The Train (1965)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Memorable, crazy movie

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

"Cinema Verite"...is a Phrase used when a Dramatic Film is Shot so Real as to be "Documentary Like" in Tone and Appearance. It's Drama Mimicking Real Life.There is "Verisimilitude"...The quality of appearing to be true or real.Both can be Applied to this John Frankenheimer Movie, Starring Burt Lancaster. "Train Magazine" Lists it as the #1 Movie about "Trains.It is a Universally Praised, if Relatively Unknown, WWII Film that is a Wide Open, but Curiously Confined Thriller. The Focus hardly ever Leaves the Train Tracks whether the Bulky, Black, Behemoth is in Motion or Docked and Pampered Upon.There's more Suspense than Action but Both are Utilized in this "Fictional" Tale based on True Events. The Nazi's Pillaging of France's Foremost Frames of Art by France's Foremost Artists. The Occupiers are Determined to take the "Decadent" Pictures Home Despite Their Disdain.It seems the Nazi in Charge has a Secret Lust for the Work and is not about to let the "Apes" Possess what They Cannot Appreciate.Lancaster, on the other hand, Cares Not about the Paintings and is Motivated by the Murderers of His Fellow Yard Workers and Now will Stop at Nothing to Thwart the Germans from accomplishing Their Thievery.Precious and Valuable "Art" vs Precious Human Lives is a Philosophical Conundrum and a Muse throughout this Gripping and Riveting Film. However it is the "Train" that becomes the "Star" of the Movie.Frankenheimer Stages Real Locomotive Train Wrecks and Aerial Bombings and the Results are Nothing Short of Spectacular. The Film is Relentless the way it Photographs the Oily and Gritty Machine and French Resistance Workers Assigned to Operate and Maintain the Mechanics of the Proud and Determined "Iron Horse".The Trains Wheezes, Squeals, and Chugs that says as much in the Movie as its Human Counterparts. It all becomes a Unique and Uncanny War Film and there is Nothing quite Like it.

Wow. I wasn't expecting anything like this. THE TRAIN is a black and white suspense thriller set in the dying days of Nazi-occupied France. It's one of John Frankenheimer's earliest films and it has all of the suspense, action, and excitement of his late-era productions like RONIN. I thought this would be a typical gung-ho war effort of the kind that Frank Sinatra and George Peppard used to star in, but it's something else entirely.The subject of the film is trains, in particular steam trains. The plot's Macguffin is a shipment of priceless French paintings which Nazi colonel Paul Scofield is attempting to transport to Germany before the Americans arrive in Paris. Burt Lancaster is the tough and imposing resistance fighter who opposes him. The rest of the film is a battle of wills and wits between the two men.Although this is a quite lengthy production it's never boring. Even the dialogue scenes are snappy and bristle with suspense. However, it's the action where this film really hits. The action is terse, realistic, and fast. Frankenheimer was determined to make his film as realistic as possible so there are no special effects or model shots here, just real engines that get crashed and blown up with regularity. I liked Lancaster here better than anywhere else, Scofield's bad guy is perfectly hateable, and the supporting cast are excellent. The last twenty minutes in particular remove dialogue from the equation and focus on nail-biting suspense and heroism. It's a fantastic little movie and one which deserves to be wider known.

John Frankenheimer directed this masterpiece about the french resistance trying to stop a train loaded with art from leaving. Paris is about to fall probably in only 3 or 4 days. But the Germans have loaded all the best Art on a train bound for Germany. The resistance is asked to stop it.Labiche (Burt Lancaster) is the leader of the resistance at the train yard. He is reluctant to act to save a bunch of pictures. They started out with 18 members, had 4 members in the morning, but is down to 3. Could he really risk the rest on a scheme to save some paintings? The plans and schemes need to be mapped out much better. They need to do some better explanations. But it's Labiche's evolution that's important. Burt Lancaster is a powerful presence, and his acting is top-notched.

I'd never come across this film before but I wish I had. In one sense this is yet another movie about WWII but in many other respects it stands out as being quite different. It poses some difficult questions without ever telling you what the answers should be though you'll no doubt find yourself pondering on them long after the movie ends. Impressively it manages to do this within the confines of a very exciting adventure movie which will have you on the edge of your seat right to the end.From what I've subsequently read about filming it appears that nearly all the train crashes, explosions and destruction shown in the film were done for real and the same is true of the stunts, many of them performed by Burt Lancaster. I can think of no better example of how CGI work cannot begin to match real action. This film is nearly fifty years old and puts most modern action movies to shame.Burt Lancaster, the star of the film, is someone I've never warmed to though he is always watchable. Here he is perfectly cast and uses his athletic skills to excellent effect. You realise that he is even more perfectly cast when you see the final scene of the film. There are no easy answers in this film and there's probably no better expression of existentialism outside of literature.