{"id":14882,"date":"2016-12-06T01:50:16","date_gmt":"2016-12-06T06:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=14882"},"modified":"2016-12-06T01:50:16","modified_gmt":"2016-12-06T06:50:16","slug":"br-runaway-train-1985","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=14882","title":{"rendered":"BR: Runaway Train (1985)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RunawayTrain_BR\"Film<\/strong>:\u00a0Excellent<\/p>\n

Transfer<\/strong>: Excellent<\/p>\n

Extras<\/strong>: Excellent<\/p>\n

Label:\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Twilight Time<\/p>\n

Region:<\/strong>\u00a0All<\/p>\n

Released:<\/strong> October 11, 2016<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong>\u00a0Drama \/ Action<\/p>\n

Synopsis:<\/strong>\u00a0Two escaped convicts become trapped on a runaway train in ice cold Alaska.<\/p>\n

Special Features:<\/strong>\u00a0 Audio commentary with actor Eric Roberts and film historians David Del Valle and Courtney C. Joyner \/ Isolated Stereo Music Track \/ Theatrical Trailer \/ 8-page colour booklet with liner notes by film historian Julie Kirgo \/ Limited to 3000 copies \/ Available exclusively from Screen Archives Entertainment<\/a> and www.twilighttimemovies.com<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Runaway Train<\/strong> is a perfect action-drama, and perhaps the best film produced and released by Cannon Films, a company that succeeded due to its emphasis on neatly packaged B-flicks for the international exploitation market.<\/p>\n

The lore surrounding its origins is no les impressive: Akira Kurosawa had reportedly set up a four-film deal with indie producer \/ impresario Joseph E. Levine in 1965, with Lee Marvin and Henry Fonda cast in the main roles of two convicts on the run after breaking out of a brutal prison, but the planned shoot in upstate New York never happened, leaving the 300 page script on the shelf until it somehow made its way to Cannon and director Andrei Konchalovsky.<\/p>\n

Three writers took a crack at the script – Djordje Milicevic, who penned the WWII POW soccer drama Victory<\/strong> (1981); playwright Paul Zindel, who wrote Konchalovsky\u2019s drama Maria\u2019s Lovers <\/strong>(1984); and Edward Bunker, a former convict at Folsom who wrote of his experiences in the novel and screenplay Straight Time <\/strong>(1978) \u2013 but it was Bunker who knocked Kurosawa\u2019s epic tome down to 90 pages, and added his own prison details to create the vivid backstory for felons Manny (Jon Voight) and boxer Buck (Eric Roberts).<\/p>\n

The first half hour introduces the two men and the horrible living conditions at an Alaskan penitentiary, Buck\u2019s boxing strengths in the ring (battling the great Danny Trejo, in his first film), the pair\u2019s late night escape, and the loathsome Warden Ranken (John P. Ryan), who kept Manny literally welded in his cell for three years because the convict was \u2018less than an animal.\u2019<\/p>\n

Once the pair hop onto a train, the movie\u2019s real action and disaster components shift into gear, as does the first score cues, which give scenes of the train in motion extra punch. The leanness of the story also makes this an uncluttered drama that allows the relationship between Manny and Buck to deepen with many intimate moments of solemnity, or pure violent rage. When train worker Sara (Rebecca De Mornay) enters the scene, things become more emotionally explosive.<\/p>\n

The script smartly dispenses with any sexual tension within the first minutes of Sara\u2019s first scenes, making her part of a desperate trio who must use wits to survive, but also enmeshed in the complex relationship of raging Manny and immature Buck.<\/p>\n

Manny doles out both cruelty and hard, sage advice to Buck \u2013 Voight\u2019s monologue on getting a job cleaning bathrooms is one of his finest screen moments \u2013 and their scenes of desperation are contrasted with the far off train technicians trying to prevent a disaster as new computer technology and proactive strategies prove useless, and Ranken\u2019s gleeful helicopter hunt (\u2018Let\u2019s have some fun!\u2019) as the train starts to pass through mountain tunnels and ultimately heads for a dead end track.<\/p>\n

Fans of Tony Scott\u2019s Unstoppable<\/a><\/strong> (2010) will find more than a few parallels in Runaway Train<\/strong> – the interlocked machine is treated as a living beast gone awry; also potent is the hopelessness felt by technicians, dispatchers, and the police, and the unavoidable disaster as the train is headed for a turn besides a chemical factory that it can\u2019t make at 90 mph; and attempts to derail and send a man to stop the train via helicopter and ladder prove futile \u2013 but this is a film in which a co-star of equal stature as Voight and Ryan is the beastly daisy-chained four locomotives.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s first appearance, emerging from a wispy, wintry morning mist, ignites Trevor Jones\u2019 first full cue, which instantly characterizes the train as a cranky, temperamental, stubborn son of a bitch.<\/p>\n

