Train Movies I've Seen
by electricnose | created - 26 Apr 2011 | updated - 28 Dec 2022 | PublicNot a best or worst list, just the ones I've watched, in alphabetical order.
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1. Back to the Future Part III (1990)
PG | 118 min | Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Stranded in 1955, Marty McFly learns about the death of Doc Brown in 1885 and must travel back in time to save him. With no fuel readily available for the DeLorean, the two must figure how to escape the Old West before Emmett is murdered.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Mary Steenburgen, Tom Wilson
Votes: 480,832 | Gross: $87.73M
The train has limited screen time, but plays an integral part of the plot.
2. Better Late Than Never (1979 TV Movie)
120 min | Comedy, Drama
Harry Landers is a feisty senior citizen who refuses to abide by the rules in a stodgy retirement home run by a dour Ms. Davis, in which Harry leads a revolt by the other goated senior citizen residents against the establishment.
Director: Richard Crenna | Stars: Harold Gould, Strother Martin, Tyne Daly, Harry Morgan
Votes: 76
3. Beyond the Door III (1989)
R | 94 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
An introverted American student of Balkan descent travels to Yugoslavia as part of a school trip to witness an ancient pagan ritual, but the pagans hide a deadly secret.
Director: Jeff Kwitny | Stars: Mary Kohnert, Bo Svenson, Victoria Zinny, Savina Gersak
Votes: 1,537
4. Boxcar Bertha (1972)
R | 88 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
During the Great Depression, a union leader and a young woman become criminals to exact revenge on the management of a railroad.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Barbara Hershey, David Carradine, Barry Primus, Bernie Casey
Votes: 10,910
5. Breakheart Pass (1975)
PG | 95 min | Drama, Mystery, Western
John Deakin is being transported, as a prisoner, on a train with supplies and medicine to Fort Humboldt, Nevada.
Director: Tom Gries | Stars: Charles Bronson, Ben Johnson, Richard Crenna, Jill Ireland
Votes: 8,811
If Hitchcock had made a Western, it probably would have been something like this.
6. Bullet Train (2022)
R | 127 min | Action, Comedy, Thriller
Five assassins aboard a swiftly-moving bullet train find out that their missions have something in common.
Director: David Leitch | Stars: Brad Pitt, Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry
Votes: 427,481 | Gross: $103.37M
7. Choo-Choo! (1932)
20 min | Short, Adventure, Comedy
The gang trades places with a group of orphans about to take a train ride.
Director: Robert F. McGowan | Stars: Sherwood Bailey, Matthew 'Stymie' Beard, Dorothy DeBorba, Bobby 'Wheezer' Hutchins
Votes: 290
8. Denver & Rio Grande (1952)
Passed | 89 min | Drama, Western
A romanticized history of the building of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad in the Colorado mountains.
Director: Byron Haskin | Stars: Edmond O'Brien, Sterling Hayden, Dean Jagger, Kasey Rogers
Votes: 618
Narrow gauge enthusiasts hate this one.
9. Emperor of the North (1973)
PG | 118 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
In 1933, during the Depression, Shack the brutal conductor of the number 19 train has a personal vendetta against the best train hopping hobo tramp in the Northwest, A No. 1.
Director: Robert Aldrich | Stars: Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Keith Carradine, Charles Tyner
Votes: 7,072 | Gross: $0.09M
10. The General (1926)
Passed | 78 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
After being rejected by the Confederate military, not realizing it was due to his crucial civilian role, an engineer must single-handedly recapture his beloved locomotive after it is seized by Union spies and return it through enemy lines.
Directors: Clyde Bruckman, Buster Keaton | Stars: Buster Keaton, Marion Mack, Glen Cavender, Jim Farley
Votes: 98,139 | Gross: $1.03M
11. The Great Locomotive Chase (1956)
Approved | 85 min | Action, Adventure, Family
During the Civil War Union spy Andrews and his men volunteer to steal a Confederate train and drive it to Union territory while destroying the Confederate railway system along the way.
Director: Francis D. Lyon | Stars: Fess Parker, Jeffrey Hunter, Jeff York, John Lupton
Votes: 1,373
12. The Great Train Robbery (1978)
PG | 110 min | Adventure, Crime, Drama
England, 1850s. A master criminal aims to rob a train of a large sum of gold. Security is incredibly tight and the task seems an impossible one. However, he has a plan and just the right people to carry it out.
Director: Michael Crichton | Stars: Sean Connery, Donald Sutherland, Lesley-Anne Down, Alan Webb
Votes: 19,557 | Gross: $13.03M
13. The Grey Fox (1982)
PG | 92 min | Biography, Drama, History
When an aging, but gentlemanly stagecoach robber is released from prison, he decides to go to Canada to become a train robber.
Director: Phillip Borsos | Stars: Richard Farnsworth, Jackie Burroughs, Ken Pogue, Wayne Robson
Votes: 2,495
It took the filmmakers an extraordinary amount of talent to make train robberies seem dull as dishwater.
