Runaway Train (I) (1985) User Reviews (231)

Win, lose, what's the difference?

[hitchcockthelegend · 8/10 · 22 November 2009]

Based around a screenplay written by the legendary Akira Kurosawa, Runaway Train simultaneously follows three threads. The escape of two prisoners, Manny & Buck, who jump on a train only to find that the driver has a heart attack, thus it speeds out of control. Then there is the efforts of the train dispatching office to try and safely stop the out-of-control train. And also there's the hunt by the sadistic prison warden who is hellbent on recapturing the fleeing convicts.

Relentless and engrossing action film from start to finish, Runaway Train boasts two Oscar nominated performances from John Voight {Manny} and Eric Roberts {Buck} and no little intelligence with its well scripted characters. The opening quarter is pretty stock routine prison fare, these guys are tough, the warden is a bastard and we just know they are going to escape. But once the guys board the train the whole film shifts in gear and tone. The dynamic that exists between Manny & Buck, partners but very different in life approach, is riveting stuff courtesy of the nifty dialogue exchanges. Things are further enhanced by the appearance of Rebecca DeMornay's also stranded railway worker, Sara, who far from being a shoe-horned token female character, is the crucial piece of the emotional jigsaw. He presence gives the guys room to exorcise their demons and pour out their feelings of anger, bravado and mistrust.

The action scenes are very well handled by director Andrei Konchalovsky and his crew. As the train hurtles thru the snowy Alaskan wilderness we are treated to a number of crash bang wallops involving the train itself; derring-do from our boys on the icy outside of the locomotive, and a helicopter pursuit chartered by the obsessed John P. Ryan as Warden Ranken particularly stand out. Bona fide action sequences that are executed skilfully. Then we get to the finale, a finale pumped up for emotional impact, both visually and orally it closes the film justly. We even get time for a bit of Will Shakespeare as we go about reflecting on what we have just witnessed. A fine movie it be. 7.5/10

Above-average cast, good story, outstanding cinematography

[laszlo-05700 · 7/10 · 3 September 2017]

Indeed a fine piece, from the era when action movies were taken over by the likes of Schwarzenegger or Stallone. But the production company seemed to completely ignore this fact, and have chosen to base their movie on an old Akira Kurosawa screenplay. Risky choice, but as we know it didn't paid off - it was the last Northbrook film, and the Cannon-Golan companies didn't last much longer either. So Runawy Train might have been a financial failure, but I'd call it an artistic success. The technical specs doesn't show that it was shot on some kind of special equipment, but the way they captured the snowy landscape is still a masterpiece. If someone appreciates this kind of detail, it's definitely a must-watch movie (in the digitally renewed version, if possible). Otherwise the story is good too - not as much action, craziness and twists as in other 80s productions, but it has a tasty outcome between the good guy and the bad guy - probably Kurosawa would have done it better, but I really can't blame the directors for every little mistake. The last strong point of this movie is probably the cast, however - some might find Eric Roberts and a few supporting actors a bit irritating sometimes. Anyways, Jon Voight is at his best here. Unfortunately, other aspects of the movie seemed to be rather mediocre - very generic music choices, dull stunts and decorations, strange cuts. But those only play a minor part in the big picture, so I can recommend Runaway Train to anybody, who's just after a little entertainment.

One of the few genuinely excellent Golan-Globus productions - a tense, violent and exciting thriller.

[barnabyrudge · 8/10 · 26 December 2013]

To see the words 'A Golan-Globus Production' on a movie poster in the '80s was not usually a sign of good quality cinema. Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus were a pair of Israeli cousins who had financed various films in their homeland throughout the '60s and '70s before deciding to have a crack at the American market by purchasing a distribution and production outfit called the Cannon Group, Inc. Around 85% of Golan- Globus's Canon output was low-grade, trashy rubbish, more often than not badly made and badly acted. Every now and then, however, a Golan-Globus film would turn up that was a little better than the usual fare. Something slightly more artistically motivated and more high-brow in conception. Into this bracket would fall films like the Julie Andrews vehicle Duet For One, Jean Luc Godard's adaptation of King Lear, or the exciting existential thriller Runaway Train , directed by celebrated Russian film-maker Andrei Konchalovsky during his 'break-into-the- American-mainstream' phase.

