy Awards for their respective roles. It received generally positive reviews from critics.

Kurosawa intended the original screenplay to be his first color film following Red Beard, but difficulties with the American financial backers led to its being shelved.[4]

Discover more about Runaway Train (film) related topics

Independent film

Independent film

An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies. Independent films are sometimes distinguishable by their content and style and the way in which the filmmakers' personal artistic vision is realized. Usually, but not always, independent films are made with considerably lower budgets than major studio films.

Action film

Action film

Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life-threatening situations, a dangerous villain, or a pursuit which usually concludes in victory for the hero.

Andrei Konchalovsky

Andrei Konchalovsky

Andrei Sergeyevich Konchalovsky OZO is a Russian filmmaker. He has worked in Soviet, Hollywood, and contemporary Russian cinema. He is a laureate of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", a National Order of the Legion of Honour, an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters, a Cavalier of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic and a People's Artist of the RSFSR. He is the son of writer Sergey Mikhalkov, and the brother of filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov.

Eric Roberts

Eric Roberts

Eric Anthony Roberts is an American actor. His career began with a leading role in King of the Gypsies (1978) for which he received his first Golden Globe Award nomination. He was nominated again at the Golden Globes for his role in Bob Fosse's Star 80 (1983). Roberts' performance in Runaway Train (1985), as prison escapee Buck McGeehy, earned him a third Golden Globe nod and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He is the older brother of actress Julia Roberts.

John P. Ryan

John P. Ryan

John Patrick Ryan was an American actor, best known for his role as Warden Ranken in the 1985 film Runaway Train.

Edward Bunker

Edward Bunker

Edward Heward Bunker was an American author of crime fiction, a screenwriter, convicted felon and an actor. He wrote numerous books, some of which have been adapted into films. He wrote the scripts for—and acted in—Straight Time (1978), Runaway Train (1985) and Animal Factory (2000). He also played a minor role in Reservoir Dogs (1992).

Akira Kurosawa

Akira Kurosawa

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dynamic style, strongly influenced by Western cinema yet distinct from it; he was involved with all aspects of film production.

Hideo Oguni

Hideo Oguni

Hideo Oguni was a Japanese writer who wrote over 100 screenplays. He is best known for co-writing screenplays for a number of films directed by Akira Kurosawa, including Ikiru, The Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood and The Hidden Fortress. His first film with Kurosawa was Ikiru, and according to film professor Catherine Russell, it was Oguni who devised that film's two-part structure. Film critic Donald Richie regarded him as the "humanist" among Kurosawa's writers. In 2013, Oguni and frequent screenwriting collaborators Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto and Ryūzō Kikushima were awarded the Jean Renoir Award by the Writers Guild of America West.

Danny Trejo

Danny Trejo

Daniel "Danny" Trejo is an American actor. He has appeared in films including Desperado, Heat, and the From Dusk Till Dawn film series. With frequent collaborator and his second cousin Robert Rodriguez, he portrayed the character of Isador "Machete" Cortez, which was originally developed for the Spy Kids series and was later expanded into its own franchise of the same name.

Character actor

Character actor

A character actor is a supporting actor known for small parts who plays unusual, interesting, or eccentric characters. The term, often contrasted with that of leading actor, is somewhat abstract and open to interpretation. In a literal sense, all actors can be considered character actors since they all play "characters", but the term more commonly refers to an actor who frequently plays a distinctive and important supporting role. Character actors are generally well-known and recognizable by the audience, even if they play different types of roles in different movies.

Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is a U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., it borders British Columbia and the Yukon in Canada to the east, and it shares a western maritime border in the Bering Strait with the Russian Federation's Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. To the north are the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas of the Arctic Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean lies to the south and southwest.

Academy Awards

Academy Awards

The Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the film industry. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), in recognition of excellence in cinematic achievements as assessed by the Academy's voting membership. The Academy Awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment industry in the United States and worldwide. The Oscar statuette depicts a knight rendered in the Art Deco style.

Plot

Oscar "Manny" Manheim (Voight) is a ruthless bank robber and hero to the convicts of Alaska's Stonehaven Maximum Security Prison. After two previous escape attempts, Manny is put in solitary confinement for three years. A court order compels sadistic Associate Warden Ranken to release him from solitary. Planning a third break out, Manny is forced to advance his plan to mid-winter after he is stabbed. Manny recruits young prisoner Buck McGeehy to help in the complicated plan. After escaping from the prison via a sewer tunnel that opens out above a freezing river, and an arduous cross-country hike, the two arrive at a switchyard. After stealing some railroad clothing, they hop on board a train, consisting only of four locomotives.

