40 Fun Facts About Runaway Train

In which US state does Runaway Train unfold, as two escaped convicts hurtle through frozen wilderness?

Alaska supplied the real thing too: a second unit filmed the bridge sequence on the state's own rail line, a few miles outside the port town of Whittier.

Which actor, the father of Angelina Jolie, plays the hardened convict Manny in Runaway Train?

Jon Voight won a Golden Globe for the part and an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. He had already taken that Oscar seven years earlier for Coming Home.

Which 1994 action hit did Graham Yost write after his father described the plot of Runaway Train?

Speed grew out of a mix-up: Yost's father wrongly believed a bomb kept the locomotives racing. Yost liked the idea better than the truth and moved it onto a bus.

Which Japanese filmmaker wrote the 1960s script behind Runaway Train, planning it as his first colour film?

Akira Kurosawa meant to shoot it in America in 1966, but the plan collapsed and the script sat unfilmed for almost two decades. A new team then reworked it loosely.

Which tough-guy actor made his film debut in Runaway Train after visiting the set as a drug counsellor?

Danny Trejo came to help a young crew member, was offered work as an extra, and ended up coaching the film's young co-star in boxing. He appears on screen as a boxer.

Which actor, who named his 2024 memoir after the film, plays young convict Buck in Runaway Train?

Eric Roberts earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor as the brash young escapee. It was also his third Golden Globe nod, after King of the Gypsies and Star 80.

Which actress, known for Risky Business, plays Sara, the rail worker trapped aboard in Runaway Train?

Rebecca De Mornay called it her first real action-oriented picture. She wanted a part built on physical acting, including scenes walking across the top of the locomotives.

How does Manny spare his two companions at the climax of Runaway Train, while staying aboard himself?

Manny uncouples the lead engine, leaving the other three locomotives to coast to a stop. He rides on alone into the storm, choosing death over a return to prison.

Which Chicago film critic awarded Runaway Train a full four stars, praising its stunning action scenes?

Roger Ebert found the prison opening well made but routine. For him the genius arrived once the train was moving, in the clash between a wild young convict and a cooler, smarter one.

What kind of criminal is Manny, the convict idolised by his fellow inmates in Runaway Train?

A bank robber and a hero to the other prisoners, Manny has already tried to break out twice. Those attempts earned him three years in solitary confinement.

What happens to Al, the elderly engineer in Runaway Train, moments after he starts the locomotives?

He has a heart attack and falls dead from the cab. His last grab at the brakes disables the dead man's switch without cutting the throttle, so the train keeps gathering pace.

Runaway Train closes with an on-screen quotation from which Shakespeare play about a murderous English king?

Richard III supplies the closing words, an exchange about pity in which Richard claims to feel none at all. They follow Manny's choice of death over a return to prison.

By what route do Manny and his young partner break out of prison at the start of Runaway Train?

A sewer tunnel gets the pair out, and they then hike through the cold to a switchyard. There they steal work clothes and climb aboard a set of four locomotives.

What is the name of the cruel prison warden who pursues Manny by air in Runaway Train?

Ranken is played by John P. Ryan, and the role became one of the character actor's best-known parts. His hatred of Manny finally puts him aboard the train himself.

In Runaway Train, what tells the dispatchers that somebody is still aboard the driverless locomotives?

The horn blows just as the dispatchers are about to derail the train on purpose, so the plan is called off. The blast comes from Sara, a rail worker the convicts had not spotted.

Which hazard on the main line makes the dispatchers in Runaway Train send the locomotives down a dead-end branch?

A chemical plant sits beside a tight curve that the train is going far too fast to take. Diverting it means a wreck that would kill only the three people on board.

Which part of Manny's body is stabbed in prison and crushed again during his leap in Runaway Train?

His hand is stabbed before the breakout, which forces him to move the escape to midwinter. It is crushed again when he slips while jumping between locomotives.

Which 1980s studio, run by cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, produced Runaway Train?

Cannon Films was far better known for cheap action hits such as Missing in Action and American Ninja. This was one of its rare Oscar-nominated pictures.

Which Russian director, who later made Tango & Cash, was behind the camera on Runaway Train?

Andrei Konchalovsky comes from a film-making family: his younger brother Nikita Mikhalkov directed Burnt by the Sun, which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

In which state is the old Deer Lodge prison where the jail scenes of Runaway Train were filmed?

