Runaway Train Trivia Quiz

Answer: Stonehaven

Not a lot of information is provided about Stonehaven Maximum Security Prison in the movie, apart from the fact that it is set in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness, and that it is clearly a rather cold place.

Answer: Through a sewer

Oscar "Manny" Manheim escapes by hiding in a laundry basket pushed by Buck. Buck makes his way past the guard in the lift by discussing adult magazines with him. Afterwards, Manny and Buck cover their bodies with grease and transparent plastic wrap before re-clothing and crawling into a sewer. They end up falling into what Manny describes as the America River.

Answer: "Why do we never hear the whistle?"

Buck motions to pull the whistle in the engine in which they are riding. Manny stops him and asks "You dyin' for company?". The incident regarding the Engineer's heart attack is quite farcical in plot terms. As the unfortunate man feels the onset of his impending doom, he applies the emergency brake. That in itself is enough to bring the train to a halt.

In addition, modern locomotives are equipped with a "Dead Man's Device", which caters for the exact eventuality of the Engineer dying or being otherwise incapacitated. Of course, if these things had held true, we would have had no movie..!

Answer: Eric Roberts

We do not get to know Buck's full name during the movie. All we really get to find out about him during the movie is that he works in the Prison Laundry, he is a boxer of some note (one scene prior to the escape shows him boxing with another prisoner), and that he idolises Manny. This last point is something that, by the end of the movie, he is starting to question the wisdom of.

Answer: She was taking a nap.

Sara's role with the railroad is never explained, but she appears to have a good working knowledge of its operations. She knows that the three reluctant passengers are unable to cross from the second locomotive to the first, as "it is a Streamliner, and old 'A' unit". Later, she volunteers that if they can manage to "disconnect the bus line cables, the engines behind them will shut down".

Answer: Ruby

Ruby's character is set in stone in her first scene, when she fails to initially pick up the phone call advising of the runaway train, because she is too busy fixing her makeup. Her work performance doesn't improve much after that point either!

Answer: He sticks his head in a toilet bowl.

Poor old Train Controller Barstow, not only is he under pressure to stop the runaway, he is getting heat from his boss because he installed the computer system at great expense to the company. Add to that the fact that he has a bunch of people being of no help whatsoever to him in the the Control Room.

Then Warden Ranken starts annoying him. He curtly suggests to Ranken that he has more important things on his mind than two escaped prisoners, yells at Ranken to "Get out, now!" and then announces dramatically that he is going for a leak. No sooner has Barstow started to relieve himself when Ranken crashes through the door of the cubicle and proceeds to flush the toilet as he holds Barstow's head in the bowl. Motto: It pays to be polite!

Answer: Rape

On the train, Manny tells Buck that "Rapos are usually pretty dumb". Buck tries to justify his actions by explaining that his crime was 'only' statutory rape. Manny sarcastically replies "That's good...".

Answer: "We're going to Las Vegas to see Wayne Newton."

Specifically, Buck says: "We're on our way to Las Vegas to see our really close personal friend, Wayne Newton."

The imagery of two hardened criminals dabbing their teary eyes with handkerchiefs as Wayne sings "Daddy, don't you walk so fast" makes me laugh!

Answer: "Worse, I'm human."

This scene strengthens the belief that Manny is fully aware of his place in society - he considers his actions to be lower than that of an animal. It was just before this scene that he informed Buck that if he (Manny) died, Buck was going with him.

Answer: "The wheels come off"

Prior to this, Manny had discussed his intention to jump from the train. In his desperation to impress his senior partner, Buck had stated "I'm with you Manny. I'm with you till the wheels fall off." Shortly after this, Manny takes advantage of his manipulation of Buck by making him climb around the outside of the train, almost sending him to his death.

Answer: "Your brains are too small to imagine."

Warden Ranken (played by John P. Ryan) gives a superb interpretation of the Prison Warden who is hell-bent on retrieving his escapees. As the film progresses, it becomes apparent that this is more important to his own ego than it is to any sense of right or wrong. In my own experience, by the end of the film, I found myself siding more with Manny than I did with the Warden!

Answer: "We've been breakin' through doors all our lives."

Sara tells Manny that she had already tried to get the door open, but it was jammed. She suggests that the collision must have jammed it shut. Manny replies "Don't you worry sweetheart, we've been breakin' through doors all our lives." Note: They couldn't get the door open.

Answer: He gets some fingers crushed in between the couplers.

When crossing between locomotives, Manny falls and barely survives the incident. He manages to drag himself back up, but in the process the fingers on his left hand get crushed in the couplers.

Answer: "It's just you and me."

Manny says "It's just you and me" to Warden Ranken after he has managed to handcuff him inside the doomed locomotive. From his position of sheer helplessness, Ranken continues to attempt to assert his authority over Manny by 'ordering' him to stop the train. Manny's simple response to the futility of the request is to smile.

He then climbs onto the top of the locomotive, symbolically spreads his arms in the shape of a crucifix, and rides to his (and Ranken's) presumed high speed demise.