The elderly railroad engineer, Al, has a fatal heart attack after starting the train and falls off the lead locomotive. He manages to apply the brakes, but the locomotives overpower them; resulting in the brake shoes burning off. As the unmanned train accelerates, dispatchers Dave Prince and Frank Barstow are alerted to the situation. Barstow allows the train to reach onto the mainline, whilst trying to keep the tracks farther down the line clear. Unfortunately, the runaway smashes the caboose of another train pulling onto a siding. The collision badly damages the cab of the lead locomotive and jams the front door of the second engine, an old inoperable EMD F-unit, or "A-liner". The convicts finally realize something is wrong. Barstow's superior Eddie McDonald orders him to intentionally derail the train.

At this point, the train's horn blows, alerting the authorities (and the two fugitives) someone else is aboard the train. Barstow has the maintainer cancel the derailment. Ranken concludes his two escaped convicts are fleeing by rail. Meanwhile, the two fugitives are discovered by Sara, a locomotive hostler, who explains she sounded the horn and the train is out of control. She convinces them jumping off the train at its current speed would be suicide while revealing the only possible way to stop the train would be to climb forward onto the lead engine and press its kill switch, a near-impossible feat due to the A-liner's jammed front door and its obsolete rounded streamlined design's having no outside catwalk or handrail like the other three more-modern square-bodied locomotives. They manage to shut down the third and fourth locomotives, nearly derailing on a bridge while doing so.

The dispatchers divert the runaway onto a dead-end branch line after determining it is only five minutes away from a head-on collision with a passenger train. Further ahead the train has a tight curve near a chemical plant. Barstow agrees they must crash it, thus condemning all three on board to death, rather than risking a chemical explosion. Ranken forces Barstow to help him reach the train via helicopter. Manny tries forcing Buck into a suicidal scramble around the outside of the second engine's nose. Sara's intervention on Buck's behalf results in an armed face-off. Emotionally broken, all three slump into depression. Ranken's accomplice is lowered from a helicopter to the lead engine, but falls under the train after smashing through its windscreen.

Spurred on by the appearance of his arch-enemy with an absolute resolve to not be returned to prison, Manny makes a perilous leap to the lead engine. He barely makes it, severely crushing his hand. Ranken boards the locomotive from the helicopter; Manny ambushes and handcuffs him inside the lead engine. Ranken orders Manny to stop the train before it crashes, but Manny has chosen to die rather than be recaptured. When reminded of Buck and Sara in the second engine, Manny uncouples the lead engine from the rest of the train. He waves goodbye without a word (ignoring Buck's screaming pleas to shut down the lead engine), and climbs onto the roof in the freezing snow, with his arms stretched out, accepting his inevitable fate. Buck and Manny's fellow inmates quietly mourn in their cells as the lone engine vanishes into the storm. The film closes with an on-screen quote from William Shakespeare's Richard III:

"No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity."
"But I know none, and therefore am no beast."[5]

Discover more about Plot related topics

EMD F-unit

EMD F-unit

EMD F-units are a line of diesel-electric locomotives produced between November 1939 and November 1960 by General Motors Electro-Motive Division and General Motors-Diesel Division. Final assembly for all F-units was at the GM-EMD plant at La Grange, Illinois, and the GMDD plant in London, Ontario. They were sold to railroads throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico, and a few were exported to Saudi Arabia. The term F-unit refers to the model numbers given to each successive type, all of which began with the letter F. The F originally meant "fourteen", as in 1,400 horsepower (1,000 kW), not "freight". Longer EMD E-units for passenger service had twin 900-horsepower (670 kW) diesel engines. The E meant "eighteen" as in 1,800 horsepower (1,300 kW). Similarly, for early model EMD switchers, S meant "six hundred" and N meant "nine hundred horsepower".

Kill switch

Kill switch

A kill switch, also known as an emergency brake, emergency stop (E-stop), emergency off (EMO) and as an emergency power off (EPO), is a safety mechanism used to shut off machinery in an emergency, when it cannot be shut down in the usual manner. Unlike a normal shut-down switch or shut-down procedure, which shuts down all systems in order and turns off the machine without damage, a kill switch is designed and configured to abort the operation as quickly as possible and to be operated simply and quickly. Kill switches are usually designed to be noticeable, even to an untrained operator or a bystander.