Runaway Train is notable for two remarkable leading performances from Jon Voight and Eric Roberts. Voight plays Manny Manheim, a notoriously violent bank robber serving a life sentence in a remote Alaskan maximum security prison. Manny is a legend amongst the other inmates, an almost animalistic criminal considered so dangerous that at one point the warden, Ranken (John P. Ryan), had his cell door welded for a period of three years. Once allowed back into general population, Manny plans an audacious escape aided by none-too-bright inmate Buck (Eric Roberts) whose position as a laundry room worker gives him access to a potential escape route. Against Manny's wishes, Buck decides to join in him in daring break for freedom. Unfortunately for them, they seek refuge aboard a train during their getaway only for the elderly engineer to suffer a heart attack at the controls. Through an accumulation of unforeseeable coincidences, the emergency break system on the train fails and the two escaped convicts find themselves aboard a runaway train, gathering momentum as it surges unmanned and out-of-control across the Alaskan wilderness. An inexperienced hostler, Sara (Rebecca De Mornay), is the only other person on board. Together the three of them fight against the power of technology (the train) and the power of nature (the harsh Alaskan conditions) as they try to regain control of the train.

Violent, bloody, sharply characterised and frequently very exciting, Runaway Train may well be the jewel in the Golan-Globus crown. It's a tough film for sure – peopled mainly by ugly characters who do little more than snarl and threaten each other in abrasive, foul-mouthed exchanges – but it's never anything less than enthralling. The strength of characterisation is impressive. Voight's terrifying convict; Roberts' dumb but loyal opportunist escapee; De Mornay's vulnerable unwilling participant; Ryan's sadistically over-zealous warden – all fabulously written characters, played to the hilt by actors in top form. In one unforgettable scene, Voight attempts to uncouple the cars to stop the back section of the train – the couplings close over his hand, literally tearing off almost all his fingers in a shocking spray of pulpy gore. Still grinning maniacally, his hand a bloodied stump, Manny struggles back aboard and continues to terrorise his travelling companions. He's every bit as chillingly convincing as, say, Robert De Niro in the Cape Fear remake, a role that has striking similarities. The location is unusual and effective – the vast, freezing wilds of Alaska provide a perfect backdrop for the drama on-screen, enhanced further still by Trevor Jones's atmospheric score. The film's unrelentingly ugly tone and a strangely pretentious ending are minor quibbles, but overall Runaway Train is a thunderingly good film.

a knock-out!

[Jaime N. Christley · 29 July 1999]

Everything about this film has a surreal, visceral, in-your-face quality; the anguished, violent intensity of the prison scenes, the frozen wastelands of the lands outside the prison (gee, a metaphor?), the train -- not just a lifeless machine but a huge, juggernaut-like beast -- that the title refers to, the fierce, animalistic performance by Jon Voight, who plays the character of Manny with such raw emotion and conviction that at no moment do we doubt that he is anything other than what he appears to be on screen.

It's based on a screenplay by the legendary Akira Kurosawa -- knowing this makes a lot of the elements a bit more familiar; the snow, the hopelessness, the apocalyptic atmosphere -- and it's directed by Russian Andrei Konchalovsky, who after this film directed two Hollywood embarrassments called "Homer & Eddie" and "Tango & Cash" (apparently trying to corner the market on ampersands), and most recently helmed the acclaimed Armand Assante mini-series "The Odyssey" for television. "Runaway Train" is not a perfect film, some of the minor supporting performances are really awful and some viewers may find Eric Roberts to be irritating, but the sheer kineticism, among the other stronger elements, makes it worthwhile. Often called an intellectual action picture, it's more of an existential one, i.e. man versus a indifferent/hostile universe, etc. Everything in the film has a greater, more universal meaning, and it's not rocket science to figure out what stands for what. The simplicity of its metaphors doesn't dull the impact of "Runaway Train" as a sensory experience, though, because it's still pretty potent stuff. Provided you're not completely close-minded, this is one you'll remember for a long, long time.

A rare gem from the Cannon Group filmography

[degeneraatti · 7/10 · 29 May 2016]

I don't think I could dislike the movie that gave us both Machete and Zeus.

In all seriousness though, Runaway Train might just be the best film to come out from the crap-factory known as Cannon Group. Unsurprisingly this gem is based on a script by someone head and shoulders above the pack, this being here Akira Kurosawa. But no man is an island, and it takes considerably more than a script to make a movie. Jon Voight and Eric Roberts might provide the best performances I've seen from either one in a chilling setting that beautifully emphasizes the desperation of the characters in both their current predicament and life in general.

