Runaway Train
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Max Kleben
Jon Voight
Rebecca De Mornay
John Ryan
Don Mclaughlin
Eric Roberts
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Two escaped convicts inadvertantly jump aboard a freight train that they discover is barreling out of control, without an engineer.
Cast
Jon Voight
Rebecca De Mornay
John Ryan
Don Mclaughlin
Eric Roberts
John Bloom
T K Carter
Diane Erickson
Stacey Pickren
John Fountain
Robert M Klempner
Phillip Earl
Norton E Warden
Anderson Ball
John Otrin
Carmen Filpi
Duey Thomasick
Jerry Brainum
Wally Rose
Dennis Ott
Tom Keenan
Reid Cruickshanks
Tiny Lister
Danny Trejo
Dana Belgarde
Don Pugsley
Obie Weeks
Vladimir Bibic
Walter Wyatt
Loren Janes
Tony Epper
Larry John Meyers
Edward Bunker
John-clay Scott
Kenneth Mcmillan
Norman Alexander Gibbs
William Tregoe
Kyle Heffner
Michael Lee Gogin
Crew
Gale Adler
Paul Ayers
Jim Bachelor
Clement Barclay
Connie Barzaghi
Jim Bauman
Tassilo Baur
Ken Beauchene
Lily Benyair-gart
Ermanno Biamonte
Ray Bilger
Peter Borck
Peter Borck
Bobby Bremner
Ray Brown
Heather Buchanan
Perry Bullington
Edward Bunker
Roy Burge
Don Burgess
Jay Burkhart
Dwight Campbell
Mike Carr
John Casino
Alan Caso
Steve Cates
Phil Christon
Carl Ciarfalio
Dave Clark
Dorree Cooper
Keith Corder
Stephen Crawford
Peter Culverwell
Jack Cummins
Peter Dansie
Phil Davidson
Phil Davidson
Mike Davis
Mark Davison
Kelly Deco
Sasha Dillon
Catherine Dixon
Lynnda Donelson
Katherine Dover
Anita Dreike
Doc Duhame
Joe Dunton
Dick Durock
Paul Elman
Susan Emshwiller
Dan Engstrom
Martin Evans
Lisa Finkbohner
Marc S. Fischer
Edward Flotard
Richard Foreman
Warren Fox
Mike Frift
Nigel Galt
Owen Garner
Owen Garner
Owen Garner
Joseph T. Garrity
Yoram Globus
Menahem Golan
Robert A Goldston
Geoffrey Griffin
Steve Grnya
Tony Guadioz
Stephan Gudju
Amy J Hall
Lynn Harrison
Michael Hart
Bruce Hauer
Harry Hauss
John Hayward
John Hayward
Roy Helmrich
Ted Hewitt
Chick Hicks
Raymond Hirsch
Rick Holley
Beth Holmes
Stephen Homsy
Alan Howarth
Carol Howerton
Paul Hulme
Alan Hume
Simon Hume
Terry Jackson
Loren Janes
Tony Jefferson
Soren Elung Jensen
Jackie Johnson
Ken J Johnson
Mike Johnson
James Jones
James P Jones
Mark Jones
Trevor Jones
Trevor Jones
Rick H Josephsen
Joe Killian
Nancy Jane King
Robert M Klempner
Anne Kuljian
Akira Kurosawa
Christine Larson-nitzsche
Paul Laufer
Dwight Lavers
Michael Laviolette
Kara Lindstrom
Larry Litton
Saskia Lodder
Julio Macat
Robert Macdonald
Colin Macrae
Colin Macrae
Tommy Magglos
Jean Malahni
Marilyn Maney
Colin Manning
Peter Manos
Dee Mansano
Monty Mansano
Monty Mansano
Stephen Marsh
Mary Mclaglen
Brian Mcmillan
Ted Mehous
Charlie Messenger
Djordje Milicevic
Robin L Miller
Sharon Morov
Alan Munro
Kassie O'connell
Michael D Pariser
Christopher Pearce
Phil Peters
Eric Piper
Norman Pomeroy
Tom Priestley
Mati Raz
Henry Richardson
Keith Richins
Bob Riggs
James Roddan
Dennis Rose
Richard Sands
Gary Schoeneck
Doug Schwartz
Douglas Schwartz
Douglas Schwartz
Stephen A Schwartz
John-clay Scott
Suzette Sheets
Larry Shepard
Jay Sherrick
Robert Skogerboe
Laura Smith
Russell Solberg
Zacharay Spoon
Scott Sproule
Rina Sternfeld-allon
Rina Sternfeld-allon
Mick Strawn
Pat Tagliaferro
Greg Tavenner
Bob Terhune
Neal Thomas
Susumu Tokunow
Sean Toohey
Christina Volz
Kevin Wadowski
Peter Weatherley
Henry T. Weinstein
William Weppler
Roger Whitmore
Michael Wymore
Jonathan Yarborough
Paul Zindel
John Zumpano
Film Details
Technical Specs
