Runaway Train [Blu-ray]

Director: Andrey Konchalovskiy Andrey Konchalovskiy

Overview

Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky's second American film may well be the only existential adventure flick in Hollywood history. Two prisoners, Manny (Jon Voight) and Buck (Eric Roberts), escape from a desolate Alaskan maximum-security facility. They hop aboard a speeding train, making a clean escape. But the engineer has suffered a heart attack, and the train goes out of control. To prevent a disastrous head-on collision, the railroad heads decide to derail the runaway train, killing its occupants to save the lives of hundreds of others. Once Manny catches on to what's happening, he tries to jump off the train, only to be talked out of such a foolhardy act by railroad employee Sara (Rebecca DeMornay). As doom approaches, Manny apparently goes mad, viciously preventing any attempts to stop the train or rescue its passengers: if he's to die, and if the others are to be saved, it will be on his terms, or no terms. Runaway Train was slated as a project for Akira Kurosawa in 1970, but for various creative and scheduling reasons, it remained on the back burner for 15 years.

Product Details

Release Date:	03/16/2021
UPC:	0738329252557
Original Release:	1985
Rating:	R
Source:	Kl Studio Classics
Language:	English
Time:	1:51:00
Sales rank:	18,726

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Jon Voight	Oscar 'Manny' Manheim
Eric Roberts	Buck McGeehy
Rebecca De Mornay	Sara
Kyle T. Heffner	Frank Barstow,Actor
John P. Ryan	Ranken
T.K. Carter	Dave Prince
Kenneth McMillan	Eddie MacDonald
Stacey Pickren	Ruby
Walter Wyatt	Conlan
Edward Bunker	Jonah
Reid Cruickshanks	Al Turner
Michael Lee Gogin	Short Con
John Bloom	Tall Con
Norton E. Warden	Old Con
John Otrin	Cat Con
Norman Alexander Gibbs	Queen Con
Dennis Ott	Guard
Don Pugsley	Guard
John Fountain	Guard
Wally Rose	Announcer
Danny Trejo	Boxer
Big Yank	Trainer
Tiny Lister	Black Guard
Dana Belgarde	Prison Guard
Diane Erickson	Sue Majors
Larry John Meyers	Pulasky
Don McLaughlin	Foreman Cassidy
Vladimir Bibic	Fireman Wright
William Tregoe Jr.	Rogers
Loren Jones	Engineer Eastbound 12,Composer
Obie Weeks	Head Brakeman
John-Clay Scott	Conductor Eastbound 12
Robert M. Klempner	Cushman
Carmen Filpi	Signal Maintainer
David Stompro	Jonson
Harris Smith	Willard
Charlie Messenger	Yardworker
Phillip Earl	1st Crewman
Tom Keenan	2nd Crewman
Tony Epper	Hitman
Jerry Brainum	Bodybuilder
Duey Thomasick	Emergency Worker
Harris D. Smith	Willard
Hank Worden	Old Con
William Tregoe	Roger

Technical Credits

Djordje Milicevic

Paul Zindel

John Bunker

Andrey Konchalovskiy	Director
Tassilo Baur	Special Effects
Ray Brown	Special Effects
Yoram Globus	Producer
Menahem Golan	Producer
Robert A. Goldston	Executive Producer
Loren Janes	Stunts
Rick H. Josephsen	Special Effects
Keith Richins	Special Effects
Bob Riggs	Special Effects
Henry T. Weinstein	Executive Producer
Roger Whitmore	Executive Producer
Djordje Milicevic	Screenwriter
Paul Zindel	Screenwriter
John Bunker	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

A decade later, there would be the wildly successful Speed, featuring Sandra Bullock on a runaway bus. In 1985, it was Rebecca DeMornay on a Runaway Train, and it was not a big hit. In fact, out-of-control vehicles, mostly trains, have been a staple of film comedies and melodramas since the days of the silent films. Runaway Train takes the simple premise and makes a compelling movie of it, with two sinister escaped convicts (played superbly by Jon Voight and Eric Roberts) trapped on the train with De Mornay, facing certain doom. The script is taut, crafty, and suspenseful, and the characterizations are superb. The director is a Russian, Andrei Konchalvosky, and the script was based on a story by acclaimed Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, whose work on it got derailed. The film works surprisingly well, mixing Roberts's usual crazed character with Voight's best performance since Coming Home, and providing the underrated DeMornay with a second consecutive unglamorous role after Testament.