The greatest films to come out of Japan
Alfred Hitchcock's intriguing psychological thriller film noir concerns two strangers who meet on a train. Each wants to do away with someone, so they agree to 'exchange' murders. This way, neither will be suspected or get caught. At least, that's the plan. Farley Granger and Robert Walker star. The director's daughter, Pat Hitchcock, has a small role in the film.
Agatha Christie's 1934 novel of the same name has been adapted for cinema and television on several occasions. But it's 1974's 'Murder on the Orient Express' that remains the most admired. Albert Finney stars as the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, who has to figure out who carried out the dastardly deed on the famous long-distance passenger train. Suspects falling under his suspicion include Lauren Bacall, Sean Connery, and Vanessa Redgrave.
While 2009's remake starring Denzel Washington and John Travolta was met with mixed to average reviews, the original release of 'The Taking of Pelham One Two Three' was well received by critics. The film follows a group of criminals taking passengers hostage inside a New York City subway car for ransom. Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw deliver fine performances.
Hitchcock's 'Strangers on a Train' is the inspiration behind this black comedy, which stars Danny DeVito and Billy Crystal. The movie was a runaway hit, with Anne Ramsey as the overbearing "momma" singled out for particular praise.
The third and final installment of the Back to the Future trilogy is set in 1885 with Marty (Michael J. Fox) and "Doc" (Christopher Lloyd) employing the use of a steam locomotive to push their out-of-gas DeLorean time machine along tracks to the required speed in order to get back to the future.
Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Céline (Julie Delpy) are the two young travelers who meet on a Eurail train and end up in Vienna to continue their romantic liaison.
A year after their father's funeral, three estranged brothers—Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson, and Adrien Brody—travel across India by luxury train in an attempt to bond with each other.
Based on the harrowing 2001 real-life CSX 8888 incident, 'Unstoppable' follows the story of a runaway freight train pulling inflammable chemicals and heading straight for a built-up area. Denzel Washington and Chris Pine are the two men who attempt to avert disaster.
'Source Code' is a science fiction thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal as a US Army captain who ends up in digital recreation of a real-time explosion on a commuter train but has only eight minutes to identify and apprehend the bomber.
Set in the future where a failed climate exchange experiment has killed most of humanity on Earth and turned the planet into a giant snowball, 'Snowpiercer' refers to the train traveling on a globe-spanning track packed at the rear with lower-tiered passengers while filled at the front by the elite. It's only a matter of time before a class war erupts.
Drawing inspiration from the 1952 movie 'The Narrow Margin,' this 1990 remake follows the attempts of a LA deputy district attorney to safeguard a murder witness on a remote train journey who's being targeted by hitmen. Gene Hackman and Anne Archer are the pair in the crosshairs.
Director Robert Zemeckis is responsible for making this delightful all-digital capture film, a Christmas musical fantasy adventure about a young boy who boards a mysterious locomotive bound for the North Pole. Tom Hanks is the amiable conductor, with Josh Hutcherson as the wide-eyed youngster.
Set during the Second World War, the train in question is loaded with stolen works of art looted by the Nazis. French Resistance-member Paul Labiche (Burt Lancaster) attempts to stop the train and its escorting commander, Colonel Franz von Waldheim (Paul Scofield), before the locomotive reaches its final destination.
Buster Keaton co-directed and starred in this classic silent comedy, inspired by the Great Locomotive Chase, a military raid that took place in 1862 during the Civil War. Regarded as a seminal piece of cinema, 'The General, 'the name given to the locomotive in the picture, was one of the last great movies of the silent era.
Thirty years later, Walt Disney brought to the big screen its own version of the daring raid, which saw Union soldiers sneak behind Confederate lines in order to steal a train and drive it back to their own camp.
Loosely based on the "Great Gold Robbery" of 1855, this crime caper mirrors the events of that year with a master criminal (Sean Connery) aiming to empty a train of its gold shipment. In order to carry out the heist he needs to recruit reliable accomplices, people that include a gifted pickpocket (Donald Sutherland) and his mistress, played by Lesley-Anne Down.
Frank Sinatra and Trevor Howard star in this Second World War adventure in which a group of Allied prisoners of war conduct a daring escape by hijacking a freight train and fleeing through German-occupied Italy to Switzerland. But with the enemy in hot pursuit, there's no guarantee of a successful outcome.
Traveling by train from Beijing to Moscow, an American couple become embroiled in mystery and intrigue after they encounter a mysterious pair of fellow passengers. The frigid, snow-white landscape racing past outside adds a suitably chilling atmosphere.
Alcoholic divorcée Rachel (Emily Blunt) has taken to riding a train into New York City every day after losing her job. But what starts out as an aimless daily commute turns into a nightmare after she becomes entangled in a missing persons investigation.
