antoniocasaca123 The film "Runaway Train" is one of the greatest mysteries of the seventh art. No doubt this movie is a real case study. I would love to know a lot more about how everything happened in this movie, but unfortunately the DVD edition I have does not have any extras other than a trailer. That is, the "mystery" that constitutes this film remains to be unveiled. How does a masterpiece come about in a film by an unknown Russian in the West (he still had in the US the previous year's "Maria's Lovers"), working with American actors, based on an argument by Japanese master Akira Kurosawa, written to three, including Edward Bunker, an actor who takes part in the film as a prisoner and who in real life spent much of his life in prison and being produced by the duo Golan-Globus, producers who bet on purely commercial films with Chuck Norris and company, many of them B-series, without any tip of interest in investing in characters full of emotions, humanism (in good and bad sense) and existentialism? at one point in the movie Roberts asks "Why this train?" to which Voight replies "Because I want". It is in this instinctive and animalistic way that the destiny of the characters is traced. I also ask: why this so improbable combination of people so different, even in their own nationalities, have joined in this project? Was it also destiny? the duality between the blockbuster and the arthouse makes the film extremely innovative and captivating, a true work of art. I would say that this is a unique case of film, throughout the history of cinema, that manages to perfectly combine, in an inexplicably superb way, concepts of "super-commercial cinema" with "poetry-art cinema". I've been asking myself these questions for 30 years after I've seen the movie 30 times. Most likely, to my sadness, never see them answered and never see unveiled this "mystery." Jon Voight has the best interpretation of his career here. He has notable roles in other films such as "deliverance", "midnight cowboy" and others, has been nominated several times for the Oscar for Best Actor, even won one, but this is, for me, the "role of his life" ( and also in this movie he was nominated for Oscar but did not win). To tell you more, Voight's acting in this film is among the best interpretations I have ever seen in film history. But also Eric Roberts and Rebecca De Mornay have both in this movie the best interpretations of their careers. Rebecca De Mornay was not unfairly nominated for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. She was known to the public at this time because of the success of the risky business film, made 2 years earlier, which she stars alongside Tom Cruise. "Runaway Train" is perhaps the only film of her career in which she appears without any make-up, half "messed up", playing a role of this type that has nothing to do with her usual "femme fatale" characters. She is superb, brilliant and more beautiful than ever (even without makeup). Eric Roberts (the only nomination he had in his Oscar career) is also fantastic, lending credence to his naive character with a slight mental inhibition. Konchalovsky's achievement is brilliant. The train looks like a living character in the movie. The music of Trevor Jones is fabulous. The final one is anthology. The scene in which the three characters disintegrate and fight inside the train is to memory. The final sentence of the film is fabulous, anything like "Even the most ferocious animal feels some pity. But I am not a ferocious animal, I am a human being, and therefore I do not feel any pity, "although for me this phrase goes in contradiction (possibly purposeful) with the film. This is because even John Ryan, the prison's director and the most "inhuman" character in the film, has in the end a moment of "humanism." It is he who, realizing his fate, remembers Roberts and De Mornay and tells Voight "What about that punk and the girl?", "Saving" in this way these two characters because Voight responds to him "Oh no, it's just you and me ". In fact, there are many anthology dialogues throughout the film, those kind of dialogues that we never forget. Writing about them would give a book, so much is the beauty and ambiguity of them, so much they stimulate us to think about its meaning. It was a shame the film went quite unnoticed. But, after more than 30 years, I notice that, little by little, the film is gaining status as a "cult movie". I just wanted to see some of the actors in the movie talking about how it all came out, how it all happened. As I have already mentioned, a combination of these arises once in life, or rather, arises once in the history of cinema. And this (cinema) was born long before me and will have a life much longer than mine.

areatw Despite having the most basic of plots, 'Runaway Train' makes for compelling viewing and has you hooked from the first few scenes. What starts of as a brutal prison riot soon turns into something much more dramatic as two inmates escape and find themselves on an out of control train, with only themselves and a single railroad employee on board.This is a thriller with a difference though, as it's also a fascinating character study. All 3 characters have different ideas on how to handle the situation, and when a fourth is thrown into the mix - the prison warden - things start to become really interesting. The ending of the film is very well done and caps off what is a fine 80s thriller.

asronce Allow me to step out my time machine in the year 2016 and express my love for a film that I first saw first run in January 1986. From the opening scene at the supermax prison located in rugged northwestern Alaska to the escape and subsequent epic train ride this film was chocked full of imagery and strong characters especially Voight and Roberts. These two gave the performance of a lifetime and were robbed at awards programs with only a nomination for Roberts. Look for a young Danny Trejo in the boxing ring with Roberts in his first ever movie scene at the beginning of the film. Without disclosing the plot the most interesting aspect is how such a cast of unbelievably dangerous characters could evoke so much understanding and empathy that even in the worst of the worst there is dignity and respect worthy of any of us. One other aspect that added a surreal moment to an already surreal movie. At the end of the film as the dispatch office as given up hope on stopping the train and saving the occupants the head controller Frank Barstow who designed the computer system that now has failed to save them laments how could this have happened with all this technology and expertise and in the background there is a television with the a news story about the space shuttle. This film was released the same month as the Challenger Disaster and yours truly was watching this first run only days after the disaster. It was a coincidence but wow talk about powerful. I walked out of the theater completely affected for days and now thirty years later I'm still talking about it.

AaronCapenBanner Andrei Konchalovsky directed this existentialist prison/action-adventure yarn that stars Jon Voight as popular and hardened prisoner Manny Manheim, who is a fearless fighter, and constant source of trouble for warden Ranken(played by John P. Ryan) who is determined to put Manny away for good. He is also idolized by a young prisoner named Buck(played by Eric Roberts) who is enlisted by Manny in his daring escape attempt, which succeeds, but being that it is winter in Alaska, they will have to find shelter soon, so steal a train that becomes a runaway, as the authorities(led by Ranken) have ordered it switched to a dead end rail line, but that doesn't deter Manny, though the unexpected presence of railway worker Sara(played by Rebecca De Mornay) gives Buck second thoughts, Manny proves to be as unstoppable as the train... Stunning film may not have the most likable of characters, but works quite well indeed as an allegorical account of an out-of-control life heading for disaster. Voight in particular is a stand-out; final scene is haunting(and fitting).