Le train de l'angoisse

I'm an avid railroad fan, and for all of its inadequacies, I feel that this movie still rates as excellent. I first saw this as a child, and have been searching for it for over fifteen years. I was lucky enough to find someone on Ebay that has a 35mm copy of it and does sell videos of it, so for all the true fans of this movie, check out Ebay.

As for the technical end of it, the plot is probably something that could not happen, at least in the magnitude depicted here. ALL diesel locomotives have something called a TRACTION BRAKE, which, like the reversal of an airliners engines to slow an aircraft, does essentially the same thing. The traction brake reverses electrical polarity to the motors, causing them to act AGAINST forward motion. This is comparable to downshifting an automobile transmission into first or low gear when descending steep hills. By itself, the traction brake could not have stopped the train, but the locomotive could have slowed the train down to a less than fatal speed. Also, a helper locomotive added to the rear of a train would probably not have the power to stop a train travelling 70+ mph by itself. It would need the assistance of the air brake throughout the train to accomplish that - which was useless in the movie plot, and even if it weren't, there's no way the air hoses could be connected on a moving train.

Despite these flaws, the movie is very entertaining, and at 70 minutes, it is like a sweet and satisfying snack, compared to a 120 minute main course.

I've now seen this film twice on television over the years and there is nothing wrong with it. For a TV movie I think it is quite good and it whiles away a pleasant couple of hours. I would love to get it on DVD.

In an out of control train hurtling back down the mountain at 70mph, Ben Johnson doesn't bat an eyelid, and gets off the train at the station as if it is all in a days work!

In a comparison with "Unstoppable" which I have just seen and which is apparently being tipped to win an Oscar (why! how?) I know which of the two films I prefer!

The Runaway Train, as a TV movie, was made on a shoestring in comparison with films made for the big screen by the movie moguls in the large studios. Special effects were virtually non-existent in this film, where as today CGI effects are on tap and can produce anything the produced or director wish.

This might have been one of the likable Ben Johnson's more smaller films in his illustrious career, but it certainly wasn't his worst.

A passenger train is runaway (the brakes have frozen) on a winding, mountainous snow covered railway! Despite the fact that this is a made for TV movie, it was theatrically released overseas under the title "The Frozen Passage" and deservedly was a hit. It's unfortunate that it's not currently available on any format since it's an exciting suspenseful film that you can see with your family. The finale it also very satisfying.

Oh come on Universal and release this one at least on VHS (DVD and of course Blu-ray Disc is ideal!).

A fantastic, pulsating action film that defies belief it was made for TV in 1973. These characters all gathered 'soap' style are almost literally just thrown under the table within 15 minutes of the start. The runaway train is on its way down the tracks and nothing will stop it. This is small scale suspense and humane drama combined at its finest. No silly flashbacks for 20 minutes at a time, this train is on the tracks and there's no stopping the actual action threat. Of course there's silly melodramatics along the way, but this really is a superlative exercise in how to do TV movies. And technically it's incredible how they achieved so many of the shots and effects in 1973 on a TV budget. The obvious back projection is obvious, but there is hardcore stuff here involving train hardware that looks real and dangerous. It was enduring memory for me first seeing it at 5 years old on UK TV in the 1980s, I so wish it would be unvaulted and restored and released in HD.

I saw this movie when it first aired, 33 years ago. Eek! But still it sticks in my mind. I hated the GRAND HOTEL or, if you prefer, TOWERING INFERNO trope of having various folks in various personal crises (the disaffected long-married couple & al.; now that I think of it, GRAND HOTEL may be the only movie of this type I think ever worked, SHIP OF FOOLS included), but the runaway-train problem itself, and how it's solved, still sticks in my mind.

I know it's probably no better than a time-wasting movie, but the ending is a glorious, happy surprise. And Ben Johnson does his patented underacting to bring a smooth, calm centre to what would otherwise be a hysterical disaster movie.

I was pleased to note (thanks, IMDb!) that the screenwriter for this non-epic also wrote one of my favourite recent movies, THE FORGOTTEN.