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DESPERATE AND DETERMINED TO SURVIVE

Two convicts break out of Stonehaven Prison in the dead of winter, boarding a freight train with the intention of getting as far away as possible before their notoriously sadistic warden finds out. But the brakes fail and the driver has a heart attack, sending hundreds of tons of metal hurtling through the snowy Alaskan wastes at terrifying and unstoppable speed.

Based on a script by Akira Kurosawa (Seven Samurai), with hardboiled prison slang added by real-life ex-con Edward Bunker (Mr Blue in Reservoir Dogs), this riveting thriller also boasts Oscar-nominated performances from Jon Voight and Eric Roberts – with Voight playing spectacularly against type as a criminal so vicious that he served much of his sentence welded into his cell.

Combining electrifying action with constant psychological tension (the only surviving member of the train crew is a young, inexperienced woman), Runaway Train is one of cinema's great thrill-rides.

CONTENTS

• High Definition transfer of the film prepared by MGM for the Cannes Film Festival premiere
• High Definition Blu-ray presentation of the film
• Original Uncompressed Stereo Audio
• Optional English SDH Subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Running on Empty – An Interview with director Andrei Konchalovsky
• From Thespian to Fugitive – Star Jon Voight shares his memories of his Academy Award-nominated role
• Sweet and Savage: Eric Roberts recalls his Academy Award-nominated performance
• The Calm Before the Chaos – Co-star Kyle T. Heffner remembers Runaway Train
• Trailer with commentary by Rod Lurie
• Original Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Joe Wilson

wllm995 wrote: Fri Apr 26, 2013 8:44 pm Runaway Train - good news indeed!

Is Cannon Films still the legal owner of Runaway Train (and for that matter, Love Streams)? Just wondering if this opens the possibility of Arrow licensing Love Streams for Blu-Ray.

MichaelB wrote:...I've just had a sneak preview of Runaway Train, which is also looking and sounding very nice indeed for a 1980s title that's always been hamstrung by some ropey post-production.

Full specs. I see you wrote an essay for the booklet. Can't wait to read it. The other extras look really exiting too. Runaway Train is a personal favorite, and I've always been curious to learn more of it's production history, specifically regarding the development of the script.

RobertAltman wrote:I see you wrote an essay for the booklet. Can't wait to read it. The other extras look really exiting too. Runaway Train is a personal favorite, and I've always been curious to learn more of it's production history, specifically regarding the development of the script.

You'll be glad to hear that I cover this in some detail - largely because I was really interested in the subject as well. And as a by-product of my research I turned up a copy of the original 1963 Life magazine article that inspired Kurosawa to develop the project (he read it in translation in a Japanese magazine the following year), which I'm delighted to see has ended up in the booklet.

The video interviews are all terrific - I particularly liked the Eric Roberts one, who's very funny about working with Konchalovsky (they seem to have had quite a few creative differences, although Konchalovsky's lack of an ear for accents meant that Roberts could turn Buck into a Southern hick without attracting comment).

Runaway Train reviewed by Svet

Runaway Train's transition to Blu-ray is very pleasing, but I was really impressed with the supplemental features on this release. The long interview with Jon Voight is the best extra I've seen produced by Arrow Video to date. The entire history of the film is in it, shared by one of America's greatest living actors. Buy with confidence, folks. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

At this rate, I think Arrow may just get my vote for Label of the Year.

Getting back to current Arrow releases, here's the Beev on Runaway Train.

Incidentally, for those who'd even notice such a thing, I'm delighted to confirm that Arrow's version returns to the original theatrical credits, and not the bizarrely low-key alternatives that accompanied various DVD releases.

Appears to now be OOP

I guess there's a chance a dual-format release could be announced tomorrow? It seems thoroughly odd but it has been exactly three years since release.

Ribs wrote:I guess there's a chance a dual-format release could be announced tomorrow? It seems thoroughly odd but it has been exactly three years since release.

If you're thinking about a release here in the US, it's unlikely since Twilight Time will be releasing this on Blu, unless there's something new I don't know about.