Whats your favorite train movie? Either with the models or with real trains.[:D]
Sincerely
John[:)]
The Great Locomotive Chase by walt disney is by far my favorite train movie of all time, they need to do another.
I have to agree 100% !! [^][:)] I wonder if you can rent that movie now. I also used to like Petticote Junction !! Thanks, John
My father used to rent The Great Locomotive Chase for me when I was a kid. It should be available at your local video store or even best buy.
-Johnathan Munster
I have to go with Von Ryans Express with Frank Sinatra.
Its about escaping POWS in WWII
I’m going to go in a different direction here, and it’s a toss-up between two: “Silver Streak” or “Under Seige 2: Dark Territory.” Both movies primarily take place on a train, and the train serves as a central character in the plot.
Then, there are bits of train scenes that I like in some movies, such as: the scene of young Indiana Jones trying to keep the Cross of Cortez out of the wrong hands in “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.” Also James Bond in “Octopussy,” as he’s trying to save the circus from being blown to bits by a nuclear bomb in the clown cannon. And who could forget Dennis Hopper (ha! hopper!) losing his head at the end of “Speed” on the roof of the subway.[xx(]
So many more, so little time…[:D]
I can’t begin to count how many times this question has been asked on various forums, but my answer is always the same: “Emperor of the North,” aka “Emperor of the North Pole.” There has been no train movie made, in my opinion, that better combines a fictional story with the factual realities of prototype railroading. I can’t even think of a close second.
Polar Express in Imax 3-D. Joe
Molly MaGuires, film of the coal region in PA. 1876. They blew up a General was filmed 7 miles from where I grew up. Stared Sean Connery, Samanth Egger, Richard Harris. My POP helped build the breaker.
laz57
All thosed mentioned are good. However, my absolute favorite is The Train with Burt Lancaster. Almost constant steam action!
Jim
That would be my favorite movie, “Tough Guys”. Best line in the movie is when Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas point guns at Doyle McCormack in the cab of 4449 and announce that they are robbing the train. Doyle replys with something along the lines of “you’ve got to be kidding me. Nobody robs trains anymore!”
Regards,
Burlington John
To pick a single favorite would be downright impossible. I have three all-time favotires.
Silver Streak (1976): Certainly the most hilarious train movie ever made! The laughs and the action never stop. Starring Gene Wilder, Richard Pryor and CP’s Canadian before Via took over (disguised with “Amroad” decals).
The Lady Vanishes (1938): This is a phenominal suspense thriller from Alfred Hitchcock. What do you do when you wake up to find that the little old lady who was sitting across from you has disappeared and everyone else on the train denies that she ever existed? While most of the movie takes place on a train, no real trains were used for filming, just a combination of studio sets, model trains and stock footage, but it’s done very well… This is the movie that made Hitchcock famous worldwide and spawned his American career in Hollywood. There was a remake done in 1978, but I haven’t seen it.
The Train (1965): A fantastic WWII movie with Burt Lancaster as a French railway worker with the resistance. Lots of steam and a few real-life wrecks. No fake movie tricks here-it’s all real! Lancaster actually learned how to operate a steam locomotive for the filming of this movie.
Not a train movie but a scene from one of the Adams Family movies where that warped Gomez dude had a couple sets of trains racing around the tracks, with all these sound effects added, finally crashing them head on. Crazy movie.
Another one I liked, tho I can’t remember the name of it, was about this old guy living with his son and family and their house was located at the exact spot an old railroad track ran. When the old guy was a boy he was on the track for some reason and the train crashed trying to stop from hitting him. Maybe someone here has seen it.
Paul
One of my favorite films is Night Passage, with Jimmy Stewart and Audie Murphy… Mountain railroading and the train robbers at the end of track…
“Fool’s Parade” with Jimmy Stewart had some great train shots- I believe they used two locos (one Southern 4501) painted black and in B&O livery.
The original “The Lady Vanishes” has some great train shots (studio, model, and real), and a critical element is someone jumping out “to change the points” to escape.
I pulled the following list off of a January post.
Jim H
Train Movies
A Century of Lionel Trains
Bound for Glory
Breakheart Pass
Casey Jones TV show
Danger Lights
Disaster on the Coastliner TV
Emperor of the North
Exciting 100 mph Race to Chicago
Fahrenheit 451
Flame Over India
Fours a Crowd
Holiday Affair
It Happened to Jane
Love those Trains
Midnight Run Deniro
Narrow Margin
North by Northwest
Pacific 231
Rail Away
Rio Grande 1950’s
Runaway Train
Station Agent
Switch Back
The Chartreuse Caboose
The Christmas Story
The Denver and Rio Grande
The General Buster Keaton
The Great Locomotive Chase
The Greatest Show on Earth
The Iron Horse
The Lady Vanishes
The Molly Maguires 1968
The Polar Express
The Silver Streak 1934 Version
The Silver Streak Pryor
The Train
Toccata for Toy Trains
Tough Guys
U.S.2.:D.T.
Under Siege 2: Dark Territory
Union Depot
Von Ryan’s Express
Ya Can’t Win Em All
Jim H
Dont forget about “Runaway Train” with Jon Voight, Eric Roberts, and Rebecca Demornay. That movie has some amazing shots of the train racing through the frigid canada country side. And of coarse the scene of the locomotives blasting through the caboose. I think the engines in that movie are four F3’s?
Allan,
I completely agree. I have been tryng to buy a copy (VHS or DVD) for months now. The copy I made from TV years ago has just stretched beyond belief. Anyone know where I can buy a new copy?
Thanks.
For comedy, I’d go with “Silver Streak”
For suspense, I’d go with “Runaway Train”
For a really good, classic movie, I’d pick “Bad Day at Black Rock” with Spencer Tracy as the one-armed detective. The movie begins with Tracy arriving by train at a desert tank town. Great story!
Emperor of the North is one of my all-time faves.I especiall lioke the line that Ernest Borgnine says to Lee Marvin:"If you could turn this engine over,you would see that is is stamped"Made In Hell![}:)]
Hello All: Silver Streak, Von Ryan’s Express, All of the I Love Toy Trains Regards Steve