Main Cast: Michael O'Keefe, Beverly D'Angelo, Louis Gossett, Jr., Ed Lauter, David Wayne
Release Year: 1984
Country: US
Run Time: 96 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
In this slapstick chase-adventure, some unlikely heroes try to outwit each other for possession of a huge stash of cash hidden on the train they are all riding together. The comedy is a little uneven here or at least not to everyone's taste, and the pace is fast-forward frantic. Josef (Ed Lauter) and Georgiana (Pamela Stephenson) manage to break into her father's estate and swipe $5 million in cash from the safe, with plans to spirit the money across country on a train. Meanwhile, Michael (Michael O'Keefe) is a con man being chased by irate women on a roller derby team who have reason to be angry with him. He zips into a second-hand clothing store and dons the disguise of an army uniform, hoping to board a train for New York unnoticed. But when an officer gets suspicious at the station, Michael retorts that he is escorting a nearby coffin -- a coffin that actually contains the stolen $5 mil. The thieves are also nearby, but for reasons of their own, they go along with Michael's charade. Along for the ride are a neurotic woman (Beverly D'Angelo), an eccentric train conductor (David Wayne), a stowaway Vietnam defector, a blond woman of the underworld, a nymphomaniac, and briefly, a crafty con man (Louis Gosset Jr.). From that point onward, episodic vignettes are tossed here and there as the train moves ever closer to New York, and the protagonists try to outmaneuver each other for the money. Viewers may note that along for his fourth cinematic ride is Jim Carrey in a bit part. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
Brian Dennehy - Mayor Frizzoli; John Schuck - Police chief Norris; Pamela Stephenson - Georgiana Latimer; Jim Carrey - Lane Biddlecoff; Jack Riley - Agent Ormond; Harvey Atkin - Salesman in Train; Timothy Blake - Estelle Norris; Jayne Eastwood - Anna-Marie Biddlecoff; Frances Flanagan - Nadine Gardner; Alf Humphreys - Mulholland; Paul Jolicoeur - Deputy Police Chief Dunaway; Campbell Lane - Stanton Gilmore; Blu Mankuma - Wade Eichorn; Richard Newman - Pawnbroker; Wayne Robson - Zev Tyndale; Robert Clothier - Art Bumbalee; John Stocker - UBS Editor; Margaret Martin - Flo Huberside
Credit
Dennis Washington - Art Director, Dusty Symonds - Associate Producer, Yvonne Blake - Costume Designer, Christopher Newman - First Assistant Director, Richard Lester - Director, John Victor Smith - Editor, Richard Lester - Executive Producer, Ken Thorne - Composer (Music Score), Terence Marsh - Production Designer, Brian West - Cinematographer, Richard Lester - Producer, Terence Marsh - Producer, Michael Seirton - Set Designer, Charles Dennis - Screen Story, Charles Dennis - Screenwriter, Terence Marsh - Screenwriter, Ronny Graham - Screenwriter, Charles Dennis - Book Author
