Kyle T. Heffner | Through the Shattered Lens

In 1985’s Runaway Train, Eric Roberts plays Buck McGeehy, a prisoner at Stonehaven Maximum Security Prison in Alaska.

Like the majority of the prisoners, Buck looks up to Manny (Jon Voight), a bank robber who has just been released from spending three years in solitary confinement. Manny is a tough guy who refuses to allow the prison system to beat him down. Warden Ranken (John P. Ryan) views Manny as being a threat to his authority and he’s especially angry that it was the courts that ordered that Manny finally be released from solitary. When Ranken tries to arrange for Manny to be assassinated at a prison boxing match, it’s Buck who saves Manny’s life. When Manny later manages to escape from the prison, Buck tags along.

Manny and Buck are a study in contrasts. Manny is as cold as the Alaskan landscape. He’s ruthless and doesn’t allow himself to get too close to anyone but, at the same time, he does live by a definite code. Buck is simple-minded, an earnest guy who talks too much and who probably wouldn’t have survived a day in prison if it wasn’t for his skill as a boxer. Buck and Manny manage to make their way across the frozen wilderness but, when they hop on a train, they soon find themselves trapped on the out-of-control locomotive, along with a railroad engineer named Sara (Rebecca De Mornay). The three of them have to find a way to either escape from or stop the train. At the same time, the obsessed Warden Ranken is determined to recapture Manny and, if that means flying a helicopter over the train so that Ranken can lower himself onto it, so be it.

Runway Train, which was based on a script by Akira Kurosawa, was one of the few Cannon films to find success with not just critics but also audiences and the industry. The Golden Globes nominated it for Best Film. The Academy didn’t go quite that far but they did nominate the film for Best Editing, along with also nominating Jon Voight for Best Actor and Eric Roberts for Best Supporting Actor. While Voight is a multiple-Oscar nominee (and one-time winner for Coming Home), Runaway Train is, so far, the only film for which Eric Roberts has been nominated. (He should have been nominated for Star 80 but his character in that film was a bit too realistically sleazy for the Academy to honor.) Roberts has described Runaway Train as being one of his favorite films and he even used the title for his autobiography. It was on this film that he met Danny Trejo, who not only trained Roberts for the boxing scenes but also helped Roberts kick his addiction to cocaine.

And Roberts has every reason to be proud. Runaway Train is a fast-moving, visually stunning thrill ride, a masterpiece of the pulp imagination. Yes, the symbolism of the runaway train is a bit obvious. Yes, the philosophical edge of the film’s dialogue can sometimes feel a bit out-of-place. Who cares? John Voight and Eric Roberts sell their characters with such skill that you don’t care that they’re both criminals who have done terrible things. From the minute we see that frozen jail and the prisoners tossing burning pieces of paper at the guards, we know why both Manny and Buck have to escape. John P. Ryan turns the warden into everyone’s worst nightmare of a small, pretty man with power, an authoritarian who uses the system to control the lives of others and who resents anyone who does not bow down before him. Even though her role is largely limited to reacting to what everyone else does around her, Rebecca de Mornay still turns Sara into a compelling character and never allows her to become merely a damsel in distress. Runaway Train is a heart-pounding action film and one that still holds up today.

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:

Instead of getting any sleep last night, I decided to stay up and watch the 1983 dance film, Flashdance. As a result, I’m not only very tired but everyone I see today, I’m just like, “You’re not really a welder, are you?”

In the film, that question is asked by bitchy Katie Hurley (Belinda Bauer) to 18 year-old Alex (Jennifer Beals) and the answer, by the way, is yes. Alex is a welder. Judging by the way the film handles the topic, it appears that audiences in 1983 were really stunned that a woman could be a welder. (I kept expecting to hear someone say, “She’s one of those lady welders, like you read about in the Reader’s Digest.”) Myself, I’m more amazed that an 18 year-old in Pittsburgh could get a high-paying union job. Then again, we never really see any evidence that Alex is really doing much as a welder. We do see her at a construction site holding one of those torch things but that’s pretty much it. Last night, I started Flashdance with no idea what a welder does and I ended the movie with even less of an idea but then again, the movie really isn’t about welding.