Montana's old state prison in Deer Lodge had closed as a working jail only six years before the cameras arrived. The rail-yard scenes were shot nearby in Anaconda.

In which California prison had a Runaway Train screenwriter and a debuting cast member both served time?

San Quentin was where the two men had been locked up together. Years later the writer recognised his old acquaintance on set and helped him land a small role and a job as a boxing coach.

Runaway Train earned two acting Oscar nominations and a third in which craft category?

Film Editing brought a nomination for Henry Richardson, who cut five films for the same director. He had recently worked on two James Bond adventures as well.

Which actor beat the star of Runaway Train to the Best Actor Oscar, winning for Kiss of the Spider Woman?

William Hurt won for playing Luis Molina. The man he beat had better luck at the Golden Globes, where he was named Best Actor in a Drama for his convict role.

At which film festival did Runaway Train compete in 1986, the year The Mission took the top prize?

Cannes put the thriller in its main competition, where the jury that year was led by the American filmmaker Sydney Pollack. The top prize is the Palme d'Or.

Which film beat Runaway Train to the Golden Globe for Best Drama, then won Best Picture at the Oscars?

Out of Africa took the Globe and went on to win seven Oscars. The locomotive thriller still left the Globes with one win, for its leading man.

Which Baroque composer's Gloria is heard in Runaway Train, sung by a Russian chorus?

Antonio Vivaldi wrote at least three settings of the Gloria, and one of them is lost. The film credits its performance to the USSR Academic Russian Chorus.

Which ex-convict novelist co-wrote Runaway Train and later played Mr. Blue in Reservoir Dogs?

Edward Bunker also takes a small part in the film as a convict named Jonah. He had published his first novel while he was still behind bars.

Which future star of Friday, famous as the bully Deebo, made his film debut as a guard in Runaway Train?

Tiny Lister played a security guard named Jackson in his first feature. He went on to wrestle Hulk Hogan and to play the president in The Fifth Element.

What does the driverless train smash through in Runaway Train as a freight pulls onto a siding?

A caboose and a flatbed at the tail of the freight are destroyed. The crash also jams a door on the second locomotive, cutting off the only way forward to the controls.

What forces the warden to release Manny from three years of solitary confinement in Runaway Train?

A court order compels the warden to let him out against his will. Manny at once begins planning a third breakout.

Which photo-led American magazine ran the 1963 article that inspired the original script of Runaway Train?

Life printed Warren Young's article, and the Japanese director who read it thought it would make a good film. He proposed shooting it as an international co-production.

After Runaway Train was shelved in 1967, its Japanese writer signed on to which Pearl Harbor epic?

Tora! Tora! Tora! went no better for him: after long preparation of its Japanese half, he was replaced within weeks of the start of shooting.

What did the Japanese owners of the Runaway Train script ask Francis Ford Coppola to do in 1982?

They wanted him to recommend a director, and he and his producer Tom Luddy suggested a Russian filmmaker who was then living in the United States.

Where does Manny stand in the last moments of Runaway Train, his arms stretched wide in the snow?

On the roof of the locomotive, Manny opens his arms to the storm, embracing both his freedom and his coming death. Back in their cells, his fellow inmates mourn him.

Runaway Train is dedicated to Rick Holley, who was killed doing which job during the production?

Helicopter pilot Rick Holley died when his aircraft struck a power line on the way to a filming location. The closing credits carry the dedication to his memory.

What is the name of the maximum-security prison that Manny escapes at the start of Runaway Train?

Stonehaven is invented, but its scenes drew on experience: one of the screenwriters was a former convict, and so was a newcomer in the cast.

Which future NYPD Blue star turns up uncredited as a cop in Runaway Train?

Dennis Franz was typecast as policemen early on. By his own count, Andy Sipowicz of NYPD Blue was his 28th role as a police officer.

What does Manny do to the warden after overpowering him aboard the locomotive in Runaway Train?

Manny handcuffs him inside the cab so that the two enemies will meet the end together. The frightened warden demands that he stop the train, and Manny refuses.

Which Pulitzer-winning playwright and author of The Pigman shares the screenplay credit on Runaway Train?

Paul Zindel won the 1971 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds. In Hollywood he also wrote the screenplays for Mame and Up the Sandbox.

Which composer, who later scored The Last of the Mohicans, wrote the music for Runaway Train?

Trevor Jones was born in Cape Town and has worked mostly in Britain. His other scores include The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth and Mississippi Burning.