14. It Happened to Jane (1959)
Approved | 97 min | Comedy, Romance
Jane Osgood runs a lobster business, which supports her two young children. Railroad staff inattention ruins her shipment, so with her lawyer George, Jane sues Harry Foster Malone, director of the line and the "meanest man in the world".
Director: Richard Quine | Stars: Doris Day, Jack Lemmon, Ernie Kovacs, Steve Forrest
Votes: 3,102
I agree with the argument that it would have done better at the box office with a better title.
15. The Journey of Natty Gann (1985)
PG | 101 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
In the 1930s, a tomboy runs away from her guardian to join her single father who is 2,000 miles away, where he has found work.
Director: Jeremy Kagan | Stars: Meredith Salenger, John Cusack, Jed, Ray Wise
Votes: 6,886 | Gross: $2.14M
Most of her journey is by rail, anyway.
16. Kansas Pacific (1953)
Approved | 73 min | Western
With the Civil War about to begin, Southern saboteurs attack frontier railroad construction.
Director: Ray Nazarro | Stars: Sterling Hayden, Eve Miller, Barton MacLane, Harry Shannon
Votes: 802
17. Last Train from Gun Hill (1959)
Passed | 95 min | Western
A marshal tries to bring the son of an old friend, an autocratic cattle baron, to justice for his role in the rape and murder of the marshal's Native American wife.
Director: John Sturges | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, Carolyn Jones, Earl Holliman
Votes: 8,806 | Gross: $2.50M
Similar in plot to the better known "3:10 to Yuma," including that the title train does not appear until the end. However, there's a couple other train scenes.
18. Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
PG | 128 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
In December 1935, when his transcontinental luxury train is stranded by deep snow, detective Hercule Poirot is called on to solve a murder that occurred in his car the night before, with a multitude of suspects.
Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery
Votes: 69,143 | Gross: $0.07M
19. Night Passage (1957)
Approved | 90 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A fired railroad man is re-hired and entrusted to carry a ten thousand dollar payroll in secret, even though he is suspected of being connected to outlaws.
Director: James Neilson | Stars: James Stewart, Audie Murphy, Dan Duryea, Dianne Foster
Votes: 4,544
20. Octopussy (1983)
PG | 131 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
A fake Fabergé egg recovered from the body of a fellow agent leads James Bond to uncover a jewel smuggling operation led by the mysterious Octopussy, and a plot to blow up a NATO air base.
Director: John Glen | Stars: Roger Moore, Maud Adams, Louis Jourdan, Kristina Wayborn
Votes: 112,986 | Gross: $67.90M
A circus train and an army of bikini girls. Does it get any better than that?
21. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
PG-13 | 166 min | Western
A mysterious stranger with a harmonica joins forces with a notorious desperado to protect a beautiful widow from a ruthless assassin working for the railroad.
Director: Sergio Leone | Stars: Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robards
Votes: 349,092 | Gross: $5.32M
22. Other Men's Women (1930)
Passed | 71 min | Drama, Romance
Events take an unhappy turn for two Bill and Jack, two locomotive engineers, after Bill is attracted to his best friend's wife.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Grant Withers, Mary Astor, Regis Toomey, James Cagney
Votes: 1,390
23. The Polar Express (2004)
G | 100 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
On Christmas Eve, a young boy embarks on a magical adventure to the North Pole on the Polar Express, while learning about friendship, bravery, and the spirit of Christmas.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Tom Hanks, Chris Coppola, Michael Jeter, Leslie Zemeckis
Votes: 241,299 | Gross: $183.37M
24. Porky's Railroad (1937)
Approved | 7 min | Animation, Family, Short
Porky is advised by the superintendent of the railroad that his services and the services of his old-fashioned engine are no longer required as the company will be using a new streamlined train.
Director: Frank Tashlin | Stars: Mel Blanc, Billy Bletcher, Bernice Kamiat, Danny Webb
Votes: 595
The late '30s rivalry between steam and diesel captured in animation. Classic!
25. Rock Island Trail (1950)
Passed | 90 min | Western
Feud between the long-established stagecoach and steamship lines and the emergent railway companies trying to expand into the Midwest.
Director: Joseph Kane | Stars: Forrest Tucker, Adele Mara, Lorna Gray, Bruce Cabot
Votes: 233
26. The Professionals (1966)
PG-13 | 117 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
An arrogant Texas millionaire hires four adventurers to rescue his kidnapped wife from a notorious Mexican bandit.
Director: Richard Brooks | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Woody Strode
Votes: 18,836 | Gross: $19.54M
27. Railroadin' (1929)
20 min | Comedy, Family, Short
The gang gets in trouble at a railroad yard.
Director: Robert F. McGowan | Stars: Norman 'Chubby' Chaney, Joe Cobb, Jean Darling, Allen 'Farina' Hoskins
Votes: 151
28. The Railway Children (1970)
G | 109 min | Drama, Family
After the enforced absence of their father, three children move with their mother to Yorkshire, where during their adventures they attempt to discover the reason for his disappearance.
