Runaway Train
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40 free Runaway Train trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Runaway Train is one of the great overlooked thrillers of the 1980s. Two convicts break out of a brutal northern prison in the dead of winter and climb aboard a set of locomotives, only to find that nobody is driving. What follows is part chase film, part character study, with a vengeful warden closing in and nowhere to jump. This quiz covers the whole ride: the escape, the people trapped on board, the choices the dispatchers face and the unforgettable ending. It also goes behind the scenes, to the famous script that waited decades to be filmed, the cast and the first-timers among them, the snowbound shoot, the music and the awards season that followed. It is written for fans who have seen the film more than once, but the clues in each question give newcomers a fair chance too. Every answer comes with a short explanation.
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Q 01In which US state does Runaway Train unfold, as two escaped convicts hurtle through frozen wilderness?
Alaska
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.
Q 02Which actor, the father of Angelina Jolie, plays the hardened convict Manny in Runaway Train?
Jon Voight
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.
Q 03Which 1994 action hit did Graham Yost write after his father described the plot of Runaway Train?
Speed
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.
Q 04Which Japanese filmmaker wrote the 1960s script behind Runaway Train, planning it as his first colour film?
Akira Kurosawa
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.
Q 05Which tough-guy actor made his film debut in Runaway Train after visiting the set as a drug counsellor?
Danny Trejo
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.
Q 06Which actor, who named his 2024 memoir after the film, plays young convict Buck in Runaway Train?
Eric Roberts
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.
Q 07Which actress, known for Risky Business, plays Sara, the rail worker trapped aboard in Runaway Train?
Rebecca De Mornay
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.
Q 08How does Manny spare his two companions at the climax of Runaway Train, while staying aboard himself?
Uncouples the lead engine
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.
Q 09Which Chicago film critic awarded Runaway Train a full four stars, praising its stunning action scenes?
Roger Ebert
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.
Q 10What kind of criminal is Manny, the convict idolised by his fellow inmates in Runaway Train?
Bank robber
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.
Q 11What happens to Al, the elderly engineer in Runaway Train, moments after he starts the locomotives?
He has a heart attack
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.
Q 12Runaway Train closes with an on-screen quotation from which Shakespeare play about a murderous English king?
Richard III
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.
Q 13By what route do Manny and his young partner break out of prison at the start of Runaway Train?
Q 21In which California prison had a Runaway Train screenwriter and a debuting cast member both served time?
San Quentin
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.
Q 22Runaway Train earned two acting Oscar nominations and a third in which craft category?
Film Editing
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.
Q 23Which actor beat the star of Runaway Train to the Best Actor Oscar, winning for Kiss of the Spider Woman?
William Hurt
A sewer tunnel
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.
Q 14What is the name of the cruel prison warden who pursues Manny by air in Runaway Train?
Ranken
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.
Q 15In Runaway Train, what tells the dispatchers that somebody is still aboard the driverless locomotives?
The horn blows
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.
Q 16Which hazard on the main line makes the dispatchers in Runaway Train send the locomotives down a dead-end branch?
A chemical plant
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.
Q 17Which part of Manny's body is stabbed in prison and crushed again during his leap in Runaway Train?
His hand
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.
Q 18Which 1980s studio, run by cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, produced Runaway Train?
Cannon Films
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.
Q 19Which Russian director, who later made Tango & Cash, was behind the camera on Runaway Train?
Andrei Konchalovsky
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.
Q 20In which state is the old Deer Lodge prison where the jail scenes of Runaway Train were filmed?
Montana
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.
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.
Q 24At which film festival did Runaway Train compete in 1986, the year The Mission took the top prize?
Cannes
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.
Q 25Which film beat Runaway Train to the Golden Globe for Best Drama, then won Best Picture at the Oscars?
Out of Africa
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.
Q 26Which Baroque composer's Gloria is heard in Runaway Train, sung by a Russian chorus?
Antonio Vivaldi
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.
Q 27Which ex-convict novelist co-wrote Runaway Train and later played Mr. Blue in Reservoir Dogs?
Edward Bunker
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.
Q 28Which future star of Friday, famous as the bully Deebo, made his film debut as a guard in Runaway Train?
Tiny Lister
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.
Q 29What does the driverless train smash through in Runaway Train as a freight pulls onto a siding?
A caboose
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.
Q 30What forces the warden to release Manny from three years of solitary confinement in Runaway Train?
A court order
A court order compels the warden to let him out against his will. Manny at once begins planning a third breakout.