In addition to compelling cinematography, this Cannon film also surprises the viewer with yet another aspect sorely missing in many of their films: character development. This films grips the viewer on so many fronts and doesn't let go. The Runaway Train might be without a driver, but the film about it very much in control of its own fate, from beginning to end. I was pleasantly surprised by the way the movie almost poetically wraps itself done before the credits roll like any properly told story should.

It saddens me to realize how often overlooked this movie is. Before the Cannon Group documentary Electric Boogaloo I don't remember any mention of it, even though I've scanned quite some of their catalogue in search of "so bad it's good" b-movies (and boy, do they deliver that in a steaming pile!)

However, Runaway Train is in a completely different category, and despite some minor flaws I do heartily recommend it to anyone even vaguely interested in it. Such poetry in film never comes too often to our screens, so it should be savoured at every chance.

A modest masterpiece

[fertilecelluloid · 9/10 · 15 September 2005]

The stock title promises action and suspense, and we get that, but with a story by Akira Kurosawa, expert direction by Russian émigré Andrei Konchalovsky and superior lensing by Alan Hume, we get a study of what defines a man.

John Voight and the vastly underrated Eric Roberts play two cons who escape from a hellish gulag and board a train with no driver. Their struggle to stop the train and battle their own inner demons is the movie.

Konchalovsky creates a cold, alien, ethereal world inside the train that, in the oddest way, provides a haven for self-examination for the two leads. Rebecca de Mournay is layered into the mix, as is the indefatigable John P. Ryan as a prison warden who risks death to return his charges to custody, but the movie belongs to Voight and Roberts who both bring tremendous humanity to their finely sketched characters.

The final image is as powerful as cinema gets and marks RUNAWAY TRAIN as a modest masterpiece.

Though often criticized for producing cheap rubbish, the Cannon Group, in fact, also produced many fine films including this, 52 PICK-UP and MARIA'S LOVERS (also Konchalovsky).

Rule #1 for breaking out: Make sure you have a ride

[dfranzen70 · 7/10 · 28 February 2000]

Manny and Buck have just broken out of prison and have stowed away on a four-car locomotive in Alaska. Problem is, the engineer died of a heart attack as the train was departing the station and fell off - so now they're all alone on this train, careening through the wilderness over 80 miles per hour, with no way to stop it. Sound like fun to you? It's a rare action movie, one that basically takes place on one location (the train). But it's amazingly suspenseful, too, as railroad officials (who don't know of their stowaways) try to find ways to stop the unstoppable vehicle (shades of "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three"). Jon Voight plays Manny, the experienced jailbreaker, grizzled, ornery, obnoxious, but revered by his fellow prisoners. Eric Roberts plays Buck, the young, cocky, dimwitted tough guy who respects Manny and looks to him as the voice of reason. Also thrown into the mix is Sara (Rebecca De Mornay), a railroad worker who was taking a catnap when the runaway train started its journey. How will these three people stop the train? How, indeed! You know, for a movie taking place on a train, there are plenty of harrowing scenes, and there's hardly a dull or listless moment. Problem is, you don't really know who to root for, and there are spots late in the movie where characters change drastically, a sure casualty of a choppy script. But hey, why quibble? If you're looking for an unusual action movie, here it is!

Voight should have won the Oscar for that monologue alone

[tbyrne4 · 10/10 · 13 December 2007]

I remember watching this as a kid and thinking it was an incredibly powerful film, but i forgot how strong the performances are, particularly Voight's. Roberts is good, but he's basically playing second fiddle to Voight's hulking, frightening, feral, almost mythical Manny, a con so dangerous the warden has kept him in solitary confinement for three years straight.

Roberts is a younger convict who idolizes Manny and helps him escape from the Alaskan prison where they both reside. they end up on a train barrelling down the tracks at 90mph with no conductor and no way to stop it. The film is based on a screenplay by the legendary Akira Kurasawa.

Great action scenes. Muscular film-making. It just seems they don't make films like this anymore. Films that aren't trying to pander to a certain demographic. This is lean, mean action all the way.

And that "little biddy spot" monologue Voight has halfway through the film is really breathtaking. He should have won an Oscar for that alone.