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. He remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.

Richard III (play)

Richard III (play)

Richard III is a play by William Shakespeare. It was probably written c. 1592–1594. It is labelled a history in the First Folio, and is usually considered one, but it is sometimes called a tragedy, as in the quarto edition. Richard III concludes Shakespeare's first tetralogy and depicts the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of King Richard III of England.

Cast

Discover more about Cast related topics

Jon Voight

Jon Voight

Jonathan Vincent Voight is an American actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance as Joe Buck, a would-be gigolo, in Midnight Cowboy (1969). During the 1970s, he played a businessman mixed up with murder in Deliverance (1972); a paraplegic Vietnam veteran in Coming Home (1978), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor; and a penniless ex–boxing champion in the remake of The Champ (1979).

Eric Roberts

Eric Roberts

Eric Anthony Roberts is an American actor. His career began with a leading role in King of the Gypsies (1978) for which he received his first Golden Globe Award nomination. He was nominated again at the Golden Globes for his role in Bob Fosse's Star 80 (1983). Roberts' performance in Runaway Train (1985), as prison escapee Buck McGeehy, earned him a third Golden Globe nod and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He is the older brother of actress Julia Roberts.

Rebecca De Mornay

Rebecca De Mornay

Rebecca De Mornay is an American actress and producer. Her breakthrough film role came in 1983, when she starred as Lana in Risky Business. De Mornay is also known for her roles in The Slugger's Wife (1985), Runaway Train (1985), The Trip to Bountiful (1985), Backdraft (1991), and The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992).

Kyle T. Heffner

Kyle T. Heffner

Kyle Troy Heffner is an American television and film actor.

John P. Ryan

John P. Ryan

John Patrick Ryan was an American actor, best known for his role as Warden Ranken in the 1985 film Runaway Train.

T. K. Carter

T. K. Carter

Thomas Kent Carter is an American actor.

Kenneth McMillan (actor)

Kenneth McMillan (actor)

Kenneth McMillan was an American actor. McMillan was usually cast as gruff, hostile and unfriendly characters due to his rough image. However, he was sometimes cast in some lighter comic roles that highlighted his gentler side. He was perhaps best known as Jack Doyle in Rhoda (1977–1978), and as Baron Harkonnen in David Lynch's Dune.

Edward Bunker

Edward Bunker

Edward Heward Bunker was an American author of crime fiction, a screenwriter, convicted felon and an actor. He wrote numerous books, some of which have been adapted into films. He wrote the scripts for—and acted in—Straight Time (1978), Runaway Train (1985) and Animal Factory (2000). He also played a minor role in Reservoir Dogs (1992).

John Bloom (actor)

John Bloom (actor)

John Bloom was an American actor.

Hank Worden

Hank Worden

Hank Worden was an American cowboy-turned-character actor who appeared in many Westerns, including many John Ford films such as The Searchers and the TV series The Lone Ranger.

Danny Trejo

Danny Trejo

Daniel "Danny" Trejo is an American actor. He has appeared in films including Desperado, Heat, and the From Dusk Till Dawn film series. With frequent collaborator and his second cousin Robert Rodriguez, he portrayed the character of Isador "Machete" Cortez, which was originally developed for the Spy Kids series and was later expanded into its own franchise of the same name.

Dennis Franz

Dennis Franz

Dennis Franz Schlachta, known professionally as Dennis Franz, is an American retired actor best known for his role as NYPD Detective Andy Sipowicz in the ABC television series NYPD Blue (1993–2005), a role that earned him a Golden Globe Award, three Screen Actors Guild Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards. He also portrayed two different characters on the similar NBC series Hill Street Blues and its short-lived spinoff, Beverly Hills Buntz (1987–1988).

Production

Akira Kurosawa

Akira Kurosawa read an article in a 1963 Life magazine by Warren Young about a runaway train. He thought it would make a good film and contacted Joseph E. Levine about doing an international co-production. In June 1966, Kurosawa announced he would make Runaway Train for Joseph E. Levine's Embassy Pictures. The budget was to be $5.6 million. The script was written by Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni and Ryuzo Kikushima, about two escaped convicts who hide on board a stationary train, only for it to roll away, gradually picking up tremendous speed. Sidney Carroll was hired to adapt Kurosawa's script into English. The film would be shot along tracks between Syracuse and Rochester in New York over 16 weeks in October 1966. Tetsuo Aoyagi would produce and the film would be shot in 70 mm.[6][7]

Plans to shoot were cancelled at the last minute, only to be scheduled and cancelled yet again.[8] In April 1967 the project had been "indefinitely postponed" and Kurosawa signed to make Tora! Tora! Tora!.[9][10]

Development

In 1982 the Nippon Herald company, which owned Kurosawa's script, asked Francis Ford Coppola to recommend a director. Coppola and his producer, Tom Luddy, suggested Andrei Konchalovsky. The director succeeded in raising finance from Cannon Films.

