Runaway! (1973)

best movie i've ever seen.

An Exercise In Nonsense

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

So here's the story. Within the first 10 minutes of the picture, the train's engineer learns that he has no brakes AND they're going downhill through the mountains. Now you'd THINK this would mean the movie would be at most 15-20 minutes long...yet somehow they pad it out to full length for a made for TV film! So what do they do? Pad, pad and pad!You have to understand the context for this picture. The 1970s were HUGE for disaster pictures and this is one of about 19,000,000 such films that were made about impending doom during that time. Earthquakes, floods, fires, boats, airplanes, you name it...and so why NOT make a film about a train full of passengers waiting to die?! Well, common sense would indicate they shouldn't but it was the rage at the time.Ways they padded some films was make a few characters with some silly backstory...and the one they invested the most energy on was the divorcing couple who hate each other and you KNOW what is going to happen with them by the end of the movie!! Overall, a dumb premise and a film I can't see watching unless you are some sort of disaster movie groupie.

I've now seen this film twice on television over the years and there is nothing wrong with it. For a TV movie I think it is quite good and it whiles away a pleasant couple of hours. I would love to get it on DVD.In an out of control train hurtling back down the mountain at 70mph, Ben Johnson doesn't bat an eyelid, and gets off the train at the station as if it is all in a days work!In a comparison with "Unstoppable" which I have just seen and which is apparently being tipped to win an Oscar (why! how?) I know which of the two films I prefer!The Runaway Train, as a TV movie, was made on a shoestring in comparison with films made for the big screen by the movie moguls in the large studios. Special effects were virtually non-existent in this film, where as today CGI effects are on tap and can produce anything the produced or director wish.This might have been one of the likable Ben Johnson's more smaller films in his illustrious career, but it certainly wasn't his worst.

I fully enjoyed this movie. Having once worked for a railroad I am aware of some technical inaccuracies, but it's worth overlooking to enjoy the premise. I especially love Ben Johnson as the engineer. I used to love the railroad the way his character does and totally relate to him. Some people have said there are no stars in it besides him, but Vera Miles was nice to see. Martin Milner's character is a little annoying to me though. I liked seeing the young boy from "Ben" too. I love those old diesel locomotives too! I have a grainy copy I recorded from TV. I wish they would release this on DVD. And yes, it is short and sweet.

Ah yes disaster movies a favourite film genre of the 1970s when megastars and prestigious character actors would all slum together on a film featuring lots of exciting and spectacular deaths . RUNAWAY is a disaster movie ( Well TVM ) from the 1970s but suffers from three major flaws :1 ) There`s no megastars 2 ) With the exception of Ben Johnson there`s no prestigious character actors 3 ) There`s very little in the way of spectacular or exciting deaths In many ways RUNAWAY is like THE CASSANDRA CROSSING without the megastars , prestigious character actors or shootouts . Oh well it could have been worse - It could have lasted a lot longer than 70 minutes