"Boy, this is gonna be somethin'."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 17 June 2019]

Starting out I thought Jon Voight might have been miscast as psychotic prison inmate 'Manny' Manheim, but he sure changed my opinion along the way. He turns in a mind numbing, visceral performance here, especially as the story progresses, and his physical assault on 'partner' Buck Logan (Eric Roberts) when the young escapee failed to reach the lead engine car was beyond brutal. I know a lot of folks don't care much for Roberts as an actor, and I've seen him myself in a number of clunky situations, but he really pulls out the stops here as a tortured character who only wants to live up to his prison hero's expectations. I surprised myself by looking up his screen credits, learning that he's got over five hundred accredited roles, and over fifty projects in various stages of production as I write this!

In many respects, this is a standard prison movie starting out, with it's sordid characters and over zealous warden (John P. Ryan). I thought the break out by Manny and Buck was accomplished just a bit too handily, even if they did have to crawl their way through the prison's sewer system. Manny preps Buck for the outside world by stating - "That's the smell of freedom, brother!" But then the pace escalates, as the pair's getaway train is hobbled by the heart attack of it's conductor, and it takes off on a seemingly impossible journey to oblivion.

What I found odd about the picture was it's curious filming style whenever it honed in on the the four speeding rail engines from a distance. It almost looked like much older stock footage was involved, and occasionally you had a dirty streak of film shadowing along beneath the moving train. It gives the picture a grainy, gritty look, perhaps in keeping with it's focus on the two principals. In a way, it gave the train the feel of a character in it's own right. As far as the ending goes, one must consider the existential tone in which Voight's character decides to end his life on his own terms. He maintained throughout the story that he would never be imprisoned again, and in his own way, determined that his sense of freedom would find expression in the only way left open for him.

Simply magnificent - and that perfect ending too ...

[andyhise · 10/10 · 4 May 2002]

NO SPOILERS

Has Jon Voight ever been better? No. Or Eric Roberts? No. And have you ever seen a more perfect, perfect ending ...?

No.

Runaway Train's scene is set in a rather average prison sequence. But as soon as the guys break out, the fun begins - Eric Roberts' accent, the incredible feeling of cold, Manny's animal-like grunting (I think he was laughing) - and the pumping, spot-on soundtrack, raising goose-bumps beautifully as the train majestically appears through a thick flurry of snow like a ghost ...

One scene - Jon Voight's ".. and you gonna RUB that little biddy spot ..." monologue - is right out of the top drawer. And the rest is as efficient and nerve-shredding as you could ever want. Action (train crashes!!), blood (fingers!!), surprises, satisfying revenge - and an ending that, I'm sorry but I've got to go on about it a bit, is just simply breathtaking.

How I wanted the movie to end on that final shot, and how wonderful that it did, with the choir and everything. Superb - a gem. Just a gem. And what a surprise - from the marketing, the hype, even the video and DVD sleeve, you couldn't pick this out from 1000 other bottom shelf dwellers in the video shop. Just give yourself a treat and watch it.

This plot travels more miles than the train does!

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 24 July 2022]

You'll need a strong stomach for some of the early sequences in prison which includes a very violent fight after a boxing match and the scene where John Voight and Eric Roberts prepare to escape. The preparations they make and the journey they take just to get out of the sewer below the prison might have you holding your nose. Then there's their journey through the frozen Alaskan tundra where Roberts complains about being without shoes (he has them, but they're full of holes), then what happens when they finally get on the train. They don't realize quite a while that there's no engineer with the audience earlier having seen him fall dead just before the train departed the station.

It takes a while for both Voight and Roberts (not the brightest of prison inmates) to realize that there's something wrong, and that's only because they collide with another train on the track that totally destroys the other one, culminating with their discovery of someone climbing on the side to get to the back engine. It's Rebecca DeMornay, revealing to them that she was sleeping in another part of the four engines connected together. Now they must journey at 90 miles an hour through the Alaskan wilderness, barely making it over a rickety bridge, while the officials aware of the situation try to stop the train from crashing at the end of the line.

A very intense then thriller, this was successful enough to get both Voight and Roberts Oscar nominations, with Roberts getting a special nod for playing the dumbest character to ever be nominated. Voight, playing a very violent prisoner who just got out of solitary, has survived a murder attempt on his life in prison, and certainly is commanding even if his character is rather amoral.

The great photography, editing and sound are also noteworthy, but there's little point to DeMornay's character. Still one of the artsy cult films of the 80's that strikes a cord for originality although it's not the first film to deal with a speeding train on the verge of crashing. The 1972 TV movie "Runaway" would make a great double bill with this film. I enjoyed the train sequences much more than the disturbing prison sequence, complete with idiot warden and very violent inmates who nearly burn themselves down while rioting.

