Hell Train (1985)

This movie starts with three men arrested for disorderly conduct at a dance. After they are released, they take a train trip, vent their continuing anger on a young Arab, and kill the man ... See full summary »

Director:

Roger Hanin

Writers:

Jean Curtelin, Roger Hanin

Stars:

Karim Allaoui, Béatrice Camurat, Jean-Claude de Goros

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Karim Allaoui	...	Karim
Béatrice Camurat	...	Mme Salviat
Jean-Claude de Goros	...	Agent grade
Fabrice Eberhard	...	Lacombe
Farid Gazzah	...	Mehdi
Hammou Graïa	...	Arabe assassiné
Nathalie Guérin	...	Mme Guilabert
Roger Hanin	...	Commissaire Couturier
Sam Karmann	...	Duval
Gérard Klein	...	Salviat
Alain Lahaye	...	Poli
Rabah Loucif	...	Farid
Xavier Maly	...	Legoff
Jacques Nolot	...	Lancry
Christine Pascal	...	Isabelle

Storyline

This movie starts with three men arrested for disorderly conduct at a dance. After they are released, they take a train trip, vent their continuing anger on a young Arab, and kill the man by forcing him out of a window on the speeding train. Their crime is witnessed by Isabelle (Christine Pascal) and reported to the police, enabling commissioner Couturier (Roger Hanin) to find the killers. The major problem now is to prevent a race riot when right-wing extremists falsely accuse some Arabs of reprehensible actions and the townspeople gather to demonstrate at the prison.

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Plot Keywords:

train | arab | right wing extremists | police | riot | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in The Cinema Snob: Son of Sleepaway Camp (2012)

User Reviews

Incident on the northbound train

Based on a true story which sadly may happen again today.

There were harsh words said of this plea against racism at the time of issue ,and I can see little fault with the opinions expressed ,including that of the precedent user;it proves,one more time,that good intentions do not walk hand in hand with good results.

Roger Hanin stepped into two of his predecessors' shoes:André Cayatte and Yves Boisset ,whose "Dupont-Lajoie" he probably had in mind .But these two directors,often unfairly despised by the "true" connoisseurs of the French cinema ,the likes of the N.V. clique,had ,by and large,firm and strong screenplays and they knew how to direct their actors (remember Jean Carmet and Jean-Pierre Marielle in "Dupont -Lajoie".) In Hanin' s flick ,they are left to their own devices,and even good thespians such as Robin Renucci and the late Christine Pascal are bad.

The dialog is abysmal ,every line you hear is a cliché ;so heavy-handed ,as the precedent user aptly wrote ,it's sometimes involuntarily comic.

One can save ,at a pinch ,the last sequence ,told in the third conditional ,which shows some emotion .

NB:not to be confused with Gilles Grangier's eponymous movie (1965).

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

9 January 1985 (France)

Also Known As:

Hell Train

Company Credits

Production Co:

Canal+, Hachette Première, TF1 Films Production

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color