"The design is still Kurosawa's", said Andrei Konchalovsky. "The concentration of energy and passion, the existential point of view, and the image of the train as something – perhaps civilization – out of control.... Manny, the character played by Voight, feels, 'Win or lose, what's the difference?' That's not very familiar to the Western mind. We tend to love winners, and we don't like losers."[11]

Konchalovsky knew Jon Voight, who had helped get the director his visa to work in the US in 1979 (Voight wanted Konchalovsky to direct Rhinestone Heights which was ultimately never made.)[12]

Karen Allen was announced for the female lead.[13] The part ended up being played by Rebecca De Mornay, who said "It's my first real action-oriented picture. There are scenes where I'm walking across the top of a train – things like that. I really wanted to do something that called for a lot of physical acting, where I'm acting not as much with words as with my body."[14]

The Alaska Railroad decided that their name and logo would not be shown. Several scenes referred to the railroad as "A&E Northern." The filming took place near Portage Glacier, Whittier, and Grandview.

Shooting

Principal photography began early 1985, at the Butte, Anaconda, & Pacific Roundhouse in Anaconda, Montana. During filming, the crew realized they didn't have any real snow, due to warm temperatures (a false spring) in the area. They used Christmas tree flock for fake snow, and they had to keep it from melting on the tracks at the west yard. Cannon Films had to cut short its stay in Anaconda, and they moved onto Deer Lodge, Montana, to film the prison scenes at the Old Montana State Prison. Approximately 200 extras were hired to play prisoners in the scenes. They spent a week filming several scenes at the prison. Finally the second unit team went to Whittier, Alaska, to film on the Alaska Railroad tracks. The Bridge sequence was filmed on the Seneca Bridge on Placer Creek, about 5 miles (8 km) from Whittier. The scene where Jordan makes the switch on the tracks was filmed at Portage, Alaska. The cast and crew went to the Pan-Pacific Auditorium in Los Angeles, to film the interior of the train scenes and the prisoners' escape scene.[15]

The runaway train's lineup in the movie consisted of four Alaska Railroad locomotives, all built by EMD: GP40-2 #3010, F7 #1500, and #1801 and #1810, both GP7s. The latter two locomotives had previously been rebuilt by ARR with low short hoods as opposed to a GP7's original high short hood, but were fitted with mock-up high hoods made of plywood for the film, branded with fictional numbers 531 and 812, respectively. Because #1801's cab had been reconstructed prior to filming, the '531' prosthetic hood stood slightly higher than the normal hood height of a GP7 in order to fit over the locomotive's number-board.

The locomotives used in the film have gone their separate ways:

  • ARR GP40-2 #3010 is still active on the Alaska Railroad, painted in the new corporate scheme.[16]
  • ARR F7 #1500 was retired from service in 1992, and is now at the Museum of Alaska Transportation and Industry Museum in Wasilla, Alaska, as can be seen on the front page of their website MuseumOfAlaska.org.[17][18]
  • ARR GP7 #1810 was sold to the Oregon Pacific Railroad and operated as OP #1810. In 2008, the unit was sold to the Cimarron Valley Railroad and is now permanently coupled to former OP Slug #1010.[19]
  • ARR GP7 #1801 was sold to a locomotive leasing company in Kansas City, Missouri, then sold to the Missouri Central Railroad and operated as MOC #1800. The locomotive subsequently appeared in another motion picture, Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, in 1995. MOC became the Central Midland Railroad in 2002. As Central Midland had their own leased power, MOC 1800 was returned to Midwest Locomotive In Kansas City. Shortly after, it was then sold the Respondek Rail Corp of Granite City, Illinois, and is now used on Respondek's Port Harbor Railroad subsidiary. The unit's identification is RRC #1800. As of 2015, the locomotive has been stored, out of service, needing wheel work. A return to service on the Port Harbor Railroad is unlikely, as there is talk about sending the unit to another Respondek Operation.[20]
  • The train that was hit by the runaway was led by MRS-1 #1605. This unit had been retired in 1984, one year before filming started. The unit has since been cut up for scrap.
  • Sequences set at the rail yard, shot on the Butte, Anaconda and Pacific Railway in Anaconda, Montana, used local locomotives from the BA&P fleet along with former Northern Pacific EMD F9 #7012A, leased from the Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad. The two GP7s and the F9 were fitted with plywood boxes to duplicate the distinctive 'winterization hatches' carried on their Alaskan counterparts.
  • BA&P EMD GP38-2 #109, the BA&P locomotive used in the yard scenes as the lead-engine in place of ARR #3010, was subsequently sold to the Alaska Railroad and remains in service there as #2002, along with sister unit #2001 (ex-BA&P #108).

