OneEightNine Media So this was on TV and I thought, why the heck not watch a movie with Eric Roberts in it. I needed a good laugh, right? But what I got was a solid adventure/escape thriller with poetic undertones. Honestly, I have no idea how to describe it. It is one of those films that will mean something different to different people. Wonder why this movie is so good? Then go check out the person who wrote the screenplay and trip out on that fact, you film school snobs! Just to summarize the flick, and I am summarizing it as basic as hell. It is about 2 convicts who escape from jail and find themselves on a runaway train. Just add in a bunch of hidden symbolism in the dialogue and set pieces, and you got yourself an entertaining movie. That's about as much as you should know about the movie because knowing too much could rob you of the most optimum filmgoing experience. After watching the movie, you will find yourself reflecting on it and pondering stuff about yourself, humanity and trains... and Eric Roberts.

slightlymad22 Directed by Andrei Konchalovsky, "Runaway Train" is one If the most under rated movies of the 80's.Plot In A Paragraph: Oscar "Manny" Manheim is a "lifer" and hero to the convicts of Stonehaven Maximum Security Prison. After two previous escape attempts the doors to Manny's cell have been welded shut for three years. A court order makes the sadistic Warden Ranken, release him back into the general prison population. Manny immediately breaks out a third time with Buck McGeehy, (Eric Roberts) another convict (convicted of statutory rape) Buck idolizes Manny, but Manny does not care for the company. The two hop on board a train consisting of four locomotives at a remote Alaskan rail yard. Just as the train is set in motion, the elderly engineer suffers a heart attack. Consequently, in trying to stop the train and get off he accidentally makes it impossible to stop the train. Neither of the two convicts is aware of their situation as the Warden sets off in pursuit. Both Jon Voight and Eric Roberts were Oscar nominated for this movie, and were both unlucky not to win, as both were superb. See Roberts when he realises his idol is not who he thought he was, and Voight is fantastic throughoutGolam Globus didn't have many Oscar nominated movies, so this should be remembered more than it is.

Jonathon Dabell To see the words 'A Golan-Globus Production' on a movie poster in the '80s was not usually a sign of good quality cinema. Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus were a pair of Israeli cousins who had financed various films in their homeland throughout the '60s and '70s before deciding to have a crack at the American market by purchasing a distribution and production outfit called the Cannon Group, Inc. Around 85% of Golan- Globus's Canon output was low-grade, trashy rubbish, more often than not badly made and badly acted. Every now and then, however, a Golan-Globus film would turn up that was a little better than the usual fare. Something slightly more artistically motivated and more high-brow in conception. Into this bracket would fall films like the Julie Andrews vehicle Duet For One, Jean Luc Godard's adaptation of King Lear, or the exciting existential thriller Runaway Train , directed by celebrated Russian film-maker Andrei Konchalovsky during his 'break-into-the- American-mainstream' phase. Runaway Train is notable for two remarkable leading performances from Jon Voight and Eric Roberts. Voight plays Manny Manheim, a notoriously violent bank robber serving a life sentence in a remote Alaskan maximum security prison. Manny is a legend amongst the other inmates, an almost animalistic criminal considered so dangerous that at one point the warden, Ranken (John P. Ryan), had his cell door welded for a period of three years. Once allowed back into general population, Manny plans an audacious escape aided by none-too-bright inmate Buck (Eric Roberts) whose position as a laundry room worker gives him access to a potential escape route. Against Manny's wishes, Buck decides to join in him in daring break for freedom. Unfortunately for them, they seek refuge aboard a train during their getaway only for the elderly engineer to suffer a heart attack at the controls. Through an accumulation of unforeseeable coincidences, the emergency break system on the train fails and the two escaped convicts find themselves aboard a runaway train, gathering momentum as it surges unmanned and out-of-control across the Alaskan wilderness. An inexperienced hostler, Sara (Rebecca De Mornay), is the only other person on board. Together the three of them fight against the power of technology (the train) and the power of nature (the harsh Alaskan conditions) as they try to regain control of the train.Violent, bloody, sharply characterised and frequently very exciting, Runaway Train may well be the jewel in the Golan-Globus crown. It's a tough film for sure – peopled mainly by ugly characters who do little more than snarl and threaten each other in abrasive, foul-mouthed exchanges – but it's never anything less than enthralling. The strength of characterisation is impressive. Voight's terrifying convict; Roberts' dumb but loyal opportunist escapee; De Mornay's vulnerable unwilling participant; Ryan's sadistically over-zealous warden – all fabulously written characters, played to the hilt by actors in top form. In one unforgettable scene, Voight attempts to uncouple the cars to stop the back section of the train – the couplings close over his hand, literally tearing off almost all his fingers in a shocking spray of pulpy gore. Still grinning maniacally, his hand a bloodied stump, Manny struggles back aboard and continues to terrorise his travelling companions. He's every bit as chillingly convincing as, say, Robert De Niro in the Cape Fear remake, a role that has striking similarities. The location is unusual and effective – the vast, freezing wilds of Alaska provide a perfect backdrop for the drama on-screen, enhanced further still by Trevor Jones's atmospheric score. The film's unrelentingly ugly tone and a strangely pretentious ending are minor quibbles, but overall Runaway Train is a thunderingly good film.

