Bullet Points: Runaway Train

It’s not often that I get to talk about Cannon movies being legitimately great movies and it’s even more rare for those movies to star Eric Roberts. So what we have here is a unique experience for both of us. If you haven’t yet seen the 1985 film Runaway Train then I recommend you stop reading now, watch the film on some sort of viewing device, and then return to this review so we can go over some of the things that make this movie one of the best of a very crowded 1985.

Synopsis: Two convicts (Jon Voight, Eric Roberts) bust out of a maximum security prison and find themselves freezing, running from the authorities, and worst of all, barreling down the tracks on a runaway train going 90 mph.

• Meet the Convicts: Manny (Jon Voight) is something of a legend in the clink. He’s been locked away in the hole for three years by the vengeful warden (John P. Ryan) and was just awarded his release back into the prison population to a chorus of cheers. He’s looked at lovingly by almost everyone there, especially by the young and cocky Buck McGeehy (Eric Roberts). Manny has barely returned to his throne in the prison when another man attempts to take him down and a new escape plan begins to cross his mind.
• Greased feces: In a move that would make Andy Dufrense cringe, Manny and his young accomplice Buck cover their bodies in grease and plastic wrap before sliding out of the prison in the sewage pipes. The ride wasn’t all bad as they got a waterpark finish when they dropped like a hundred feet to the nearly frozen river below. Yeah, they got some of the poo poo off their clothes but walking around in the Alaskan wilderness is difficult when your extremities turn purple. I don’t even need Bear Grylls to tell me that.

• The Warden: Death Wish 4 and Avenging Force veteran John P. Ryan is the hardass warden whose job it is to make these prisoners’ lives hell. He’s taken a bit too much joy in personally making Manny’s life hell and Manny has developed quite the bitterness towards him. Warden Ranken hops on board a helicopter and starts looking through the glaciers for the bodies of the two men until he hears about the runaway train.
• All Aboard: Manny and Buck have some terrible luck. They hide out on a train which, unbeknownst to them, just lost its engineer to a heart attack and soon find that climbing their way to the front is a whole different kind of death wish. They eventually find that there is another person on the train, though. Rebecca De Mornay covered in grime as Sara still has to worry initially about getting raped by Buck (are all Bucks rapists?) but quickly learns that they’re all in the same kind of trouble. You know that whole unstoppable train business?

• The Hearts of Men: The story might focus on a runaway train but it’s really about the characters involved. Manny and Buck’s relationship is touchy. Buck looks up to Manny even though he shouldn’t and Manny doesn’t give a damn about Buck. Warden Ranken is more focused on taking down the convicts and less about why the other men in the prison worship Manny and treat him with no respect. All the characters go for a ride by the end of the film and anyone watching will appreciate that there isn’t necessarily a “good guy” or a “bad guy” in the movie. It’s deeply troubled people finding themselves in a very dangerous position.

The Verdict: The screenplay is written by Akira Kurosawa, who I would consider to be the greatest film director of all time. It’s a movie that was almost directed by Kurosawa but somehow found its way into the very capable hands of Andrei Konchalovsky. The look of the film lends more credibility to how difficult it probably was to film. It looks kind of ugly. Almost like it was done with an old camera or as a documentary. It adds to the loneliness of the characters and the feeling of dread as the only ones that they can count on are guys with more flaws than a Ford Pinto. Lucky for us, Runaway Train is a fantastic movie that shows even Cannon Films could make a good movie with the right screenplay and excellent performances. It’s just a shame they couldn’t find a role for Chuck Norris or Charles Bronson…