Railroads In The Movies, Part II

[CNJGeep]

The newly released movie "Public Enemies" starring Johnny Depp, according to the Local NBC News entertainment reporter, has footage shot at Chicago Union Station. A very short clip showed a steam locomotive which was either file footage or possibly was #261 operating out of CUS.

I guess for those here who actually go to theatres and even thoue who buy DVD's will be able to report sooner than I, as I will "just have to wait" until the flock hits either HoBO or Starz.

It's a closeup of the valve gear coming in to the station, then the shot from the ads. Nothing much.

[atsf sp]

The Unborn has multiple shots and a ride on the CTA.

[deandremouse]

The Unborn has multiple shots and a ride on the CTA.

Tyler Perrys Meet The Browns does too in the beggining.

[Gilbert B Norman]

Suffice to say a "mid 50's" production isn't going to have much "explicit" as the title suggests, but "Love in the Afternoon" does offer some authentic "departure" scenes from Paris Gare du Nord again circa mid-50's (been there done that myself during that era), This is in contrast to "Casablanca' when Bogey departs same without Ingrid - standing on the steps of a US heavyweight Pullman.

But if you like cliche ridden flicks with a touch of "will girl get boy" suspense (have a hankie handy), then there might be some artistic merit to it all within the first 128 of its 130 minutes.

[railfan365]

Does anyone else in the group remember that 1981's Nighthawks had a couple of scenes of Sylvester Stallone and Billy Dee Williams chasing bad guys in R-9 subway trains?

In a reference to bloopers on TV, I've read that on an early episode of Bewitched, Darren's mother was riding on a train and whe Endora made magical things happen, Mrs. Stephens kept fraking out and pulling the emergency brake. The blooper was that long shots showed the train being pulled by a pair of F body diesel locomotives, and when the emergency was pulled, close ups showed the big drivers of a steam locomotive.

[David Benton]

just watched "transsiberian" . While the whole movie is shot on the train , and gives a good idea of what i imagine travelling on the transsiberian must be like , The outside shots are all of a diesel hauled train . whereas the transsiberian is electric hauled train .
still i would reccomend it ., bot form a railroad and a good movie points of view .

[Gilbert B Norman]

TCM aired "Five Fingers" last evening. I saw about half of it; wish i saw the whole thing.

Nevertheless there is on location footage of a Wagon Lit train traveling from Ankara to Istanbul. Even the stage sets depicting the interior of a Wagon Lit appear authentic - namely that W-L compartment doors open OUTWARD rather than the usual inward.

Unlike other movie channels, TCM does not repeatedly air the same movie "ad infinitum, ad nauseaum"; maybe it will come up again in the reasonable future.

[JLJ061]

I'm surprised nobody has brought up the late 1980's Vice Versa with Judge Reinhold and Fred Savage.

There is a brief scene of them entering Chicago Union Station (but they have to board the train way out at Amtrak's 14th Street Yard!). Reinhold goes up to a conductor, flashes a "badge" yelling, "Calhoun, Chicago Vice!"

[2nd trick op]

We caught the 1994 film Legends of the Fall on Bravo last night and it featured a very accurate depiction of a local or "accomodation" passenger train c.1915. While lettered for Northern Pacific, the loco appeared to be one of the former Mississippian Railway 2-8-0's, complete to the "coonskin" number plates applied by former owner St. Louis-San Francisco.

At least one of those engines was overhauled and reactivated c.1986, so the time frame would apppear to be consistent. Wonder if anyone can supply further details on the filming, locale, etc?

[Steve F45]

The movie "Tough Guys" with kirk douglas and burt lancaster. Was that all genuine SP equipment at the last 1/4 of the movie? And the scene of the steamer breaking thru to mexico, im going to guess it was model based and not the real thing, correct?

[Aa3rt]

Steve, We discussed "Tough Guys" in the first couple of posts in the original, now locked "Railroads in the Movies" thread. You're correct, the wreck scene was filmed using scale models. "Railfan & Railroad" carried an article on the making of Tough Guys a number of years ago, complete with photos of the models and a full-size plywood mockup of the locomotive.

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... =22&t=1676

[kaitoku]

The newly released movie "Public Enemies" starring Johnny Depp, according to the Local NBC News entertainment reporter, has footage shot at Chicago Union Station. A very short clip showed a steam locomotive which was either file footage or possibly was #261 operating out of CUS.

I guess for those here who actually go to theatres and even thoue who buy DVD's will be able to report sooner than I, as I will "just have to wait" until the flock hits either HoBO or Starz.

It's a closeup of the valve gear coming in to the station, then the shot from the ads. Nothing much.

Later in the movie, when John Dillinger is discussing a train robbery job with associates from a rooftop, UP 844 is visible from a distance.

[Gilbert B Norman]

The 2008 movie "Body of Lies" now making rounds on the various HoBO channels contains a scene of a terrorist bombing in Manchester UK. It seems like the Constables are getting ready to render their 'stop in the name of the Queen'....and in the background passes an Amfleet equipped Regional train.

Guess British Rail has some Amfleets on the roster (modified of course for British Isles loading gauges)

Oh well, that's Hollywood; anyone here registered with IMDB care to report that as a "goof"?

[3rdrail]

Art, are we including subway here ? If so (& I guess, if not) probably the best subway film ever is "The Incident". A couple of thugs board a NYC subway train and terrorize it's passengers. The entire movie takes place inside a car. If you haven't seen this one, by all means do so. It's available now on DVD.

[David Benton]

The "Darjeeling limited" is set on a train in India . Perhaps the "extras" , behind the scenes stuff on the dvd contains the most items of railway interest .
the film itslef , I found dissappointing .