Richard (Rick) Holley was killed prior to start of principal photography when the helicopter he was piloting hit power lines while scouting for shoot locations in Alaska. The film is dedicated to him during the closing credits.

Discover more about Production related topics

Akira Kurosawa

Akira Kurosawa

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dynamic style, strongly influenced by Western cinema yet distinct from it; he was involved with all aspects of film production.

Joseph E. Levine

Joseph E. Levine

Joseph Edward Levine was an American film distributor, financier and producer. At the time of his death, it was said he was involved in one or another capacity with 497 films. Levine was responsible for the US releases of Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, Attila and Hercules, which helped revolutionize US film marketing, and was founder and president of Embassy Pictures. Other films he produced included Two Women, Contempt, The 10th Victim, Marriage Italian Style, The Lion in Winter, The Producers, The Graduate, The Night Porter, A Bridge Too Far, and Carnal Knowledge.

Embassy Pictures

Embassy Pictures

Embassy Pictures Corporation was an American independent film production and distribution studio responsible for such films as The Graduate, The Producers, The Fog, The Howling, Escape from New York, and This Is Spinal Tap.

Hideo Oguni

Hideo Oguni

Hideo Oguni was a Japanese writer who wrote over 100 screenplays. He is best known for co-writing screenplays for a number of films directed by Akira Kurosawa, including Ikiru, The Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood and The Hidden Fortress. His first film with Kurosawa was Ikiru, and according to film professor Catherine Russell, it was Oguni who devised that film's two-part structure. Film critic Donald Richie regarded him as the "humanist" among Kurosawa's writers. In 2013, Oguni and frequent screenwriting collaborators Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto and Ryūzō Kikushima were awarded the Jean Renoir Award by the Writers Guild of America West.

Francis Ford Coppola

Francis Ford Coppola

Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the major figures of the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Coppola is the recipient of five Academy Awards, six Golden Globe Awards, two Palmes d'Or and a British Academy Film Award (BAFTA).

Karen Allen

Karen Allen

Karen Jane Allen is an American film and stage actress. After making her film debut in Animal House (1978), she portrayed Marion Ravenwood opposite Harrison Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), a role she reprised for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008). She also co-starred in Starman (1984) and Scrooged (1988). Her stage work has included performances on Broadway, and she has directed both stage and film productions.

Alaska Railroad

Alaska Railroad

The Alaska Railroad is a Class II railroad that operates freight and passenger trains in the state of Alaska. The railroad's mainline is over 470 miles (760 km) long and runs between Seward on the southern coast and Fairbanks, near the center of the state and the Arctic Circle, passing through Anchorage and Denali National Park where 17% of visitors arrive by train. The railroad has about 656 miles (1,056 km) of track, including sidings, rail yards and branch lines, including the branch to Whittier, where the railroad interchanges freight railcars with the contiguous United States via rail barges that sail between the Port of Whittier and Harbor Island in Seattle.

Anaconda, Montana

Anaconda, Montana

Anaconda, county seat of Deer Lodge County, which has a consolidated city-county government, is located in southwestern Montana, United States. Located at the foot of the Anaconda Range, the Continental Divide passes within 8 mi (13 km) south of the community. As of the 2020 census the population of the consolidated city-county was 9,421, and the US Census Bureaus's 2015-2019 American Community Survey showed a median household income of $41,820. Anaconda had earlier peaks of population in 1930 and 1980, based on the mining industry. As a consolidated city-county area, it ranks as the ninth most populous city in Montana, but as only a city is far smaller. Central Anaconda is 5,335 ft (1,626 m) above sea level, and is surrounded by the communities of Opportunity and West Valley.

Deer Lodge, Montana

Deer Lodge, Montana

Deer Lodge is a city in and the county seat of Powell County, Montana, United States. The population was 2,938 at the 2020 census.

