There is something so uniquely cinematic about trains, which must be why there are so many movies set on trains. It is one of the most underused modes of transportation these days, especially after the invention of the commercial jet (which would lead to many movies set on planes as well), but its nostalgic qualities continue to captivate Hollywood to this day. There are train movies of all different styles, tones, and genres so let’s not leave any stops unacknowledged as we cover the greatest hits.
Silver Streak (1976)
Director: Arthur Hiller
Starring: Gene Wilder, Richard Pryor
What it’s about: A book editor witnesses a murder on a long-distance train ride, is thrown off board by the perpetrators, and teams up with a car thief to help him get back on.
Why it is one of the best movies set on a train: Also starring Jill Clayburgh, Silver Streak is one of the funniest and most thrilling of Wilder and Pryor’s many collaborations.
How to watch Silver Streak
The Great Train Robbery (1978)
Director: Michael Crichton
Starring: Sean Connery, Donald Sutherland
What it’s about: A brilliant thief plans to steal a large amount of gold loot from the safe of a train traveling through 1850s England.
Why it is one of the best movies set on a train: Crichton adapts his own fact-based novel, The Great Train Robbery, into one of the slickest heist movies of its time.
How to watch The Great Train Robbery
- Stream The Great Train Robbery on MGM+
- Stream The Great Train Robbery on Tubi
- Rent or buy The Great Train Robbery on Amazon
- Buy The Great Train Robbery on Blu-ray on Amazon
The Midnight Meat Train (2008)
Director: Ryuhei Kitamura
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Vinnie Jones
What it’s about: A photographer investigates the connection between a missing woman he met at a subway station and an esteemed local butcher.
Why it is one of the best movies set on a train: Witness one of most underrated Bradley Cooper performances in the underrated horror film, The Midnight Meat Train, which is adapted from a short story by Clive Barker.
How to watch The Midnight Meat Train
- Stream The Midnight Meat Train on Tubi
- Rent or buy The Midnight Meat Train on Amazon
- Buy The Midnight Meat Train on Blu-ray on Amazon
Transsiberian (2008)
Director: Brad Anderson
Starring: Woody Harrelson, Emily Mortimer
What it’s about: An American couple becomes embroiled in a dangerous situation when they cross paths with two other travelers on a train ride from China to Moscow.
Why it is one of the best movies set on a train: Also starring Sir Ben Kingsley and Kate Mara, Transsiberian is just the kind of thriller that fans of mysterious stories set on trains crave.
How to watch Transsiberian
- Stream Transsiberian on Amazon Prime
- Stream Transsiberian on Tubi
- Buy Transsiberian on Blu-ray on Amazon
Bullet Train (2022)
Director: David Leitch
Starring: Brad Pitt, Joey King
What it’s about: A luckless American assassin hoping to peacefully complete his assignment to retrieve a briefcase from a Japanese train discovers that there are other violent people on board with the same goal.
Why it is one of the best movies set on a train: The star-studded Bullet Train cast comes together to beat the crap out of each other in this cartoonishly funny, non-stop action thrill ride inspired by Kotaro Isaka’s novel
How to watch Bullet Train
Murder On The Orient Express (2017)
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Penélope Cruz
What it’s about: A world-famous Belgian private investigator boards a train to London where he is forced to use his detective skills to figure out which of his fellow travelers is responsible for the sudden, mysterious death of one passenger.
Why it is one of the best movies set on a train: The most recent adaptation of Agatha Christie’s classic whodunit and one of the more famous of her Hercule Poirot-led novels, Murder on the Orient Express, is yet another star-studded tale of international intrigue on railroad tracks.
How to watch Murder on the Orient Express
- Rent or buy Murder on the Orient Express on Amazon
- Buy Murder on the Orient Express on Blu-ray on Amazon
The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Margaret Lockwood, May Whitty
What it’s about: An engaged woman on a train leaving Europe searches for a missing English governess whom other passengers claim was never onboard.
Why it is one of the best movies set on a train: A great whodunnit on Amazon Prime is The Lady Vanishes — the original adaptation of Ethel Lina White’s story, “The Wheel Spins,” and one of the best movies directed by Alfred Hitchcock for the timelessly clever ways it succeeds in playing with expectations.
How to watch The Lady Vanishes
- Stream The Lady Vanishes on Amazon Prime
- Stream The Lady Vanishes on Max
- Stream The Lady Vanishes on Tubi
- Buy The Lady Vanishes on Blu-ray on Amazon
The Commuter (2018)
Director: Jaume Collet-Sera
Starring: Liam Neeson, Vera Farmiga
What it’s about: A cop-turned-insurance salesman on his daily commute home is forced to rediscover and use his detective skills when a stranger makes him an offer that puts him, the other passengers on his train, and his family in danger.
Why it is one of the best movies set on a train: If another one of Neeson’s best movies directed by Collet-Sera, Non-Stop, was set on a train instead of a plane, it would turn out a lot like the entertainingly absurd The Commuter.