Like Unstoppable<\/strong>, with the exception of models used in exceptional crash sequences, what\u2019s shown are real trains, and the beast is gradually transformed into a mangled hulk of doom, with the vestiges of a head-on crash dangling from the busted-up first engine.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a mythic tale of two opposites who finally meet head-on in a choreographed moment of beautiful madness, with former prisoner Manny exacting sweet revenge on chief tormentor Ranken, which Konchalovsky and cinematographer Alan Hume capture in one of the most memorable final shots in Film. Scored with elegiac chorals from Vivaldi\u2019s \u201cGloria in D Major,\u201d it\u2019s a fitting finale to a tale that\u2019s propelled by operatic dramatic beats as two foes taunt each other with increasingly somber, futile bravado.<\/p>\n

The stunning quality of Runaway Train<\/strong> shocked Cannon\u2019s Menachem Golan and Yoram Globus, and the Go-Go Boys ordered offices to focus on promoting their unintended A-level drama to audiences, critics, and the Oscar\u2019s voting body, which ultimately bestowed the film with three nominations for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Voight, Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Roberts, and Best Film Editing for Henry Richardson\u2019s brilliant invisible cuts.<\/p>\n

31 years since its release, Runaway Train <\/strong>just keeps aging into a finer drama, with intense action scenes and the dynamic relationship between two losers and a sadistic warden. De Mornay\u2019s also strong in a wholly unglamorous role, which perhaps enabled her to be cast as a pilot in the underrated cable TV drama By Dawn\u2019s Early Light<\/strong>, directed by Jack Sholder (The Hidden<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

The film also showcases one of Roberts\u2019 and Voight\u2019s best performances, as well as Ryan, who manages to add depth to a character lesser actors could\u2019ve played as a straight sadist. Ranken is a monster, but he knows when to be civil, when to boast, and when to beat the crap out of a weasel in the privacy of a washroom, recompose himself, and pat his victim on the shoulder afterwards in a condescending sign of faux\u00a0 respect (as happens to a mouthy train technician).<\/p>\n

Jones\u2019 score, isolated on Twilight Time\u2019s lovely Blu-ray, is the one element that\u2019s dated, and yet the\u00a0thick electronica manages to accent desperation with the composer\u2019s patented use of sustained bass drones, female voice, and Japanese flute, and adrenalize already kinetic sequences as the trio of trapped characters attempt to shut down the train by themselves.<\/p>\n

TT\u2019s disc also includes a newly recorded commentary track with film historians David Del Valle and C. Courtney Joyner, both of whom served time at Cannon, and provide insight into the company\u2019s colourful history and peak years; and co-star Roberts, who recounts working with the film\u2019s director, co-stars and supporting actors (including Kenneth McMillan, Tommy \u2018Tiny\u2019 Lister), and performing some stunts.<\/p>\n

The HD transfer is very crisp, and showcases the slightly grainy, desaturated look which gives the film a loose documentary veneer, and the original Dolby 2.0 stereo mix is very punchy.<\/p>\n

Julie Kirgo\u2019s essay adds some backstory to the former Kurosawa project, and rightly praises a movie that in Cannon\u2019s eyes began as a straight action flick, but due to the sublime talent involved, became a remarkable classic. (It\u2019s also stated in the commentary that because Konchalovsky had made a prior film for the Go-Go Boys, he knew their mandate was to deliver a neatly packaged product; all Konchalovsky or any director had to do was fulfill those core obligations, and the boys would pretty much leave him\u00a0alone to make his\u00a0film.)<\/p>\n

Britain\u2019s Arrow Films released their own special edition in 2013 (now very OOP) which contains separate interview featurettes with Roberts, Voight, actor Kyle T. Heffner, and director Konchalovsky, plus a trailer commentary (!) with Rod Lurie.<\/p>\n

Konchalovsky\u2019s career also benefitted from his association with Cannon, as the Russian director made four films that stand out from Cannon\u2019s standard action fodder: Maria\u2019s Lovers<\/strong> (1984), Runaway Train<\/strong> (1985), Duet for One<\/strong> (1986), and Shy Peopl<\/strong>e (1987).<\/p>\n

The history of Cannon films was documented in two films: Electric Boogaloo \u2013 The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films<\/a> <\/strong>(2014), in which Del Valle appears, and The Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films<\/strong> (2014).<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2016 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

External References:<\/strong>
\nEditor’s Blog<\/a> — IMDB<\/a> \u00a0— \u00a0Soundtrack Album<\/a> — Soundtrack CD Review<\/a> — Composer Filmography<\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nVendor Search Links:<\/strong>
\nAmazon.ca<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Runaway Train is a perfect action-drama, and perhaps the best film produced and released by Cannon Films, a company that succeeded due to its emphasis on neatly packaged B-flicks for the international exploitation market…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[4828,4825,4829,4830,4826,4827,4824,1245],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-3S2","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14882"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14882"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14894,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14882\/revisions\/14894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}