Favorite Train/Transportation Movies

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Garethe7

Train Attendant
Joined
Oct 21, 2013
Messages
94
Location
Kansas City, MO
I love Silver Streak. Which I believe is technically the Southwest Chief. And who can forget the classic well-done ending of the crash through Chicago's Union Station. I can watch it over and over again, especially when I have an upcoming trip.

Post your favorites.
 
North by Northwest - I love everything about this movie, but I especially love the part where you can hear the Michigan train stops announced (in the background) over the PA in LaSalle Street Station.
 
I heard about that....I cringe every time I see the great shot of the "Kansas City" skyline. Hard to believe they couldn't send out a second unit to get the real thing, they could have done it in 1/2 a day. My favorite scene was in the beginning when he couldn't close the partition while Scatman Crothers was showing him the room. I read somewhere that that scene was one of the reasons Amtrak did not grant permission to use their name, they were afraid people would think the partition incident was a widespread problem. It's too bad, the advertising they could have had all these years.

I know that scene in North by Northwest, and since I lived on the south end of Chicago, LaSalle was the station we always traveled through. Not overly grand, but a lot of history to it.
 
I'd never heard of Silver Streak until now, but that cast makes me want to check Netflix tonight.

I also like the train scenes in Trading Places and Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.

I think I'm due for a "silly movie" night. :)
 
North by Northwest - I love everything about this movie, but I especially love the part where you can hear the Michigan train stops announced (in the background) over the PA in LaSalle Street Station.

You can never go wrong with an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Another good Hitchock movie, an earlier work, is Strangers on the Train. It is a great movie because it starts out on a train and ends at a carnival, my two biggest interests.

Another great movie is Von Ryan's Express which is about escaped WWII prisonners of war taking over a train in Italy.
 
North by Northwest - I love everything about this movie, but I especially love the part where you can hear the Michigan train stops announced (in the background) over the PA in LaSalle Street Station.

You can never go wrong with an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Another good Hitchock movie, an earlier work, is Strangers on the Train. It is a great movie because it starts out on a train and ends at a carnival, my two biggest interests.
Mine too! Thanks for the heads-up.
 
I'd never heard of Silver Streak until now, but that cast makes me want to check Netflix tonight.
Never heard of Silver Streak? :eek: That's grounds for expulsion from AU! :p
It is a great movie about a train trip from LA to Chicago on "Amroad". It stars Jill Clayburne, Gene Wildman, Richard Pryor and Scatman Crothers. Gene Wildman's character gets thrown off the same train 3 times (by thugs), but somehow beats the train and reboards it!

You must see it, as it's one of the funniest railroad movies around!
 
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Netflix doesn't have it on Instant View, so I'll have to see if I can find the DVD. I bet I can get it off Amazon for a couple dollars.
 
Silver Streak too.......It was just re-released on DVD and BR...pass on the BR as it's just a copy of the DVD.

Runaway train is cool....a bit dry

Unstopable is fun if you ignore some of the impossible things....I like that they did wreck real trains and not CGI it.

Emperor of the North is brutal....but good....
 
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"Airplane!" -- not just one of my favorite transportation movies, but one of my favorite movies of all time.

(It's a parody of an earlier movie called "Zero Hour," which shows up on TCM from time to time.)
 
In my experience train movies often struggle to inspire repeated viewings, let alone serious critical acclaim, although I have enjoyed watching a few rare gems such as the aforementioned North by Northwest and Runaway Train from time to time. In my view the true sweet spot involves movies with memorable train scenes woven into dramatic plots that stretch far beyond the rails. Depending on your perspective this can include everything from major Hollywood blockbusters like The Fugitive to relatively unknown sleepers such as Switchback.

You can never go wrong with an Alfred Hitchcock movie.
Never say never.

Although he helped create several theatrical masterpieces Alfred Hitchcock's body of work also had it's share of mistakes and missteps, some of which did not age well over time.

Netflix doesn't have it on Instant View, so I'll have to see if I can find the DVD. I bet I can get it off Amazon for a couple dollars.
$3 SD rental, $4 HD rental, $10 SD purchase, and a full $17 to "own" the HD stream.

Personally I think Silver Streak would be more appropriately priced at $0.99 rental or $5 to purchase.

If Amazon ever pulls an Enron your purchase would become useless and I think they should price accordingly.

Amazon's Prime catalog is can be an even better deal than Netflix, although it won't get you Silver Streak.
 
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Aloha

Not sure of the correct title, but My favorite is still the old Disney (I think) "Great train Robbery" .
 
What was the name of that ridiculous movie with Matt Damon (?) and Morgan Freeman (?) trying to stop some out of control train? I remember a scene where they went around this huge horseshoe curve somewhere in PA (?)

Obviously, the details are fuzzy. Brent watched it one weekend many moons ago, and I wasn't paying much attention.
 
What was the name of that ridiculous movie with Matt Damon (?) and Morgan Freeman (?) trying to stop some out of control train? I remember a scene where they went around this huge horseshoe curve somewhere in PA (?)