Director: Lionel Jeffries | Stars: Dinah Sheridan, Bernard Cribbins, William Mervyn, Iain Cuthbertson
Votes: 5,701 | Gross: $0.32M
30. Runaway Train (I) (1985)
R | 111 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Two escaped convicts and a female railway worker find themselves trapped on a speeding train with no brakes and nobody driving.
Director: Andrey Konchalovskiy | Stars: Jon Voight, Eric Roberts, Rebecca De Mornay, Kyle T. Heffner
Votes: 33,001 | Gross: $7.94M
31. Santa Fe (1951)
Approved | 87 min | Western
After their service in the Civil War, four brothers go their separate ways, but later find themselves on opposite sides of a final showdown.
Director: Irving Pichel | Stars: Randolph Scott, Janis Carter, Jerome Courtland, Peter M. Thompson
Votes: 1,137
32. Silver Streak (1976)
PG | 114 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
On a long-distance train trip, a man finds romance but also finds himself in danger of being killed, or at least pushed off the train.
Director: Arthur Hiller | Stars: Gene Wilder, Richard Pryor, Jill Clayburgh, Patrick McGoohan
Votes: 21,714
Teaches you what to say if you ever get thrown off of a train.
33. Sullivan's Travels (1941)
Passed | 90 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Hollywood director John L. Sullivan sets out to experience life as a homeless person in order to gain relevant life experience for his next movie.
Director: Preston Sturges | Stars: Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake, Robert Warwick, William Demarest
Votes: 28,518
34. 3:10 to Yuma (1957)
Not Rated | 92 min | Drama, Thriller, Western
Broke small-time rancher Dan Evans is hired by the stagecoach line to put big-time captured outlaw leader Ben Wade on the 3:10 train to Yuma but Wade's gang tries to free him.
Director: Delmer Daves | Stars: Glenn Ford, Van Heflin, Felicia Farr, Leora Dana
Votes: 21,644
I actually found the remake a little better than the original, for a change.
35. 3:10 to Yuma (2007)
R | 122 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A small-time rancher agrees to hold a captured outlaw who's awaiting a train to go to court in Yuma. A battle of wills ensues as the outlaw tries to psych out the rancher.
Director: James Mangold | Stars: Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, Ben Foster, Logan Lerman
Votes: 331,088 | Gross: $53.61M
Both movies are named for a train that doesn't actually show up until the end.
36. A Ticket to Tomahawk (1950)
Approved | 90 min | Comedy, Western
In 1876 Colorado, the Tomahawk and Western Railroad is expanding through the Rockies but some stagecoach operators, fearing a loss of revenue, plan to sabotage the railroad.
Director: Richard Sale | Stars: Dan Dailey, Anne Baxter, Rory Calhoun, Walter Brennan
Votes: 767
37. The Train (1964)
Not Rated | 133 min | Action, Thriller, War
In 1944, a German colonel loads a train with French art treasures to send to Germany. The Resistance must stop it without damaging the cargo.
Directors: John Frankenheimer, Arthur Penn | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Paul Scofield, Jeanne Moreau, Suzanne Flon
Votes: 18,882 | Gross: $7.41M
38. The Train Robbers (1973)
Passed | 92 min | Action, Comedy, Drama
A gunhand named Lane is hired by a widow, Mrs. Lowe, to find gold stolen by her husband so that she may return it and start fresh.
Director: Burt Kennedy | Stars: John Wayne, Ann-Margret, Rod Taylor, Ben Johnson
Votes: 6,711
39. Unstoppable (2010)
PG-13 | 98 min | Action, Thriller
With an unmanned, half-mile-long freight train barreling toward a city, a veteran engineer and a young conductor race against the clock to prevent a catastrophe.
Director: Tony Scott | Stars: Denzel Washington, Chris Pine, Rosario Dawson, Ethan Suplee
Votes: 207,759 | Gross: $81.56M
The problem with it isn't the hokeyness, it's the fact that it's not fun hokeyness.
40. Whispering Smith (1948)
Passed | 88 min | Western
Legendary railroad detective Whispering Smith becomes convinced that old friend and colleague Murray Sinclair has joined a criminal band to loot the railroad.
Director: Leslie Fenton | Stars: Alan Ladd, Robert Preston, Brenda Marshall, Donald Crisp
Votes: 1,386
41. Wild Wild West (1999)
PG-13 | 106 min | Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi
The two best special agents in the Wild West must save President Grant from the clutches of a diabolical, wheelchair-bound, steampunk-savvy, Confederate scientist bent on revenge for losing the Civil War.
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld | Stars: Will Smith, Kevin Kline, Kenneth Branagh, Salma Hayek
Votes: 167,293 | Gross: $113.81M
Features one of Hollywood's more accurate trains, in spite of all the things popping out of the floor.
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