'Wild Wild West' is based on a 1960's television series and features Will Smith and Kevin Kline as two special agents tasked with protecting the president. Much of the action takes place on board their custom-made train, The Wanderer. Salma Hayek, meanwhile, portrays the daughter of a kidnap victim.
A central theme running through Sergio Leone's epic Western is the progress made by the steam locomotive as construction of the transcontinental railroad across the nation leaves behind what was once the Old West. Otherwise, this cinematic masterpiece centers on a mysterious harmonica-playing stranger who teams up with a feared outlaw to protect a beautiful widow from a ruthless gunslinger working for the railroad.
This cherished British drama stars Jenny Agutter as one of three children who like to watch the trains and wave to passengers as the locomotives steam past their nearby house. One day the kids discover a landslide has blocked the tracks and must urgently warn an approaching train of the danger using red flags as emergency signals.
This hilarious laugh-a-minute thriller marked the first time Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder worked together, a pairing that gifted cinema with one of the most successful comedy acts in recent film history. In 'Silver Streak,' a murder on a Los Angeles-to-Chicago train journey threatens the lives of other passengers. To complicate matters, a wanted thief manages to board the train during a scheduled stop.
The money train hauls subway revenue deep under New York City. Two transit cops, played by Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson, patrol the subway on the hunt for a dangerous killer-arsonist known as the "Torch." Harrelson's character, however, is in deep debt to a gambling syndicate and comes up with the idea of robbing the train. The pair are later joined in pursuit of the Torch by new recruit Grace Santiago, played by Jennifer Lopez. Will the heist take place, and will the criminal be caught?
This poignant drama centers on a former British prisoner of war who learns that the Japanese secret police officer responsible for much of his ill treatment during the forced construction of the notorious Thai-Burma railway in the 1940s is still alive. He sets out on a train to confront him. Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, and Stellan Skarsgård star.
One of the earliest Westerns to come out of Hollywood, this silent drama focuses on a group of outlaws who stage a daring train holdup. But the villains haven't counted on the determined reaction of the locals, who pursue the bandits across hills and mountains. Despite only being 10-minutes long, 'The Great Train Robbery' is considered a milestone in filmmaking. Some historians believe director Edwin S. Porter was inspired by the 1900 robbery of the Union Pacific Railroad train by Butch Cassidy and his gang.
Speaking of which, there's a scene in 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' where Butch uses too much dynamite while attempting to blow up a safe and instead demolishes an entire rail car. This episode is also based on the infamous 1900 Union Pacific Railroad heist.
Bond movies have featured many train scenes. But the moment when Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux) saunters gracefully along the dining car to join 007 at the table in 'Spectre' is simply disarming.
A train features only briefly in 'The Fugitive,' but it's one of the most memorable scenes in the movie. After ploughing into the prison bus transporting Dr. Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) and other convicts to a correctional facility, the train derails, nearly crushing the fleeing Kimble. Later, US Marshal Sam Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones) inspects the damage.
Towards the end of 'Mission: Impossible,' Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) ends up clinging for life on a TGV train to Paris as it enters the Channel Tunnel. It's a thrilling set piece that sets the bar for subsequent action sequences in the Mission Impossible franchise.
The South Korean action horror film 'Train to Busan' mostly takes place on a high-speed train from Seoul to Busan. A zombie virus breaks out in the country and in time reaches passengers on board who must try and survive the terrifying journey as one by one they become infected.
Sources: (ABC News)
See also: Where to admire the world's most beautiful train stations
Liam Neeson is the commuter in question, a man who is unwittingly recruited into a murder conspiracy after meeting a mysterious woman while on his daily train journey home.
Waiting for a train, catching a train, stuck on a train, even robbing a train... there are all sorts of scenarios involving trains that filmmakers have woven into movie plots. Sometimes, the train itself is a central theme. Whether featuring a locomotive of old or the latest in rail service, films focusing on this mode of public transport number some of the most memorable in cinema history.
Click through and get on the right track with these movies featuring trains and railways.
The original 1957 film was always going to be a tough act to follow. Fortunately, James Mangold's remake starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale actually improves upon its predecessor, though it's faster, more cynical, and more brutal. The title refers to the departure time of the train that's set to deliver Crowe's outlaw character to justice in Yuma, Arizona.
Movies featuring trains and railways
May 13 is Train Day!
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Waiting for a train, catching a train, stuck on a train, even robbing a train... there are all sorts of scenarios involving trains that filmmakers have woven into movie plots. Sometimes, the train itself is a central theme. Whether featuring a locomotive of old or the latest in rail service, films focusing on this mode of public transport number some of the most memorable in cinema history.
Click through and get on the right track with these movies featuring trains and railways.