Obviously, the details are fuzzy. Brent watched it one weekend many moons ago, and I wasn't paying much attention.
Not making fun here.......but that sounds like one of those games where people tell each other a story and by the time the 10th person tells the story it's 100% different!!!

Unstoppable, listed in my post, is the movie you are thinking of.

It's Chris Pine, not Matt. Dezel and not Morgan.

It's a West Virginia trestle curved bridge as the 'danger spot'.

Many holes in the film....worth watching.
 
What was the name of that ridiculous movie with Matt Damon (?) and Morgan Freeman (?) trying to stop some out of control train? I remember a scene where they went around this huge horseshoe curve somewhere in PA (?)

Obviously, the details are fuzzy. Brent watched it one weekend many moons ago, and I wasn't paying much attention.
Not making fun here.......but that sounds like one of those games where people tell each other a story and by the time the 10th person tells the story it's 100% different!!!

Unstoppable, listed in my post, is the movie you are thinking of.

It's Chris Pine, not Matt. Dezel and not Morgan.

It's a West Virginia trestle curved bridge as the 'danger spot'.

Many holes in the film....worth watching.
Ha! I knew I had it all mixed up. :) I was close-ish.
 
I'd never heard of Silver Streak until now, but that cast makes me want to check Netflix tonight.
Never heard of Silver Streak? :eek: That's grounds for expulsion from AU! :p
It is a great movie about a train trip from LA to Chicago on "Amroad". It stars Jill Clayburne, Gene Wildman, Richard Pryor and Scatman Crothers. Gene Wildman's character gets thrown off the same train 3 times (by thugs), but somehow beats the train and reboards it!

You must see it, as it's one of the funniest railroad movies around!
You'll love it, classic comedy. And very well done, the bedrooms, dining, and lounge were to scale unlike other films. I remember a Murder She Wrote episode one time where "Jessica" had a bedroom and it must have taken up half the car.

I just looked up the Superman train racing scene from the 1978 movie on YouTube, it was part of the original film but had been deleted off other editions.
 
I keep Unstoppable on my phone so I can watch it while riding - I'd have to go with that for my current favorite, even with the holes in some spots and suspending disbelief in others. Lots of good train shots, no CGI.

If you're looking for something on Netflix instant, you could try Disaster on the Coastlner. William Shatner (from one capt. Kirk to another) is a disgruntled railroad employee who get ahold a west coast Amtrak train and tampers with the signaling system to cause a head on collision. WARNING: Very 70s!

Edit: Add warning.
 
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What was the name of that ridiculous movie with Matt Damon (?) and Morgan Freeman (?) trying to stop some out of control train? I remember a scene where they went around this huge horseshoe curve somewhere in PA (?)

Obviously, the details are fuzzy. Brent watched it one weekend many moons ago, and I wasn't paying much attention.
Not making fun here.......but that sounds like one of those games where people tell each other a story and by the time the 10th person tells the story it's 100% different!!!

Unstoppable, listed in my post, is the movie you are thinking of.

It's Chris Pine, not Matt. Dezel and not Morgan.

It's a West Virginia trestle curved bridge as the 'danger spot'.

Many holes in the film....worth watching.
Ha! I knew I had it all mixed up. :) I was close-ish.
Aloha

There was an older film with a similar tittle to Unstoppable. Which may be the movie Sarah is remembering.
 
No, it was "Unstoppable". I was half-asleep throughout the movie, and it was a long time ago, so I had trouble remembering the specifics.
 
Silver Streak too.......It was just re-released on DVD and BR...pass on the BR as it's just a copy of the DVD.

Runaway train is cool....a bit dry

Unstopable is fun if you ignore some of the impossible things....I like that they did wreck real trains and not CGI it.

Emperor of the North is brutal....but good....
Aloha

While most of the effects are "Movie Real" Unstoppable did use CGI effects. If you want to see a list of the cast and crew go to this page http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477080/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm
 
Silver Streak too.......It was just re-released on DVD and BR...pass on the BR as it's just a copy of the DVD.

Runaway train is cool....a bit dry

Unstopable is fun if you ignore some of the impossible things....I like that they did wreck real trains and not CGI it.

Emperor of the North is brutal....but good....
Aloha

While most of the effects are "Movie Real" Unstoppable did use CGI effects. If you want to see a list of the cast and crew go to this page http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477080/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm
You're right Eric - I forgot they did use some CGI (they had to going around the "Stanton Curve"). But the rice puffs and potato flakes were real!
 
Silver Streak too.......It was just re-released on DVD and BR...pass on the BR as it's just a copy of the DVD.

Runaway train is cool....a bit dry

Unstopable is fun if you ignore some of the impossible things....I like that they did wreck real trains and not CGI it.

Emperor of the North is brutal....but good....
Aloha

While most of the effects are "Movie Real" Unstoppable did use CGI effects. If you want to see a list of the cast and crew go to this page http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477080/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm
Yes....you are correct.......I should have said 'didn't use ONLY CGI'. The BR disk has a bunch of footage of them wrecking real trains and how some of it almost went wrong!! The train at speed on two wheels was CGI or talent never seen before or since!!!
 
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