Runaway Train (1986)

Manny (Jon Voight) is the toughest convict in a remote Alaskan prison who along with fellow inmate Buck (Eric Roberts) makes a daring breakout. Hopping a freight train they head full-steam for freedom but when the engineer dies of a heart attack they find themselves trapped alone and speeding toward certain disaster. Until that is they discover a third passenger a beautiful railroad worker (Rebecca DeMornay) who is just as desperate--and just as determined to survive--as they are!Starring: Jon Voight Eric Roberts and Rebecca DeMornayDirector: Andrei KonchalovskyProduced by Menahem Golan & Yoram Globus; written by Djordje Milicevic Paul Zindel; Running time of 112 minutes; Closed Captioned. Copyright: 1985 MGM Home EntertainmentSystem Requirements:Trivia and Production Notes Original Theatrical Trailer Scene Access Screen Formats: Widescreen--Theatrical release format; Standard--Modified to fit your screen Dolby Digital Stereo Surround Languages: English & French Subtitles: English French & Spanish Interactive Menus Interactive Film Trivia Video Format: Widescreen (no AR specified) Standard 1.33:1 (4.3) English: Dolby Digital Surround French: Dolby Digital Surround Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 027616701824 Product Description

runaway favorite

I saw this many years ago and found it on sale recently. It is a superb movie, one of the best! The scenery is breath-taking, the plot rivoting, acting is top notch, and has a startling ending. There is also some rough language from the prisoners in the jail and the escaped convicts which I could have lived without, but it is realistically done.

Two prisoners escape from a maximum security prison and hop on board a train whose engineer dies, leaving the train as a runaway with nobody on board able to stop it. Jon Voight turns in a tour de force performance as convict Manny, a fierce, crazed individual running from himself. His tag-along buddy, Buck, is an obnoxious fellow who is trying to ingratiate himself with Manny, but is not really a hard core con. They are joined by Sara, a train worker who fell asleep during the commotion. The interplay between these three and that of the prison warden makes for a tense, well acted drama that takes many twists and turns.

The support acting is all good, maybe a little over the top in the control center at times, but one still can feel the tension building over this runaway train and its runaway riders. The ending scene is just classic--don't miss this one. May 24, 2008

In the realm of Shawshenk and Green Mile

Though the language is expectedly abrupt (for a prison flick), the acting and directing are exceptional. The plot holds well and should leave the viewer deeply pensive to Kurosawa's motives of who/what is good or evil in our journeys in life. April 25, 2008

Remake of a foreign film that works

This is a tremendous movie, pared down to a simple but pulsating plot. You end up caring for the escaped prisoners more than the law enforcement guys chasing them. Voight, Sarandon, De Mornay are all spot-on. The final image of Voight on top of the train is a classic. January 14, 2008

Voight = realistic con

Though the railroad headquarters scenes could've been a little less corny, the characters were spot-on believable. Their stress and absolute hysteria came out realistically in their journey to freedom. Voight was intimidating in a crazed sort of way, which scared me through the TV. October 23, 2007

Dissapointing

I had heard good things about Runaway Train and I like action-adventure movies--all the stars seemed to be aligned for my viewing of this John Voight/Eric Roberts 1985 flick. Unfortunately, while I didn't end up hating the movie or even disliking it necessarily, I was sincerely underwhelmed.

To describe the plot, the movie begins in an Alaskan maximum security prison. Oscar "Manny" Manheim (Jon Voight) has just been released from solitary confinement, much to the delight of Buck (Eric Roberts), who hero-worships him, and much to the disgust of the warden (John P. Ryan) who despises him. In short-order Manny escapes, reluctantly taking Buck with him, and fairly soon thereafter they find themselves on a train hurtling through Alaska with no one at the controls. Meanwhile the Javert-like warden attempts to discover what has become of his escaped nemesis.

Despite the cool-sounding nature of the plot, there were many holes. I can accept a certain amount of coincidence, contrivance, and cliche in any film but Runaway Train is built solidly upon a foundation of all three. Wanna know how Jon Voight escapes? In the prison laundry cart--couldn't the screenwriters have come up with something a little more original than that? Then after having little to no trouble with the harsh cold of Alaska (despite the fact that they both get soaked and Buck loses a shoe) they get on a train whose engineer perishes. Thankfully there's a woman on board to explain how they could stop the train, but also explain how the film's screenwriters have precluded this from happening. At no point in the first 90 minutes does it occur to any of these characters that they could simply UNCOUPLE THE LAST ENGINE and float away safely, but of course this does happen at the film's climax. The characters also seem to have no problem touching cold metal with their bare hands, though Manny does have a hand injury that lends itself towards plot developments.

Look, this movie is not worth watching. Both characters got Oscar nods, but they're basically just annoying (Roberts intentionally, Voight unintentionally). The action is pretty tepid--a much hyped bridge scene basically consists of wobbling railroad ties--and the sometimes-interesting character play doesn't make up for heavy levels of contrivance and cliché. October 3, 2007

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