Runaway Train (film)

Runaway Train is a 1985 American action thriller film directed by Andrei Konchalovsky, starring Jon Voight, Eric Roberts, and Rebecca De Mornay. The screenplay was written by Djordje Milicevic, Paul Zindel, and Edward Bunker, based on an original screenplay by Akira Kurosawa.

The film follows two escaped convicts, Manny (Voight) and Buck (Roberts), who board a freight train in Alaska. The train subsequently goes out of control after the engineer dies of a heart attack, leaving no one to operate the brakes. They are joined by Sara (De Mornay), a female railroad worker who is also trapped on board.

The film is notable for its intense action sequences, its exploration of themes such as freedom, confinement, and the nature of good and evil, and its stunning Alaskan landscapes. "Runaway Train" received critical acclaim, with Voight and Roberts both receiving Academy Award nominations for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, respectively. The film's score was composed by Trevor Jones.

Despite being an American production, the film's origins lie in an unused screenplay written by Akira Kurosawa in the late 1960s. Kurosawa was unable to secure funding for the project at the time. Years later, the script was acquired by Francis Ford Coppola, who then passed it on to Konchalovsky. The film was shot on location in Alaska and Montana.