Railroad Forums 

  • Railroads In The Movies, Part II

  • Discussion related to railroads/trains that show up in TV shows, commercials, movies, literature (books, poems and more), songs, the Internet, and more... Also includes discussion of well-known figures in the railroad industry or the rail enthusiast hobby.
Discussion related to railroads/trains that show up in TV shows, commercials, movies, literature (books, poems and more), songs, the Internet, and more... Also includes discussion of well-known figures in the railroad industry or the rail enthusiast hobby.

Moderator: Aa3rt

 #1195485  by vingong
 
I just came across this one, appears to be relatively new. "Big Easy Express" is a documentary about three bands, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Old Crow Medicine Show, and Mumford &Sons, taking their tour on a train, from San Francisco to New Orleans. Sounds like a great idea!

http://www.bigeasyexpress.com/index.html
 #1201932  by Gilbert B Norman
 
An 'Art Noir' (released at Cannes during Y2K) film with big name actors but otherwise 'low-bud' has authentic footage of New York subways taken in Queens. Additionally, there is both footage taken in an NYCTA heavy repair shop as well as LIRR Greenpoint yards.

Both the NYCTA and the LIRR took production credit; surprising since one scene depicts the murder of a uniformed TA employee.

A good film that is presently making rounds at various Starz channels.

The Yards
 #1202180  by 3rdrail
 
Gilbert B Norman wrote:
Both the NYCTA and the LIRR took production credit; surprising since one scene depicts the murder of a uniformed TA employee.



The Yards
I wasn't so surprised about the murder as I was about the films apparent theme of corruption in shops, as advertised on the link's banner. Some institutions are very picky about what a film denotes, some are very not, although as far as NY is concerned, the TA would not allow one of my favorite movies, 1967's "The Incident" to allow even audio taping of subway sounds for the movie crew. I guess that even they have loosened up their standards.
 #1211120  by Gilbert B Norman
 
I was unable to find any rail footage value in this flick that was aired today on the Chicago PBS outlet; WttW.

Middletown CT on the New Haven was passed off as 'Metcalf' . Funny how the train arrived with a consist of New Haven 8200's yet one of the actors got off a set resembling somebody's heavyweight Coach.

Other rail footage, including Hitchcock's cameo, showed an interior of an SP 'Daylight' Obs - traveling NY-Wash.

All told, I couldn't even get into the plot - a waste of this retiree's (HAHA :-D :-D ) time.
 #1255176  by NoahDaBoa
 
Which Way Home

a documentary about unaccompanied, child immigrants from Central America taking Mexican freight trains to the border. At least half of the movie has shots of riding on top of freight trains :D
 #1255188  by 4400Washboard
 
Beginning of James Bond skyfall has an rr and the london tubes. Not sure if mentioned previously in this thread or not...

TJ
 #1287029  by Death Star
 
There wa a movie in the late 90's/early 2000s using BC Rail MLW widecabs and no, this is not Atomic Train I am thinking of, nor did the movie make use of Atomic Train footage. It is another movie. Saw a clip of the derailment scene in a movie train wreck compilation thing on YouTube. Does anyone know of the title I am thinking of? Seems like Hollywood liked to use BC Rail MLW widecabs in the late 90's for train wrecks.
 #1292409  by NoahDaBoa
 
NoahDaBoa wrote:Which Way Home

a documentary about unaccompanied, child immigrants from Central America taking Mexican freight trains to the border. At least half of the movie has shots of riding on top of freight trains :D
There's also a great documentary called "Surfing Soweto" about South African train surfers and the subculture that they created in Soweto. There's some lame poetry and it's long, but it has some dare devil train surfing and the ending touches your heart a bit. The main character's nickname is Bitchnigga haha.
 #1449678  by stevej
 
G'day,
Yes, Human Desire, staring Glenn Ford as an engineer caught in a love triangle, produced in 1954.
While the plot is a tad normal, the railroad sequences are of interest.
Though, some editorial licence is employed in some of the railroad sequences.
No credit is offered as to the actual railroad providing the equipment.
F units runbys spliced in with FA units.
One does wonder just why the lead FA unit is detached to run to the roundhouse leaving the train sitting on the platform with a B unit.
Probably to provide some railroad flavour.
And, yes some of the cab locomotive operation sequences are not quite correct.
Regardless, still an interesting move featuring railroad operations.
Stevej.
 #1449779  by stevej
 
G'day again,
Many people would have heard of the Buster Keaton films featuring railroads, The General and Railrodder, but I wonder how many have seen his Our Hospitality.
Filmed in 1923, the story line features a feud over an inheritance.
The train sequences for his journey to Trenton are superb Keaton humour.
The train depicted is the DeWitt Clinton however, the Rocket replica was used as motive power.
I presume that the Rocket would have been more famous.
Well worth viewing just for the railroad sequences and stunts.
Another black and white film that comes to mind is Union Station.
There are snippets from this film available at You Tube.
Sadly, I have not seen the full feature film for many years.
One of the best Aussie films featuring trains is A Steam Train Passes.
This 1970s film features steam locomotive 3801 of the NSWR.
Commencing from lighting up at Enfield roundhouse, most sequences were shot on the Central West of NSW.
The film definitely evokes the steam era lore of the NSWR.
stevej.
 #1457930  by mohawkrailfan
 
I recently watched a very mediocre horror movie entitled "A Dark Song" on Netflix.

It has one piece of notable railroad trivia, however. The movie takes place in Wales, but was partly shot in Ireland. In one scene characters sit in what is clearly Bray Station, with DART trains passing by, but the departure monitor shows trains to London and Holyhead.
 #1575589  by Launcher
 
In Ferdinand the Bull, the characters are trying to catch a train from Madrid to Seville. When they are heavily pursued they end up hopping on a freight car in the yard instead.
 #1575650  by kitchin
 
stevej wrote: Tue Nov 07, 2017 3:18 am G'day,
Yes, Human Desire, staring Glenn Ford as an engineer caught in a love triangle, produced in 1954.
While the plot is a tad normal, the railroad sequences are of interest.
Though, some editorial licence is employed in some of the railroad sequences.
No credit is offered as to the actual railroad providing the equipment.
F units runbys spliced in with FA units.
One does wonder just why the lead FA unit is detached to run to the roundhouse leaving the train sitting on the platform with a B unit.
Probably to provide some railroad flavour.
And, yes some of the cab locomotive operation sequences are not quite correct.
Regardless, still an interesting move featuring railroad operations.
Stevej.
Not one of Fritz Lang's best pictures, and the nineteenth century French novel had a better title: The Human Beast. Or, as a German adaptation had it, The Beast within Man. Lang's title was more appropriate to an era full of melodramatic movie titles. For high class films anyway - Human Beast would have been fine for pulp!

Of course the beast wasn't all human, he also had a powerful locomotive. The most noble beastly train movie has got to be Jon Voigt in Runaway Train.
  • 1
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12