Throw Momma from the Train (1987) on Netflix
PG-1319871h 28mComedyCrimeThriller
Blocked novelist Larry Donner teaches writing after his ex-wife Margaret publishes his manuscript as her own. His student Owen Lift, abused by his mother Momma, proposes a murder swap.
- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb6.3/1044,739 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes64%
Trailer
Plot summary
Larry Donner is a novelist whose ex-wife Margaret takes his manuscript, publishes it under her name, and receives the praise. Unable to write, he teaches creative writing at a community college, where a student named Owen Lift keeps demanding his opinion. Owen is a middle-aged man who looks after Momma, his domineering and violent mother, and imagines life without her. Larry tells Owen that a crime story needs a believable motive and an alibi and recommends an Alfred Hitchcock film. Owen watches the movie, in which two strangers arrange to kill for one another. Remembering that Larry wishes Margaret dead, Owen takes the idea as an invitation and offers a trade: he will kill Margaret if Larry kills Momma. Larry has no chance to answer before Owen moves to carry out his part.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Throw Momma from the Train (1987)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- In June 1987 Warner Bros. and Orion Pictures made a trade-off agreement: in return for permission to use footage and the premise from Strangers on a Train, producer Larry Brezner's company surrendered the remake and sequel rights of the 1981 film Arthur to Warner Bros., which cleared the way for Arthur 2: On the Rocks.
- The title comes from Patti Page's 1956 hit song "Mama from the Train (A Kiss, A Kiss)", while the film was inspired by the 1950 Patricia Highsmith thriller novel Strangers on a Train, the film adaptation of which is also seen in the film.
- Irving Gordon, writer of the song "Mama from the Train", sued Orion Pictures over the film and was awarded $100,000.
- In a November 2023 GQ interview DeVito said he and Billy Crystal were looking at possibly doing Throw Poppa from the Train, and Entertainment Weekly confirmed that a follow-up was being developed between the two stars.
- Oprah Winfrey appears in the film as herself, in a fictional episode of her own talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show.
- Throw Momma from the Train was Danny DeVito's theatrical directorial debut, a first feature in which he also took one of the starring roles.