Wuchak How "Runaway Train" bombed at the box office in December, 1985, I'll never know because it's the perfect blend of blockbuster thrills and weighty subtext.The story involves Manny (Jon Voight), a notorious prison hero, who escapes a maximum security prison in the frozen wastelands of Alaska. He is joined by a naive follower (Eric Roberts). They stow away on a train consisting of four locomotives whose engineer has a heart attack and the train runs away. Meanwhile, the arrogant warden (John P. Ryan) is on the warpath for Manny."Runaway Train" is such a powerful experience because it's much more than just a mindless action flick, as the title would suggest; the thrilling events are actually a stage for a fascinating study of the human condition. Manny is a hardened convict who's "at war with the world and everyone in it." When called an animal he replies, "No, worse -- human!" This is a man who wants one thing, freedom, but he knows that he's too far gone to make it in conventional society. He shares a parable with his dumb partner, made up on the spot, about having a menial job and submitting to the boss even though you might want to rip his throat out. This is the key to making it in society -- submitting to authority and resisting the rage within; and then getting your check on payday and enjoying the fruits thereof. Manny wishes he could do this, but knows he can't. So what hope is there for him in modern society? If he can't do that then why's he escaping prison? In other words, Manny knows there's no hope for him, even if his escape is successful. To him, freedom can only come one way. I don't believe this, but I understand why he believes it.There's another potent scene where Manny has a knife and mercilessly comes against his own "partner". You see the rage on his face, like a cornered animal. After intense emotions are vented Manny suddenly realizes... and then he just bows over, completely spent. A character, who should be afraid of him, somehow understands and compassionately reaches out in a semi-embrace.Powerful scenes like these are combined with surreal images of the misshapen locomotives barreling down the tracks in the freezing wilderness accompanied by the ominous score by Trevor Jones. Some parts of the score scream mid-80s, but other parts -- like the aforementioned -- are timeless.Rebecca De Mornay has an atypical role as a railroad worker who stumbles on to the convicts. She intuitively sees through their macho posturing. Although she knows they're desperate & dangerous, she also sees that they're not wholly evil. Roberts is basically a kid at heart and Manny is just blinded by the incredible rage within. He's only irredeemable because of his stupid pride, built up over years of hardened confinement.Voight is near unrecognizable as Manny and Roberts is just superb as his dumb sidekick. These two along with De Mornay are examples of acting at its finest.John P. Ryan is very effective as the machismo warden Ranken, but his Captain Ahab-like role comes off too comic booky to be plausible. Yet Ranken shows that you can be an "animal" on the outside of prison just as much as on the inside. Both Manny and Ranken are corrupted by pride, but Manny at least knows it. And he's not too far gone to recognize those who are worthy of life and to respond accordingly.The film was shot in Montana and Alaska and runs 111 minutes.GRADE: A+