US
1996
1hr 50mins
Dir: Brian de Palma
Starring: Tom Cruise and Vanessa Redgrave
A secret agent is determined to find the killer of his colleagues
This action spy film was based on the popular television series of the same name and despite it being a ludicrous Hollywood remake, it proved to be another Hollywood blockbuster. There is a very comical railway sequence in the final half-hour where Tom Cruise has to foil an attack on the French TGV heading through the Channel Tunnel (?). Viewers might notice something very strange about the TGV in that it is speeding along without any overhead wires and with Tom Cruise on the roof! The real story is a fascinating one that illustrates just how far movie-making techniques have progressed since the early silent days. A pair of Class 33/1 diesels with a Class 491 4 TC set were filmed from a helicopter on the ex-Glasgow & South Western Railway’s Carlisle-Glasgow route via Dumfries. A computerised image of a TGV was then superimposed over the British train during production. A giveaway to the location is that at one point the train passes over Ballochmyle Viaduct, four miles north west of Auchinleck. There are some more conventional scenes filmed on the concourse of London Liverpool Street station with some additional shots of the separate street entrance to the London Underground across the road from the main line terminus.