Instead, it’s about dancing! And love! And holding onto your dreams! And living in a big warehouse with a dog and a handsome boyfriend! As one character puts it, when you give up your dreams, you die. Of course, most people have multiple dreams so what happens if you only give up one but hold onto the others? I guess you just lose a toe or something. But anyway….

Actually, before we move on, how much money did welders make back in 1983? Because seriously, Alex lives in a gigantic and very nicely decorated building and her only roommate is a dog. As Alex explains to her boss and boyfriend, Nick (Michael Nouri), the building was an abandoned warehouse before Alex moved in. So, does Alex own the building? Does she just rent it? It’s a great place and I love what Alex does with it but seriously, it’s hard to believe that any 18 year-old — even one who is working two jobs — could afford it.

Yes, Alex has two jobs. Such is the price of independence. When she’s not welding, she’s dancing at a dive bar. Her routines are amazingly filmed and a lot of fun to watch but they’re also so elaborate it’s hard to believe that they could be performed in such a run-down establishment or that the bar’s blue collar clientele would have much patience for them. She’s an exotic dancer, which means she doesn’t take off her clothes. The sleazy owner of local strip club (Lee Ving) keeps trying to encourage Alex and her friend, Jeanie (Sunny Johnson), to come dance at his place but Alex has no interest in that. Jeanie, on the other hand, accepts the offer. Fortunately, Alex is there to run into the club and yank her off stage and then yell at her. Alex spends a lot of time yelling at people. She also throws a rock through one of Nick’s windows when she sees him talking to his ex-wife. One could argue that Alex has rage issues but no one in the film seems to take them personally. How could they? Alex is pursuing her dreams and the good thing about pursuing a dream is that you can do whatever you want while doing so.

(Interestingly, you can tell that the filmmakers were a little bit concerned that audiences in the early 80s might view Alex as being a bit too independent and confrontational. In between the scenes of Alex yelling at people and casually reaching underneath her sweatshirt to remove her bra while Nick watches, there are also scenes of Alex going to confession. It’s as if the film’s saying, “Yes, she welds! Yes, she has a temper! Yes, she’s flirty! But fear not, she’s a good girl! So, it’s okay for you to be on her side….”)

For a film that was shot on the streets of Pittsburgh, there’s not a gritty moment to be found in Flashdance. This is the type of film where Alex rides her bicycle across the city and it never once gets stolen, despite the fact that she never actually locks it up. In the world of Flashdance, all conflicts are easily resolved, all insecurities are ultimately conquered, and all dreams come true. It’s a world where Alex can become a great dancer despite having never had any formal training just because, as she puts it, she’s “watched TV and read books.” (My old dance teachers probably hated this movie.) It’s a fairy tale and, like most fairy tales, it’s deeply silly and yet oddly compelling at the same time. Never once do you buy that Alex is a welder and it’s pretty obvious, from all the quick cuts and the skewed camera angles, that Jennifer Beals did not do her own dancing. But it doesn’t matter because it’s hard not to get pulled into the film’s glitzy fantasy. Flashdance may technically be a bad movie but I dare you not to cry a little when Alex leaves her audition and finds Nick waiting for her. Not only does Alex achieve her dreams, but she also get a rich, older boyfriend, the type who gives her flowers and puts a bow on her dog.

It’s interesting to note that the two films that practically define the early 80s cinematic aesthetic, Flashdance and Scarface, were both released in 1983. (Not only was Flashdance initially offered to Scarface director Brian DePalma but Al Pacino was also offered the role of Nick. Pacino, of course, turned it down and played Tony Montana instead.) To be honest, I think you can argue that Flashdance and Scarface are essentially the same film. They’ve both got neon opening credits. They’ve both got a score from Giorgio Moroder. They’re both elaborate fantasies about someone who won’t surrender their dream. Just replace all the cocaine that Tony Montana snorted with Alex’s love of dancing.

Finally, I have to mention Flashdance‘s music. The score and the song may be totally 80s but it still sounds good in 2019. The theme song won an Oscar and let me tell you, if you can listen to this song without dancing around your house in your underwear, then you obviously have a lot more self-control than I do.