15 years later - one of the greatest movie you've never heard of

[johnmoss · 10/10 · 12 October 1999]

I remember being wowed by "Runaway Train" back in 1985 when it first came out. Seeing it again on DVD in 1999 reminded me of just how excellent a movie this really was. I recommend "Runaway Train" to anyone who wants a large portion of philosophical meat and meaning mixed in with gripping action and a solid story. In the 15 years since "Runaway Train" was first released, I can't think of a movie other than "The Matrix" that has combined so much action, tension, and a strong philosophy so successfully.

Chances are you've never heard of "Runaway Train." Amazing too. The movie was even based on a Akira Kurosawa screenplay and it shows. Jon Voight and Eric Roberts were at the top of their craft. In fact, both received well deserved Oscar nominations for very powerful performances.

It makes me sad to think that so few have had a chance to actually see this movie due to the sloppy studio backing and licensing turmoil born out of the collapse of the former Golon-Globus production studio. Surprise! Golon-Globus actually made at least one excellent movie outside of the their usual roster of shlock. But their poor reputation might have become so tarnished by that time that audiences didn't get a chance to know what they were missing. As a result, the movie rarely if ever gets airplay or any notice. Since the DVD was one of the very first DVD's to be released when the universe of DVD owners was measured in thousands not millions, it has once again fallen below the radar. Does a tree make a noise if it falls in a forest when there is no one around to hear it happen?

Maybe that was how "Runaway Train" became all but forgotten. If the title were to be reissued today in an SE package, I believe that a whole new generation of DVD viewers would be delighted to have this title in their collection. In the meantime it is worth seeking out for rental or purchase, you won't be disappointed.

better than you would expect for such a movie

[lee_eisenberg · 7/10 · 8 September 2005]

It doesn't quite suffice to call "Runaway Train" an action movie. True, it's got a prison escape and an out-of-control train, but there is actually a plot. After safe cracker Oscar Manheim (Jon Voight) and tag-along Buck (Eric Roberts) escape from an Alaska prison, they jump onto a train whose engineer suddenly dies of a heart attack. More than simply making every scene a "will they?! won't they?!" situation, the movie has character development and never moralizes. Nor does it heroify or vilify anyone. The audience is left to develop their own opinions about each of the characters. I won't tell you what happens, but I will let you know that this is one of the only non-mind-numbing action movies that I know.

It left me behind

[Groverdox · 5/10 · 22 May 2021]

"Runaway Train" is notable as an attempt by Golan & Globus to elevate their infamous trash-studio Cannon with a story by no less than Akira Kurosawa. The attempt seems to have been semi-successful, as both lead actors Voight and Roberts were nominated for Oscars for their performances here.

Funny, then, that these two great actors - yes, Roberts is a great actor: watch him in "Star 80" if you don't believe me - both deliver impenetrable performances, with bizarre accents and mannerisms that make their already rough-around-the-edges characters downright unlikeable. Roberts sounds like a dangerous, untrustworthy Forest Gump, and Voight reminds me of the Willem Dafoe character in "The Lighthouse".

The movie has a simple plot, and toward the end becomes less about these characters (thankfully) and more some kind of philosophical exercise about a lone train carriage heading into the endless white of a blizzard. It even ends with a Shakespearean quote, which while unnecessary and irrelevant to the story, is not something anyone would have expected to see from a Cannon flick.

I just never really got into it. Murky performances, murky cinematography, and I didn't understand the transition at the end.

Not a Oxymoron! An intellectual action flick!

[Monk-17 · 14 April 1999]

Runaway Train is about far more than a runaway train. It is about personal freedom and how hard we are willing to struggle to get it. It's about how willing we are to give up our personal freedom to be comfortable. It's about dehumanization inflicted by social institutions. It's also one gripping, suspenseful action-flick. The two main characters, played by Jon Voight as Manny and Eric Roberts as Buck, are escaped prisoners, but they are humanized. Not that we would really like to meet them, but we can see how they work, and we can identify with them. I found it fascinating that the character I really hated was John P. Ryan as Renkin, the warden. This official of society has turned his efforts to recapture the prisoners, particularly Manny, into a personal mission of hatred. The cinematography and imagery in the film are excellent. Whether exterior shots of the train hurtling across the desolate Canadian wilderness, or claustrophobic shots of the characters in the train, we are there and cannot help but be involved. There's not a bad performance in it. John Voight, Eric Roberts, Rebecca De Mornay and John P. Ryan are all tremendous, with an intensity that matches the demands of the film. This is one of those few films that really disturbed me, that really caused me to think about my life. It is unforgettable. It is a great work of art.

