Trailer
Plot summary
Manny is the boss of the convicts at Stonehaven Maximum Security Prison in Alaska, and Warden Ranken wants him dead. After two earlier escape attempts and three years in solitary, Manny plans a third breakout and recruits a young inmate, Buck McGeehy. The pair crawl out through a sewer tunnel, hike to a switchyard, steal railroad clothing, and board a train of four locomotives. The engineer, Al, suffers a heart attack once the train is moving and falls dead; his grab at the brake valve leaves the throttle open. Dispatchers Dave Prince and Frank Barstow see the unmanned locomotives gaining speed. Sara, a hostler aboard the train, tells the fugitives it cannot be stopped from where they are.
Cast
- Walter Wyattas Conlan
- Dan Wrayas Fat Con
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Runaway Train (1985)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Speed, the 1994 film with a runaway bus, was inspired by Runaway Train. Screenwriter Graham Yost was told about it by his father, the Canadian television host Elwy Yost, who mistakenly believed the train's situation was caused by a bomb on board.
- Danny Trejo was cast after he turned up on set in his job as a drug abuse counsellor, for a young person working with the crew who was troubled by the rampant cocaine abuse there. Screenwriter-consultant Edward Bunker remembered Trejo from when they had both been imprisoned at San Quentin State Prison and helped him get hired.
- The screenplay was based on an original 1960s screenplay by Akira Kurosawa, who intended it to be his first color film following Red Beard. Difficulties with the American financial backers led to that project being shelved.
- Richard (Rick) Holley was killed before principal photography began, when the helicopter he was piloting hit power lines while he was scouting for shooting locations in Alaska. The film is dedicated to him during the closing credits.
- During filming the crew realized they had no real snow, because of warm temperatures, a false spring, in the area. They used Christmas tree flocks for fake snow and then had to keep it from melting on the tracks at the west yard.
- The film was the feature debut of both Danny Trejo and Tommy "Tiny" Lister, who each went on to successful careers as "tough guy" character actors.
- Karen Allen was announced as the female lead, but the part ended up being played by Rebecca De Mornay. She called it her first real action-oriented picture and said she wanted something that called for a lot of physical acting, acting with her body rather than with words.