Electro-Motive Diesel

Electro-Motive Diesel

Progress Rail Locomotives, doing business as Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), is an American manufacturer of diesel-electric locomotives, locomotive products and diesel engines for the rail industry. The company is owned by Caterpillar through its subsidiary Progress Rail.

EMD GP40-2

EMD GP40-2

The EMD GP40-2 is a 4-axle diesel locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division as part of its Dash 2 line between April 1972 and December 1986. The locomotive's power is provided by an EMD 645E3 16-cylinder engine which generates 3,000 horsepower (2.24 MW).

EMD F7

EMD F7

The EMD F7 is a model of 1,500-horsepower (1,100 kW) diesel-electric locomotive produced between February 1949 and December 1953 by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors (EMD) and General Motors Diesel (GMD).

Music

USSR Academic Russian Chorus is credited for Antonio Vivaldi's "Gloria". The film was scored by composer Trevor Jones.

Release

Box office

Runaway Train had its premiere in New York City on November 15, 1985, followed by its limited release in 965 theatres on December 6, 1985. It made $2,601,480 on that weekend. It was released nationwide on January 17, 1986 and was well received by critics, but failed to find an audience. It opened in 8th place its premiere weekend, and failed to make back its production cost. The film also had a premiere in Anaconda, Montana at the Washoe Theater on March 20, 1986. Invitations for the premiere were sent to people from the department of Commerce, Rarus Railroad and Cannon Films personnel, as well as Jon Voight, Eric Roberts and Rebecca De Mornay. However, none of the actors could attend. The film made $7,936,012 worldwide.

Critical reception

Runaway Train received generally positive reviews, and has an 83% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 36 reviews, and an average rating of 7.3/10.The website's critical consensus states, "Charging forward with the momentum of a locomotive, Runaway Train makes great use of its adrenaline-fueled premise and star presences of Jon Voight and Eric Roberts".[21] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 67 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[22] Janet Maslin, writing for The New York Times, felt that much of the film was absurd but that Jon Voight's performance was excellent, and she credits the film for "crude energy and bravado".[23] In 2010, movie critic Michael Phillips said on his show At the Movies that it was the most under-rated movie of the 1980s. Roger Ebert awarded the film four out of four stars.[24] Ebert wrote the opening prison scenes were well-made but routine, while the film's genius showed in the train sequences with "stunning" action scenes and the contrast between Roberts' "wild man" persona and Voight's "intelligent" convict; DeMornay's "role as an outsider gives them an audience and a mirror."[25]

In 2014, Time Out polled several film critics, directors, actors and stunt actors to list their top action films.[26] Runaway Train was listed at 64th place out of 100 on this list.[27]

Accolades

The film was entered into the 1986 Cannes Film Festival.[28]

Award Category Nominee Result
Academy Awards Best Actor Jon Voight Nominated
Best Supporting Actor Eric Roberts Nominated
Best Film Editing Henry Richardson Nominated
ACE Eddie Best Edited Feature Film Nominated
Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or Andrei Konchalovsky Nominated
Golden Globe Awards Best Motion Picture – Drama Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus Nominated
Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama Jon Voight Won
Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture Eric Roberts Nominated
Motion Picture Sound Editors Golden Reel Award for Best
Sound Editing – Foreign Feature 		Won
Stuntman Awards Best Vehicular Stunt (Feature Film) Terry Jackson Nominated

Discover more about Release related topics

1986 Cannes Film Festival

1986 Cannes Film Festival

The 39th Cannes Film Festival was held from 8 to 19 May 1986. The Palme d'Or went to The Mission by Roland Joffé.

Academy Awards

Academy Awards

The Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the film industry. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), in recognition of excellence in cinematic achievements as assessed by the Academy's voting membership. The Academy Awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment industry in the United States and worldwide. The Oscar statuette depicts a knight rendered in the Art Deco style.

Academy Award for Best Actor

Academy Award for Best Actor

The Academy Award for Best Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year. The award is traditionally presented by the previous year's Best Actress winner.

Jon Voight

Jon Voight

Jonathan Vincent Voight is an American actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance as Joe Buck, a would-be gigolo, in Midnight Cowboy (1969). During the 1970s, he played a businessman mixed up with murder in Deliverance (1972); a paraplegic Vietnam veteran in Coming Home (1978), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor; and a penniless ex–boxing champion in the remake of The Champ (1979).

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor

The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given in honor of an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role while working within the film industry. The award is traditionally presented by the previous year's Best Supporting Actress winner.