Award Nominations
Best Actor
Best Editing
Best Supporting Actor
Articles
Edward Bunker (1933-2005)
He was born on December 31, 1933 in Hollywood, California to a mother who was a chorus girl in a few Busby Berkely musicals, and a father who was a studio grip; two of the lesser positions in the Hollywood hierarchy. After his parents divorced when he was four, he spent the next several years in various foster homes and juvenile reform schools. By 14, he notched his first criminal conviction for burglery; at 17, he stabbed a youth prison guard; and by 19, he was considered so violent a felon, that he became the youngest inmate ever at San Quentin.
For the next 20 years, Bunker would be in and out of prison for numerous felonies: robbery, battery, and check forgery, just to name a few. While in prison, he read the novel of another San Quentin inmate, Caryl Chessman, whose book, Cell 2455, Death Row, was a reveleation to Bunker, so he set about devoting himself to writing.
He enrolled in a correspondence course in freshman English from the University of California, and after several years of unpublished novels, he struck gold in 1973 with No Beast So Fierce. The novel, about a paroled thief whose attempt to reenter mainstream society fails, was as tough and unforgiving as anything ever written about a parolee's readjustment to the outside, and it rightfully earned Bunker acclaim as a writer to watch.
After he was released from prison in 1975, Bunker concentrated on writing and acting. His big film break happened when No Beast So Fierce was turned into the movie Straight Time (1978) starring Dustin Hoffman. He co-wrote the screenplay, and also had a small part as one of Hoffman's cronies.
Bunker's next big hit as a screenwriter and actor was Runaway Train (1985), a pulsating drama about two escaped convicts (Jon Voight and Eric Roberts) where again, he had a small role as Jonah. It was obvious by now that Bunker, with his gruff voice, unnerving gaze, broken nose, and his signature feature - a scar from a knife wound that ran from his forehead to his lip - would make a most enigmatic movie villian.
A few more roles in prominent pictures followed: The Running Man, Shy People (both 1987), Tango & Cash (1989), before he scored the best role of his career, Mr. Blue in Quentin Tarantino's celebrated cult caper Reservoir Dogs (1992). It couldn't have been easy for Bunker to hold his own in a cast of heavyweights (Harvey Keitel, Lawrence Tierney, Tim Roth and Steve Buscemi), but he did - and with a muscularly lithe style that was all his own.
After Reservoir Dogs, Bunker was in demand as a villian. His next few films: Distant Cousins (1993), Somebody to Love (1994), were routine, but he proved that he could deliver with professional, if familiar performances. Actor Steve Buscemi helped Bunker get his novel Animal Factory to the screen in 2000, with Bunker again adapting his own work for film. He was last seen as a convict, although with sharp comedic overtones, in the recent Adam Sandler farce The Longest Yard (2005). He is survived by his son, Brendan.
by Michael "Mitch" Toole
Edward Bunker (1933-2005)
Quotes
Trivia
Miscellaneous Notes
Wide Release in United States December 6, 1985
Released in United States Fall January 17, 1986
Began shooting February 25, 1985.
Film is dedicated to the memory of Rick Holley.
Wide Release in United States December 6, 1985
Released in United States Fall January 17, 1986