I am constantly quoting this awesome b-movie. Much to my dismay, people don't seem to notice what the flipping hell I'm talking about. Directed by Robert Aldrich just a year before THE LONGEST YARD, this Depression era action flick chronicles the journey of A NO. 1 (LEE MARVIN) as he attempts to ride the bullet train from hell, the number 19, guarded by the sadistic SHACK (ERNEST BORGNINE).
SHACK has made his reputation by killing every hobo who dare tries to hitch a free ride on HIS train. A NO. 1's reputation is that he can ride ANY train. Most of Lee Marvin's living rests on his reputation. Because of the stories he has spawned, he can walk into any hobo jungle and receive food (or room and board). But some lying piece of shit named CIGARETTE (KEITH CARRADINE of THE DUELLISTS) has just taken credit for riding the 19, so now A NO. 1 has to survive the ride all the way to Portland to retain his title. And SHACK knows they're coming, because everyone in the railway yard is MAKING BETS ON IT.
The film was released for about 10 days, then pulled from theaters (everyone seemed to assume it was a film about Santa). A lot of this film is quotable ("He's on his way, and that ain't just to look around! I'm gonna parade! High maki maki everything!") ("Treat her right bo. Turn her over and it says MADE IN HELL"). And it builds up to one of the coolest fight scenes ever (SHACK and A NO. 1 going at each other with boards, hammers, chains, axes). Hell, you even get to see Lee Marvin beat kids up with a chicken, set a train on fire, and an unlikable character constantly gets smashed in the head with a hammer. There's also that wonderful DeVol score based on a theme song entitled A MAN AND A TRAIN (which sounds a lot better WITHOUT the corny lyrics).
One of my favorite scenes involves A NO. 1's sabotage of the switch. Ernest Borgnine, determined to keep the bum off his train, highballs it out of the yard and runs straight into the trap. With another train making its way down the track in 3 minutes, he has to back the train up and make it to the next switch before the collision occurs ("sounds like another ghost story to me")
SHACK has made his reputation by killing every hobo who dare tries to hitch a free ride on HIS train. A NO. 1's reputation is that he can ride ANY train. Most of Lee Marvin's living rests on his reputation. Because of the stories he has spawned, he can walk into any hobo jungle and receive food (or room and board). But some lying piece of shit named CIGARETTE (KEITH CARRADINE of THE DUELLISTS) has just taken credit for riding the 19, so now A NO. 1 has to survive the ride all the way to Portland to retain his title. And SHACK knows they're coming, because everyone in the railway yard is MAKING BETS ON IT.
The film was released for about 10 days, then pulled from theaters (everyone seemed to assume it was a film about Santa). A lot of this film is quotable ("He's on his way, and that ain't just to look around! I'm gonna parade! High maki maki everything!") ("Treat her right bo. Turn her over and it says MADE IN HELL"). And it builds up to one of the coolest fight scenes ever (SHACK and A NO. 1 going at each other with boards, hammers, chains, axes). Hell, you even get to see Lee Marvin beat kids up with a chicken, set a train on fire, and an unlikable character constantly gets smashed in the head with a hammer. There's also that wonderful DeVol score based on a theme song entitled A MAN AND A TRAIN (which sounds a lot better WITHOUT the corny lyrics).
One of my favorite scenes involves A NO. 1's sabotage of the switch. Ernest Borgnine, determined to keep the bum off his train, highballs it out of the yard and runs straight into the trap. With another train making its way down the track in 3 minutes, he has to back the train up and make it to the next switch before the collision occurs ("sounds like another ghost story to me")