Eric Roberts

Eric Roberts

Eric Anthony Roberts is an American actor. His career began with a leading role in King of the Gypsies (1978) for which he received his first Golden Globe Award nomination. He was nominated again at the Golden Globes for his role in Bob Fosse's Star 80 (1983). Roberts' performance in Runaway Train (1985), as prison escapee Buck McGeehy, earned him a third Golden Globe nod and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He is the older brother of actress Julia Roberts.

Academy Award for Best Film Editing

Academy Award for Best Film Editing

The Academy Award for Best Film Editing is one of the annual awards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Nominations for this award are closely correlated with the Academy Award for Best Picture. For 33 consecutive years, 1981 to 2013, every Best Picture winner had also been nominated for the Film Editing Oscar, and about two thirds of the Best Picture winners have also won for Film Editing. Only the principal, "above the line" editor(s) as listed in the film's credits are named on the award; additional editors, supervising editors, etc. are not currently eligible.

Henry Richardson (film editor)

Henry Richardson (film editor)

Henry William Richardson was an English film editor with about 57 feature film credits. He edited five films over two decades with director Andrei Konchalovsky; their collaboration on Runaway Train (1985) earned Richardson nominations for an Academy Award and an Eddie Award.

American Cinema Editors

American Cinema Editors

Founded in 1950, American Cinema Editors (ACE) is an honorary society of film editors that are voted in based on the qualities of professional achievements, their education of others, and their dedication to editing. Members use the post-nominal letters "ACE". The organization's "Eddie Awards" are routinely covered in trade magazines such as The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. The society is not an industry union, such as the I.A.T.S.E., to which an editor might also belong. The current President of ACE is Kevin Tent, who was elected in 2020.

Cannes Film Festival

Cannes Film Festival

The Cannes Film Festival, until 2003 called the International Film Festival and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around the world. Founded in 1946, the invitation-only festival is held annually at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès. The festival was formally accredited by the FIAPF in 1951.

Andrei Konchalovsky

Andrei Konchalovsky

Andrei Sergeyevich Konchalovsky OZO is a Russian filmmaker. He has worked in Soviet, Hollywood, and contemporary Russian cinema. He is a laureate of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", a National Order of the Legion of Honour, an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters, a Cavalier of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic and a People's Artist of the RSFSR. He is the son of writer Sergey Mikhalkov, and the brother of filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov.

Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama

Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama

The Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama is a Golden Globe Award that has been awarded annually since 1944 by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). Since its institution in 1943, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association is an organization of journalists who cover the film industry in the United States, but are affiliated with publications outside North America.

Influence

Speed, a 1994 Hollywood film with a runaway bus, was inspired by Runaway Train. Screenwriter Graham Yost was told by his father, Canadian television host Elwy Yost, about Runaway Train, and that it was about a train that speeds out of control. Elwy mistakenly believed that the train's situation was due to a bomb on board. Such a theme had in fact been used in The Bullet Train. After seeing the Voight film, Graham decided that it would have been better if there had been a bomb on board a bus with the bus being forced to travel at 20 mph to prevent an actual explosion. A friend suggested that this be increased to 50 mph.[29]

Discover more about Influence related topics

Speed (1994 film)

Speed (1994 film)

Speed is a 1994 American action film directed by Jan de Bont in his feature film directorial debut. The film stars Keanu Reeves, Dennis Hopper, Sandra Bullock, Joe Morton, and Jeff Daniels. Its premise revolves around a bus that is rigged by a terrorist to explode if its speed falls below 50 miles per hour.

Graham Yost

Graham Yost

Graham John Yost is a Canadian film and television screenwriter. His best-known works are the films Speed, Broken Arrow, and Hard Rain and the TV series Justified.

Elwy Yost

Elwy Yost

Elwy McMurran Yost, was a Canadian television host, best known for hosting CBC Television's weekday Passport to Adventure series from 1965 to 1967, TVOntario's weekday Magic Shadows, from 1974 until the mid-1980s, and Saturday Night at the Movies from 1974 to 1999.

The Bullet Train

The Bullet Train

The Bullet Train is a 1975 Japanese action thriller film directed by Junya Satō and starring Ken Takakura, Sonny Chiba, and Ken Utsui. When a Shinkansen is threatened with a bomb that will explode automatically if it slows below 80 km/h unless a ransom is paid, police race to find the bombers and to learn how to defuse the bomb.

