Train your eyes on these ‘locomotion’ pictures

Bill Knight column for Thurs., Fri. or Sat. May 10, 11 or 12, 2018

This month in 1869 in Utah, representatives of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads met at Promontory Point, creating North America’s first transcontinental railway. Just a few years later, the young movie industry started using trains as devices, settings or other elements.

From the silent western “The Great Train Robbery” to comedy classics like the Marx Brothers’ “Go West,” trains have been solid cinematic metaphors for power, romance and the unique environment of a closed space in motion. Sometimes like charging locomotives, sometimes like pleasant whistle-stops along the way, Hollywood’s train films have nicely used the cars, stations and atmospheres to good effects. Suspense thrillers like “Unstoppable,” “Narrow Margin,” “The Fugitive” and “Double Indemnity” use them. Dramas include “Metropolitan,” “Boxcar Bertha” and “The Railway Children.” There are train-focused musical scenes: “The Harvey Girls,” “At The Circus” and “White Christmas.” Comedic bits succeed in “Broadway Limited,” “Continental Divide” and “Some Like It Hot.”

Other great sequences are featured in “The Iron Horse,” “Back to The Future, Part III,” “Chattanooga Choo Choo,” “3:10 to Yuma” and “The Return of Casey Jones.” There’s “Night Train to Terror,” “Night Train to Munich” and “Night Train to Venice”; “Paris Express,” “Berlin Express,” “Phantom Express,” “Millionaire’s Express,” “Avalanche Express,” “Café Express,” “Romance on the Orient Express” and Express to Terror”; “Terror Train,” “Torture Train” and “Death Train,” “Atomic Train,” “Hostage Train” and “Train Robbers,” “Train Killer,” “Train to Tombstone” and “Lady on A Train”; “Throw Momma from the Train”…

Here’s a Top 10 list of train films:

“The End of The Line” (1988). Wilford Brimley and Levon Helm (the Band’s late drummer) star as a railroad worker and pal who hijack a locomotive engine when the railroad announces it’s closing a depot. The future of the business and a small town all hinge on the outcome. A fine drama with humorous moments, the film has a taut plot and excellent cast, including Holly Hunter, Kevin Bacon, Howard Morris and Mary Steenburgen (who also produced).

“The General” (1927). Loosely based on a real incident during the Civil War, this silent comedy classic stars Buster Keaton as a Southern locomotive engineer determined to regain his train stolen by Union soldiers. The dour-faced Keaton – who also directed – is simply superb.

“Murder on The Orient Express” (1974). Agatha Christie’s Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot (Albert Finney) must investigate the homicide of an American businessman committed by some fellow passenger onboard a transcontinental train. The whodunit has an all-star cast including Lauren Bacall, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave, Sean Connery, Michael York, Jacqueline Bisset, and Ingrid Bergman, who won an Oscar for her performance. Last year’s remake is as dull as it was unnecessary.

“Runaway Train” (1986). Jon Voight and Eric Roberts are escaped convicts who hop on a train careening toward disaster in Alaska. Rebecca DeMornay and Kenneth McMillan co-star.

“Shanghai Express” (1932). Marlene Dietrich stars in an outstanding drama with wonderful characters. On the Peking Railroad’s prestigious train is Shanghai Lily (Dietrich), a Chinese prostitute (Anna May Wong), Lily’s ex-lover Clive Brooks, and a rebel leader (Warner Oland).

“Silver Streak” (1976). This great Richard Pryor-Gene Wilder buddy picture – part action movie, part comedy – has the duo and cohort Jill Clayburgh  fighting the delightfully wicked Patrick McGoohan and henchman Ray Walston. Ned Beatty and Richard Kiel are featured.

“Strangers on A Train” (1951). Filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock was great when he made this thriller, but great performances from Farley Granger and Robert Walker help the Master make this more memorable. Based on Patrician Highsmith’s novel, the film has two men in a chance meeting fantasizing about killing each other’s potential victim. One follows through; the other panics. Ruth Roman and Leo G. Carroll co-star.

“The 20th Century” (1934). A terrific 1930s screwball comedy scripted by one of the best writing partnerships, Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, this stars John Barrymore and Carole Lombard as star-crossed lovers during a wacky cross-country train trip. Howard Hawks directed, with Edgar Kennedy and Roscoe Karns featured.

“Union Pacific” (1939). Joel McCrea starred in Cecil B. DeMille’s finest western, about the building of the transcontinental railroad – with Native Americans and U.S. Cavalry, feuding railroad barons and spunky pioneers and romance. Barbara Stanwyck, Brian Donlevy, Robert Preston and Anthony Quinn co-star.

“Von Ryan’s Express” (1965). Frank Sinatra stars as an American colonel held in a prisoner-of-war camp in this fine World War II action yarn. He’s a natural leader who can’t deal with the officer in charge of the Allied prisoners. After a daring escape, an opportunity presents itself with a German train, and the men steal it and head to Switzerland and safety.