Disaster on the Coastliner (TV 1979)

A vengeful employee of a computer-controlled railway arranges a head-on collision of passenger trains. Can it be stopped?

Director:

Richard C. Sarafian

Writer:

David Ambrose

Stars:

Lloyd Bridges, Raymond Burr, Robert Fuller

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lloyd Bridges	...	Al Mitchell
Raymond Burr	...	Estes Hill
Robert Fuller	...	Matt Leigh
Pat Hingle	...	John Marsh
E.G. Marshall	...	Roy Snyder
Yvette Mimieux	...	Paula Harvey
William Shatner	...	Stuart Peters
Paul L. Smith	...	Jim Waterman / Victor Prescott
Arthur Malet	...	Southbound Conductor
Harry Caesar	...	Northbound Conductor
Jacque Lynn Colton	...	Mrs. Shanks
Lane Smith	...	John Carlson
Sandy McPeak	...	Hennessey
Virginia Kiser
Rockne Tarkington

Storyline

Victor Prescott, who's real name is Jim Waterman, modifies the computer controlling the railroad track (signals, switches, alarms) between San Francisco and Los Angeles in such a way that two trains are heading towards each other on the same track without anyone being able to prevent the disaster. He wants the railroad company to confess that there was criminal negligence involved in an accident some years before during which a derail caused several fatalities - including Waterman's wife and kids.

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Plot Keywords:

train | disaster | railway | collision | business | 

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Genres:

Action | Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 October 1979 (USA)

Also Known As:

Den stora tågkraschen

Filming Locations:

East Lyme, Connecticut, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Filmways Television, Moonlight Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min 120 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

The trains are supposed to be owned by a fictional railroad. However, the name "Amtrak" is visible on all the trains.

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Connections

Referenced in The Captains (2011)

User Reviews

Very Dumb but Entertaining

Disaster on the Coastliner (1979)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Lloyd Bridges, Raymond Burr, William Shatner, Pat Hingle, E.G. Marshall, Robert Fuller and Paul L. Smith headline this made-for-TV disaster pic that contains some good suspense even though the actual story is perhaps the dumbest of the genre. A man (Smith) wants to prove that a derailment six years earlier was covered up so he hijacks a train, rigs all the computer controls and is prepared to crash the train into another one that just happens to be carrying the Vice President's wife. I love disaster films and anyone who does will probably want to check this thing out, although there's no question that the actual story might be the dumbest I've ever seen. Now, I'll admit that I'm no railroad expert but the bad guy had way too easy of a time getting his plan carried out and it seems like the good guys had way too much trouble trying to stop the train. We get a few reasons as to why they can't stop the train but these here are just incredibly silly and quite often had me laughing pretty hard. One of the stories is that the bad guy is communicating with the other engineer and tells him that terrorists are trying to take the train over. There are other small gimmicks that the bad guy uses to try and pull this off and they're just as silly. Half-way through the picture we get the reason that the bad guy is doing all this stuff and the film tries to make us feel sorry for him but this little plot point didn't work even though Smith gives the best performance in the film. Shatner gets to play a bad guy with a heart of gold. Burr pretty much just stays seated but he's at least entertaining. Bridges is a real hoot playing a government guy at the trains main station and seeing him pull out of gun twice in the film will give you a guaranteed laugh. As silly as many of the plot points are, there's no question that the movie also has some very tense moments. The entire lead-up to the disaster are very well directed and I thought the final fifteen-minutes were extremely tense. It's a real shame that a lot of these tense moments as well as some nice action pieces are letdown due to a rather weak screenplay. With that said, if you enjoy these made-for-TV movies then you might as well check this one out.