Source: "Runaway Train (film)", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, February 26th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runaway_Train_(film).

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Further Reading

Alaska Railroad

EMD F40PH

EMD GP30

EMD GP7

EMD GP9

EMD GP38-2

Commonwealth Railway

EMD GP40-based passenger locomotives

Santa Fe SD26

Butte, Anaconda and Pacific Railway

Louisiana and Delta Railroad

EMD GP10

EMD GP49

Squaw Creek Southern Railroad

Arizona and California Railroad

Port Harbor Railroad
References
  1. ^ "RUNAWAY TRAIN (18)". British Board of Film Classification. January 16, 1986. Retrieved December 13, 2014.
  2. ^ a b Andrew Yule, Hollywood a Go-Go: The True Story of the Cannon Film Empire, Sphere Books, 1987 p 189
  3. ^ Boone, Keyaira (December 11, 2020). "Tommy 'Tiny' Lister Jr. Dead At 62". Essence. Lister's appeance as Deebo in "Friday" and "Next Friday" had a lasting effect on black film cannon.
  4. ^ Kurosawa, Akira (2009). Dodes'Ka-den (Akira Kurosawa: It's wonderful to create – Kurosawa Uses Color) (DVD). The Criterion Collection.
  5. ^ In the play the first line is spoken by the character Lady Anne, the second by the Duke of Gloucester (later to become King Richard III).
  6. ^ Martin, Betty (July 1, 1966). "Train on a 'Foreign' Track". Los Angeles Times. p. d11.
  7. ^ Howard Thompson (July 1, 1966). "Kurosawa to Make Film Here Jointly With Embassy Pictures". The New York Times. p. 42.
  8. ^ "TV Producer Says Sophia Loren Going to Have Baby". The Washington Post and Times-Herald. December 14, 1966. p. C12.
  9. ^ Gaibraith, Stuart, IV. "MISADVENTURES IN HOLLYWOOD". Sight and Sound. Vol. 20, no. 7 (July 2010). London. pp. 40–41, 2.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ "Kurosawa Signed to Direct Part of Pearl Harbor Film". New York Times. April 28, 1967. p. 31.
  11. ^ ALJEAN HARMETZ (November 30, 1985). "Russian director gets Runaway Train on the rails". The Globe and Mail. p. D.6.
  12. ^ Rosenfield, Paul (May 26, 1985). "KONCHALAVSKY BREAKS THE CINEMA CURTAIN". Los Angeles Times (Home ed.). p. 18.
  13. ^ "The State: [Home Edition]". Los Angeles Times. March 11, 1985. p. 2.
  14. ^ Ryman, Rick (April 4, 1985). "TOUGH AND SEXY? NOT HER NEW ROLE". Philadelphia Inquirer. p. C.5.
  15. ^ "Runaway Train". www.AlaskaRails.org. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
  16. ^ "RailPictures.Net Photo: ARR 3010 Alaska Railroad EMD GP40-2 at Whittier, Alaska by Nick Ozorak". www.RailPictures.net. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
  17. ^ "Museum of Alaska Transportation & Industry". Museum of Alaska Transportation & Industry. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
  18. ^ "RailPictures.Net Photo: ARR 1500 Alaska Railroad EMD F7(A) at Wasilla, Alaska by Dave Blaze..." www.RailPictures.net. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
  19. ^ "OPR 1810 & 1010 in new SFGX paint". www.RRPictureArchives.net. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
  20. ^ "RailPictures.Net Photo: RCC 1800 Respondek Railroad Corp. EMD GP7 at Granite City, Illinois by Craig Walker". www.RailPictures.net. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
  21. ^ "Runaway Train". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
  22. ^ "Runaway Train". Metacritic.
  23. ^ Janet Maslin (December 6, 1985). "Film: Runaway Train from Konchalovsky". The New York Times. Retrieved September 29, 2013.
  24. ^ YouTube. Archived from the original (video) on March 10, 2016. Retrieved September 21, 2017 – via YouTube.com.
  25. ^ "Runaway Train movie review & film summary (1986) | Roger Ebert".
  26. ^ "The 100 best action movies". Time Out. Retrieved November 7, 2014.
  27. ^ "The 100 best action movies: 70-61". Time Out. November 3, 2014. Retrieved November 7, 2014.
  28. ^ "Festival de Cannes: Runaway Train". Festival-Cannes.com. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
  29. ^ Empire - Special Collectors' Edition - The Greatest Action Movies Ever (published in 2001)
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