Voight's Performance Makes Film Tolerable

[ccthemovieman-1 · 7/10 · 24 June 2006]

This used to be one of my favorite films until I began getting offended at hearing the Lord's name in vain. This movie is brutal in that regard, but it's still such an interesting story and character portrait that I still look at it but not often. Jon Voight's character is the only reason I would look at it again.

Voight, as "Manny," provides about as intense and good an acting performance as you could ask for. He's riveting in here. As tough as he is - a hardened criminal who escapes from prison with "Buck" (Eric Roberts) - he Roberts a little speech during this story which is about as good a parable as Jesus gave in His brief stay on Earth. He lectures his friend about being humble enough to serve, even in the most humiliating circumstances. I've just never forgotten Voight's speech.

This is an action-packed, rough film with rough people and very rough language. The language is actually ludicrous at times with over-the-top characters like the ones played by John P. Ryan and Kenneth McMillian, two of the most profane actors of their day. Being a Golan-Globus film of the period ('70s and '80s), this film is overridden by low-life characters, a trademark of those scummy filmmakers.

Back on the positive side, the story features great suspense, and a real feel for the bleak, snowy Alaskan terrain. The last 30 minutes is the best, because of less dialog, a pounding music beat and a great, memorable ending.

Overall, if you can take the blaspheming assault on your ears, this movie is worth it for the great adventure and atmospheric feel of cold and suffering....and, if for nothing else, Voight's fabulous performance.

Next Stop, Destiny.

[rmax304823 · 9/10 · 10 May 2002]

Bad original title there. It sounds as if Ben Johnson should be at the controls and Charles Bronson should be the expert who figures out how to save all the passengers except the nut-case villain, maybe Dennis Hopper, who expires along with all the machinery in an exploding fireball as the locomotive plummets from an open bridge into a ravine. But, nope.

Kurasawa was having his problems at the time he supervised the writing of this story and it was given over to Konchalavsky to direct. There aren't very many characters in the film. Mainly John Voight, Eric Roberts, and Rebecca DeMornay (looking fresh faced, freckled, and quite attractive), with John Ryan thrown in mainly to provide a real flesh-and-blood living villain, in addition to the impalpable philosophical ones that are everyone's chief concern. Existentialism is one of those now practically-dead passing French intellectual fads, become a word now loosely thrown around that can mean pretty much anything you want. But in its original post-war form it had a rather specific definition, if you could distill it from Sartre and Camus. The main point was that existence precedes essence, meaning that you weren't born for any particular purpose -- good or bad -- and that you defined yourself through voluntary actions. The second point was that social rules meant very little and could be disregarded at will, as long as you were ready to accept the consequences of breaking those rules. This whole movie illustrates exactly those points in a symbolic, yet realistic and exciting way.

Voight and Roberts are introduced in a rather lengthy, suspenseful introduction set in a Northwestern prison run by Ryan. They escape by slipping naked through a long and filthy sewer pipe and are shot out through the air into a clear cold fast-running river. (Getting an anatomical allusion here?) They manage to steal some clothes and board the empty, second locomotive of a train whose sole engineer drops dead and falls off. (The engineer stands for Somebody, too, with a capital S. I hope you're getting all this.) Another passenger is discovered. Always nice to have a young woman around. But with nobody at the controls of the unreachable lead locomotive, and with its brakes burned out, the train begins to pick up speed. The three of them wind up stuck on a train rocketing in the general direction of nowhere and, try as they may, they have no influence over its course or speed. Worst of all, it's rapidly approaching a "dead end" (get that one?).

By means of ingenuity, sacrifice, and simple human doggedness the lead locomotive is uncoupled from the rest of the train. While the remaining cars slowly roll to a halt, the lone locomotive roars towards its finish. We don't see the expectable slow-motion drop and explosion for the simple reason that we don't need to. We already know the end is upon us -- I mean upon the "train." And the final image, of Voight standing alone atop this hurtling monster of speed, weight, and power, holding his arms upward in defiance, the air filled with huge flakes of wet snow, is finish enough. You don't need a fireball after that climactic shot.

