US
1984
1hr 30mins
Dirs: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker
Starring: Val Kilmer and Lucy Gutteridge
A rock star finds himself embroiled in espionage behind the Iron Curtain
This spoof action comedy was quite well received and features opening scenes that involve a train journey in East Germany. This was in fact filmed on the Nene Valley Railway and used Swedish Railways (SJ) B Class 4-6-0 No.101 as the motive power on a train formed of some of the line’s Continental coaching stock. Unfortunately, the majority of the sequence was filmed at night, and several shots are just of the wheels and motion, so the views of the loco are rather limited. None the less, the final scene depicts a good daytime shot of the whole train passing through the countryside alongside the River Nene. The opening scene with Omar Sharif fighting on top of the train is a parody of Sulliven’s Travels by Preston Sturges, which started off with a fight on top of a train. As is the case with the movies from the ZAZ stable (Airplane!, Hot Shots!) the scenes in the film are accompanied by some good visual gags.
