Wouldn’t it be fun to make a movie like the comedy movie AIRPLANE accept make it centered on trains. I wonder if Leslie Neilson is still acting? They could add drop down oxegen masks and here and there shots as if its a Lionel train.
Your imagination does justice to the memory of Mr. Neilson’s comic greatness.
You would also have to play steam locomotive noises when showing a diesel.
Wasnt there a movie Throw mama from the train , and another with richard pryor, both pretty old, better would be one about railroad engineers, about not waving and being mean to the conductors[yeah][tup][4:-)]
Or perhaps backing a dump truck and dumping a pile of sand in front of the choo choo when sand is called for.
I remember that movie. I still say Emperor of the North is the best train film.
Surely, you’re not sure serious![:-,]
Uh…you’ve never seen Silver Streak?
I enjoy comedy, but an extreme slapstick about trains? For me, no.
IMHO, today, railroad train crews receive so much disrespect from many in the public and media as is. Even after Airplane I and Airplane II were filmed, airline crews still enjoyed a higher than average status as far as transportation career images go (yes, even with the reported drug & alcohol abuse by flight crews in many instances).
Railroaders, generally, enjoyed a similar type of status up until the 1970s, just before Penn Central and the birth of Amtrak. Look at how often trains were used in tv shows in movies back then, comically and dramatically ( I Love Lucy, North By Northwest, Martin & Lewis movies). Engineers and Conductors were looked very highly upon and often admired by kids. Songs about M.O.W crews were common. Much of that seems to have vaporized with a public that today is so much more ignorant about railroading than even 30 years ago. Instead of laughing with them, I think people would laugh at them, and would actually believe that most railroaders are like the goofballs portrayed.
I for one wouldn’t want to see railroad workers demeaned anymore than they are in the media.
Again, just my [2c][;)]
As far as the Comedy goes, doesn’t “Atomic Train” count?!
Atomic Train was the worst bomb there ever was. An insult to the movie going public.
I think he is, and don’t call him Shirley! [:-^]
Silver Streak was funny, I enjoyed it. Was not too out of line. Planes, Trains & Automobiles w/ Steve Martin & John Caddy was another good one also. Making a flick on trains in the same format as Airplane, I don’t know on that one. Would not make a good impression on a industry that lacks good pr and is in need of it badly.
Rats, you beat me to the punch-line![:(!][swg]
If DHarmon writes the script, I would take a part…
For the sake of entertainment yo need comedy. Airplane was humor, nothing else. For anyone to take offense to it is silly. A Movie about trains would be hard to pull off, but if you throw in will ferrell and a few other funny guys maybe adam sandler? You could probably do it. You just have to have a sense of humor and not take everything as a personal insult when people are just trying to make you laugh at everyday life.
Keep in mind that Airplane was not so much poking fun of the airline industry as it was a spoof of more serious movies, such as Airport, in which airline employees were the heroes. The sight gags and old jokes were merely the icing on the cake. I mean, really–don’t you wish “drinking problems” could be laughed off so easily?
As for Silver Streak, that was no more a movie about trains than Love Boat was a series about ships. The introduction of trains into the plot just provided another level of comedy for railroaders (along with some frustration that some people would really believe this sh…crap about railroad operations). Railfans had fun, too–how often can you see a train knock down a bumping post in Chicago and finally stop in Toronto without a word from Customs?
Picture McCroskey (Lloyd Bridges) and Johnny in the switch tower.
Send this thread to a producer. ( and some money).
(Maybe the producer to hire a secretary)
Rgds IGN
I sure picked the wrong day to stop sniffing glue![}:)] It’s odd, when you look at all the carp that gets put into movies today, and realize, that some of the stuff in Airplane wouldn’t make it in today’s movies. (Do you like to watch Gladiator movies?)
Surely a few of you are taking the movie AIRPLANE way to seriously. It was a comedy and really didn’t take any direct stabs at the airline industry. It was basically a spoof on the “Airport” movies. At least one of them was partly filmed here at the Minneapolis airport.