RUNAWAY TRAIN: Existential Disaster

RUNAWAY TRAIN (1985)

Starring Jon Voight, Eric Roberts, Rebecca De Mornay, John P. Ryan, Kyle T. Heffner, T.K. Carter, Kenneth McMillan. Directed by Andei Konchalovsky. 110 min.

Essay by D.M. ANDERSON💀

If this were made a decade earlier, some stoic stud like Charlton Heston would be airdropped onto the train in order to save an all-star supporting cast from certain death. There’d probably be an Oscar-baiting song thrown in there somewhere, too.

But Runaway Train isn’t a traditional disaster film. It’s adapted from an unproduced screenplay by none other than Akira Kurosawa, who conceived the project in the 1960s but later gave up trying to get it made. Exactly how much of his original vision remains in the final film is questionable, but if there is such a thing as an existential disaster movie, Runaway Train fits the bill. 

Jon Voight plays Oscar "Manny" Manheim, a career convict who manages to escape from an Alaska maximum security prison with dumbell boxer Buck McGeehy (Eric Roberts) in tow. The two hop aboard the second engine of a freight train, but after the conductor suffers a heart attack and dies, they become helpless passengers as it picks up speed. Also on-board is Sara (Rebecca De Mornay), a railroad worker who had fallen asleep in the second engine.

Those in charge at central dispatch, who come across as obnoxious, bumbling fools, fail to stop the train’s momentum (even attempting to derail it despite being aware people are on-board). Meanwhile, sadistic prison warden Rankin (John P. Ryan), obsessed with tracking and killing Manny, relentlessly pursues the train and doesn’t care who he has to step over (or sacrifice) to get there.

The film features some brilliantly-executed action sequences and stunts, including a couple of attempts to airdrop a man onto the engine from a helicopter (one of which fails spectacularly), as well as the lead locomotive plowing through the hapless caboose of another train that was unable to switch tracks in time. Scenes of the runaway speeding through the freezing, foreboding Alaskan tundra are not-only aesthetically beautiful, they tend to underscore the overall tone. 

When you forget your boarding pass, but still need to get to work on time.

Runaway Train is a dark and intense film that has more on its mind than destruction and spectacle. For much of the film, nearly every character is morally ambiguous at best. The one exception might be Sara, a hostage/ally who bridges the gap between Manny’s hardened cynicism and Buck’s brash naivete. Through these three, the story progresses from a standard action thriller to one which questions its main characters’ values and ideas of what freedom actually means.

However, the film isn’t without its drawbacks. There’s a lot of tremendous overacting on display, starting with its star. I know Voight earned an Oscar nomination for this (as did Roberts), but his performance borders on cartoonish and he often sounds like the Cowardly Lion from The Wizard of Oz (I half-expected him to raise his dukes and shout “Put ‘em uuup”). As antagonist Warden Rankin, Ryan is strictly one-note, perpetually grinning behind a dastardly mustache that evokes memories of Snidely Whiplash. Elsewhere, everyone at central dispatch practically scream all their dialogue.

Speaking of which…while the dialogue is frequently thought provoking, it’s just-as-often really clunky, such as early scenes that could’ve been lifted from damn near any prison film from 1940s (updated with f-bombs and stick-it-to-the-man attaboys for Manny, who’s beloved by every inmate). Later, Manny’s lecture to Buck about reality for prison escapees  - cleaning toilets for a living - quickly escalates into comedy gold, exacerbated by Voight’s bug-eyed pantomiming.

Conversely though, Roberts is actually really good in his role, which might be a surprise to those who only know him from his later bargain bin debacles. But back in ‘85, he was still flirting with respectability, maybe even stardom. He effectively embodies Buck, who is, by turns, stupid, offensive, pathetic, heroic, and in the end, the most likable guy in the movie. It takes a hell of a lot of skill to pull that off.

In addition to Oscar nods, Runaway Train was critically well received, but bombed at the box office and has largely been forgotten. Perhaps it was too thematically ambitious for moviegoers expecting another action-packed ‘80s crowd pleaser. Too bad, really, because it’s one of those films that sticks with you after the end-credits roll. The haunting final scene is narratively perfect, suggesting there’s victory (and freedom) in death when it’s on your own terms, which is probably one of the aspects of Kurosawa’s original screenplay that remains intact.