I'm afraid I've made this movie out to be some sort of dumb, talky, too-long allegory -- but believe me, it's not. The simple narrative itself is riveting. I can hardly remember another movie in which the performers seemed so terribly cold and uncomfortable, wrapped in rags, caps pulled in an unsightly way around their ears, their faces flushed by the whistling wind, their fear and desperation so visible in everything they do, their failures and minor triumphs looming so pathetically large in the story. This train -- or the compartment of the locomotive, which is about all of the interior we see -- has no oysters on the half shell, nor a nice warm Franklin stove or any other source of heat. It's nothing more than cold, dull iron, and we are all aboard, bound for the end of the line. The musical score couldn't be more apt -- sustained, low, rumbling, elephantine -- a massive and powerful and inexorable chord.

What a gripping picture. How did Goldang Globus Hystericus ever manage to produce such a great film?

Absorbing character study plus great effects.

[aramo1 · 7/10 · 22 July 2002]

Based on R1 DVD 112 min.

While some of the acting is either ultra realistic or ham fisted c.f. scenes in the switching office once the cameras switch to the leads the story starts to take off.

The action is gripping because the characters; and our connection with them; give it more meaning than any big budget Hollywood SFX gizmos. Voight surpasses himself as the; perhaps; insane escapee to which Roberts provides an effective foil. The ending deserves some thought to tease out it's real meaning.

7/10 well worth watching.

Konchalovsky crafts a memorable screen moment that reminded me the dramatic sequence of John Huston in Moby Dick

[Nazi_Fighter_David · 8/10 · 5 March 2006]

Based on a screenplay by the Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, "Runaway Train" is bloody, intense and oppressive… It is a movie with arresting images about a notorious life term prisoner who has been welded in a hole for 3 years and a psychotic warden who practically hopes that his dangerous prisoner will make the first move, so that he can have an excuse to 'stop his clock.' The film takes place in the freezing landscapes of the Alaskan wilderness, and in a maximum security prison where the only escape is death…

Soon enough, Manny (Jon Voight) is on the loose along with another fellow prisoner, an unbalanced prizefighter called Buck (Eric Roberts), infected by Manny's madness… Their escape is a serious blow to the obsessive warden (John P. Ryan) who knows that his prison will be out of control if he fails to get them back…

Faced with certain death in the world's most inhospitable climates, Manny and Buck wind up on an unmanned train ignoring that its driver has suffered a heart attack, and the locomotive is rolling into something very fast…

Jon Voight completely embodies the brutal convict… The fierce intensity in his eyes, the ferocity in his voice, the hardness to withstand pain, these are indications of his madness… He has an injured hand, a scar around his eye, and a desire for revenge rooted deeply in his thoughts…

Though the movie is a character study of the dangerous inmate... We see the aftermath of Manny's last encounter with the warden... We don't get the opportunity to examine his mind or figure out what makes him so fiery... Just like Buck, we're looking at a man at war with world and everybody in it…

The film's centerpiece is the showdown between the warden and Manny... At this point it becomes clear that the warden's personal obsession overrides any human consideration… It is a thrilling show… Manny believes in nothing, and is capable of anything…

Andrei Konchalovsky depicts prison life with all the usual clichés: uptight guards, beatings, and murders… He does an admirable job of taking us into strange figures on a killer train… Konchalovsky crafts a memorable screen moment that reminded me the dramatic sequence of John Huston in Moby Dick

Worth a watch indeed!

[Amyth47 · 7/10 · 27 April 2019]

My Rating : 7/10

The wintry landscapes lends a typical Russian feel to this Hollywood film made by a Russian director who went to film school with Andrei Tarkovsky. He also helped with the screenplay for Ivan's Childhood and Andrei Rublev.

Jon Voight and Eric Roberts are a great duo out on a prison escape on a train that speeds out of control.

Worth a watch, the visuals make it a real treat!

One of my alltime favourites.

[WardenRanken · 10/10 · 28 June 2003]

This movie is just brilliant. The Oscar Mannheimer character has to be one of the hardest moviecharacters of alltime. I love the way Voight turns mental on numerous occasions, he's doing one hell of a job. Arguably his best ever role. Eric Roberts is almost as brilliant in portraying Buck. I find myself laughing at so many times during the course of this movie. It's not only funny though, it's also a movie of high suspense and some action. 10 out of 10. I say YEAH!

Great in 2023

[danielcereto · 7/10 · 10 April 2023]

I am just discovering old new classics and this one is a little jewel. I can't understand why nowadays producers can't create great movies with simple and credible things.

