Runaway! (1973)

For railway enthusiasts like me, this made-for-television film looked to be quite promising. It was originally premiered over 40 years and its many years since I have last seen it on the living room box but I was able to recently download it. Its sometimes unauthentic and a bit silly about a doomed train running out of control due to technical brake failure (or other faults) and makes you hold your nerves as it is downhill all the way to disaster some miles away for 200 passengers and crew members on board and a rescue locomotive couples up from behind when there could have been an alternative option to avert the major crash. Also, there is no way a rescue locomotive could have it's air-hoses connected while the train is moving at speed and that's one of the biggest problem with this film. Overall, its not too bad-a-film for its time.

I saw this movie when it first aired, 33 years ago. Eek! But still it sticks in my mind. I hated the GRAND HOTEL or, if you prefer, TOWERING INFERNO trope of having various folks in various personal crises (the disaffected long-married couple & al.; now that I think of it, GRAND HOTEL may be the only movie of this type I think ever worked, SHIP OF FOOLS included), but the runaway-train problem itself, and how it's solved, still sticks in my mind.I know it's probably no better than a time-wasting movie, but the ending is a glorious, happy surprise. And Ben Johnson does his patented underacting to bring a smooth, calm centre to what would otherwise be a hysterical disaster movie.I was pleased to note (thanks, IMDb!) that the screenwriter for this non-epic also wrote one of my favourite recent movies, THE FORGOTTEN.

I'm an avid railroad fan, and for all of its inadequacies, I feel that this movie still rates as excellent. I first saw this as a child, and have been searching for it for over fifteen years. I was lucky enough to find someone on Ebay that has a 35mm copy of it and does sell videos of it, so for all the true fans of this movie, check out Ebay.As for the technical end of it, the plot is probably something that could not happen, at least in the magnitude depicted here. ALL diesel locomotives have something called a TRACTION BRAKE, which, like the reversal of an airliners engines to slow an aircraft, does essentially the same thing. The traction brake reverses electrical polarity to the motors, causing them to act AGAINST forward motion. This is comparable to downshifting an automobile transmission into first or low gear when descending steep hills. By itself, the traction brake could not have stopped the train, but the locomotive could have slowed the train down to a less than fatal speed. Also, a helper locomotive added to the rear of a train would probably not have the power to stop a train travelling 70+ mph by itself. It would need the assistance of the air brake throughout the train to accomplish that - which was useless in the movie plot, and even if it weren't, there's no way the air hoses could be connected on a moving train.Despite these flaws, the movie is very entertaining, and at 70 minutes, it is like a sweet and satisfying snack, compared to a 120 minute main course.

please put this movie on tape or dvd i simply wish to purchase it and i'm not interested or qualified in becoming a film critic i've seen the movie once and believe it is a good wholesome family entertainment film that millions of americans would rent or purchase if it were available to them, get the picture?