How to watch The Commuter
- Stream The Commuter on Netflix
- Rent or buy The Commuter on Amazon
- Buy The Commuter on Blu-ray on Amazon
Source Code (2011)
Director: Duncan Jones
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan
What it’s about: A military officer is forced to help investigate a terrorist bombing that took place on a train by inhabiting the body of one of the passengers just minutes before the incident occurs.
Why it is one of the best movies set on a train: Another one of the best Vera Farmiga movies set primarily on a train is Source Code — a cleverly constructed sci-fi twist on this location-specific mystery subgenre.
How to watch Source Code
- Stream Source Code on Hulu
- Stream Source Code on Tubi
- Rent or buy Source Code on Amazon
- Buy Source Code on Blu-ray on Amazon
Train To Busan (2016)
Director: Sang-ho Yeon
Starring: Gong Yoo, Su-an Kim
What it’s about: A South Korean executive takes his daughter to visit her mother by train as a virus turning fellow passengers into violent cannibals breaks out.
Why it is one of the best movies set on a train: One of the most realistically frightening zombie movies in more recent years is Train to Busan — a relentlessly brutal one-way trip into hell.
How to watch Train to Busan
- Stream Train to Busan on Tubi
- Rent or buy Train to Busan on Amazon
- Buy Train to Busan on Blu-ray on Amazon
Snowpiercer (2014)
Director: Bong Joon-ho
Starring: Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton
What it’s about: Several people board a self-sustaining bullet train right before a failed climate change experiment leaves the world uninhabitable, leading them to develop a fascist class system that the underprivileged passengers intend to rebel against.
Why it is one of the best movies set on a train: One of the best Chris Evans movies is Snowpiercer — a visually stunning, intensely gripping, and thought-provoking adaptation of a French dystopian graphic novel which was later reimagined into a series on TNT.
How to watch Snowpiercer
The Taking Of Pelham 123 (2009)
Director: Tony Scott
Starring: Denzel Washington, John Travolta
What it’s about: A transit dispatcher must take action against armed hijackers who board a New York subway, threatening to kill passengers if their demands are not met.
Why it is one of the best movies set on a train: The train may not move here, but the thrills never stop in The Taking of Pelham 123, which is a fun remote cat-and-mouse game based on the novel by John Godey.
How to watch The Taking of Pelham 123
Unstoppable (2010)
Director: Tony Scott
Starring: Denzel Washington, Chris Pine
What it’s about: A veteran train engineer and a rookie conductor try to prevent a disaster when an unmanned freight train carrying hazardous and explosive chemicals is accidentally left charging toward a small town.
Why it is one of the best movies set on a train: Scott followed up The Taking of Pelham 123 with Unstoppable – another more fast-paced high-stakes thriller set on a train also starring Washington, which is also inspired by a true story.
How to watch Unstoppable
Runaway Train (1985)
Director: Andrey Konchalovskiy
Starring: Jon Voight, Eric Roberts
What it’s about: Two prison escapees are forced to fight for their lives, along with a railway worker (played by Rebecca DeMornay), after boarding a train that is suddenly left speeding along with no brakes and no one at the controls.
Why it is one of the best movies set on a train: An earlier film about a runaway train is… well, Runaway Train, which earned both Voight and Roberts Academy Award nominations for their electrifying performances in this gripping ‘80s movie classic.
How to watch Runaway Train
- Stream Runaway Train on Amazon Prime
- Stream Runaway Train on Tubi
- Buy Runaway Train on Blu-ray on Amazon
The General (1926)
Director: Buster Keaton, Clyde Bruckman
Starring: Buster Keaton, Marion Mack
What it’s about: During the American Civil War, an accident-prone railroad engineer tries to retrieve a locomotive stolen by enemy soldiers who are also holding the woman of his dreams captive.
Why it is one of the best movies set on a train: One of the earliest films about an ordinary hero chasing down a train is The General, which is, perhaps, the most famous and most exciting film starring comedic (and famously death-defiant) silent film icon Keaton.
How to watch The General
- Stream The General on Amazon Prime
- Stream The General on Tubi
- Rent or buy The General on Blu-ray on Amazon
The Darjeeling Limited (2007)
Director: Wes Anderson
Starring: Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman
What it’s about: One year after last meeting for their father’s funeral, three estranged brothers board a train traveling through India in an attempt to reconcile their differences.
Why it is one of the best movies set on a train: A more recent, more subtle, and quirky comedy set primarily on a train is The Darjeeling Limited — one of the best Wes Anderson movies, which the aesthetically and tonally distinct filmmaker also co-wrote with star Schwartzman and Roman Coppola.
How to watch The Darjeeling Limited
The Polar Express (2004)
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Tom Hanks, Daryl Sabara
What it’s about: As he struggles with his belief in Santa Claus, a young boy is offered the chance to board a train heading toward the North Pole.
Why it is one of the best movies set on a train: Zemeckis’ first feature-length experiment with performance capture, The Polar Express, a fun holiday film perfect for the whole family, based on author and illustrator Chris Van Allsburg’s cherished children’s book.
How to watch The Polar Express
I suppose there is just no other mode of transportation more poised to be captured on film than a train. See for yourself by streaming the diverse titles above.