First, the story it is not original but entertaining. It keeps you on the seat during the the almost two hours. The end is great for me and it works well.

Second, the cast is great. Credible, dumb psycho's but with soul. Important to include a great cast for such simple neurotic roles.

Last, FX's here are better than 95% of nowadays CGI. Embarrassing to watch how old school can create this on 1985.

To add, music is great too. Great oldie vibes and interesting song for conclusion.

So, overall this movie is better than 75% of movies created on 2023. Something is not working in Hollywood.

Snowbound thriller with added angst

[Leofwine_draca · 10/10 · 6 September 2011]

An action thriller or exploration of existential angst? RUNAWAY TRAIN manages to be both of those things, and the Akira Kurosawa (upon whose screenplay the film is based) credit at the opening is the first clue that this is going to be quite unlike the rest of the Cannon Group's fare during the 1980s. On the face of it, RUNAWAY TRAIN looks like a superficial thriller: it starts off with a prison break and then moves to the out-of-control speeding locomotive stuff, throwing in plenty of suspense and stunts along the way. But it's something far more besides.

The best action films work because of the characters involved. DIE HARD wouldn't be so well remembered today if it wasn't for Bruce Willis's wisecracking cop, and imagine PREDATOR or COMMANDO without Schwarzenegger's larger-than-life presence. RUNAWAY TRAIN is a very good film, and the reason for that is in the well drawn characters, in particular Jon Voight's long-term con. Voight plays a scarred, hulking prisoner who's been welded into his cell for the past three years, and he understandably goes a bit crazy when he discovers himself a free man. Usually, we're used to seeing Voight as a serious and subdued character (as in DELIVERANCE) which makes his performance here as a borderline-insane brute of a man all the more shocking and surprising. During his various monologues I realised I was watching a performance of greatness.

Eric Roberts is a bit harder to stomach, playing a slow-witted character who's there as a foil for Voight. His mannered performance may be off-putting to some, but in the end I give him the thumbs up thanks to his fresh-faced innocence. Rebecca De Mornay, in her breakout role, is a breath of fresh air and adds immeasurably to the experience.

Let's face it: much of what happens in this film is clichéd. The early prison scenes, while mean, vicious and violent, are overly familiar. The train-bound shenanigans are also familiar – and I groaned when they threw in the old 'weak bridge' cliché once again. Late scenes involving the crazed warden (a deliciously nasty John P. Ryan) are pretty ludicrous. Nonetheless, RUNAWAY TRAIN makes up for these shortcomings with well drawn, realistic characters, superb meditations on the nature of man and one of the best, most chilling endings I've ever seen in a film, a literally hair-rising shot that will stay with me for a long time to come.

Two prison escapees get mixed up with a runaway train

[mike_cable · 7/10 · 14 June 2010]

Forget what you see in this film's trailer, it's very misleading and gives the wrong impression. Runaway Train is a story following two hardened escaped criminals who sneak their way onto a 3-engine train only to realize there's no driver on board. The train can't be stopped due to wrecked brakes and fail-safes that don't kick in.

The train company attempts to derail a supposedly empty train before realizing that there are people on board and the prison security are eager to catch them.

There's a lot of swearing and strong performances from the two lead males, supported by Rebecca De Mornay. Eric Roberts plays a dumb but strong criminal who looks up to hard-ass Jon Voight, who has a personal vengeance against the prison security boss. As the train charges on to its destination, the tension rises as the people on board fall into arguments trying to stop the train before it's too late.

The footage of the powerful 3-train locomotives is tastefully done and the sounds will make most heavy machine and train nuts salivate.

It has some long periods of talking and a brilliant subtle electronic soundtrack. Not for everyone, but quite an interesting film with an amazing final scene and a must for train fans everywhere.

Acting is Train Wreck

[kenjha · 3/10 · 22 July 2010]

Prisoners escape from a prison but end up on a runway train. Voight and Roberts must have misread the script and thought they were escaping from a mental institution instead of a prison. That can be the only explanation for both of them playing apparently retarded characters. The only suspense in the film is to see which of the two will end up giving a worse performance. De Mornay's acting is not particularly good either, but compared to Voight and Roberts, she's Meryl Streep. The acting by the rest of the cast is also dreadful and the direction is amateurish. While one expects the suspension of logic in films like this, the script here is utterly ridiculous.