Weekly Theme

Weekly Theme for February 9: Public Transportation

C'mon Magic Bus.....................

Or would you prefer The Double-Dutch Bus.......... fo-shizzle.

Lets talk about movies or scenes that take place in or revolve around various forms of public transportation.

Hmmm, let's see. There's buses. Such as the Brazillian documentary Bus  174 about a hostage stand-off. Oh yeah, there's allways "Pop quiz hot-shot!"

How about subways and trains? I loved Dark Days. A doc about the people that live in underground in the subway systems of NY. I also really liked a Hungarian movie called Kontroll that takes place entirely in the subways of Budapest. Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes was about a train ride and Kurosawa's High and Low has a great scene on a train. (my beautiful wifey bought me that one for Christmas) I read he used something like 9 different camera angles to get that scene and in such a small space it was quite an accomplishment.

I know taxies aren't exactly "public" transportation but let's throw those in there too. You've got Taxi DriverTaxi Driver (1976) and I think Micheal Mann made a pretty underrated movie with Collateral to name a couple.

So, what else??

Re:Weekly Theme for February 9: Public Transportation

How about The Great Train Robbery (1979)

and Mission: Impossible.

Jackie Chan did a funny scene in Rush Hour where he was trying to get away from Chris Tucker.

There's also Back to the Future Part III (1990) which has that great train scene.

And while Wanted was a truly terrible film it had a great train wreck scene.

Re:Weekly Theme for February 9: Public Transportation

Europa (or Zentropa, whatever you prefer I guess) is all about trains and Nazis. The opening sequence with train tracks serving as a device for hypnotism is absolutely brilliant.

Wanted has a kick-ass fight scene on a train, with hundreds of human lives lost in the pursuit of one guy. Thankfully, nobody seems to care about those people that fall into the canyon.

Night on Earth is a movie about conversations and encounters in taxis, and it has an early Winona Ryder performance. She's actually quite annoying, but the movie's great.

Re:Weekly Theme for February 9: Public Transportation

Do airplanes count?  Airplane! is pretty darn funny:p

These are probably more about road trips in general than public transportation, but Planes, Trains, and Automobiles and Midnight Run might count, right?

Transsiberian is a recent thriller on a train.  Didn't love it, but a lot of people seemed to think it was pretty good. Another recent horror movie on a train is Midnight Meat Train.  Again, not especially groundbreaking stuff, but somewhat entertaining.

I keep feeling like I'm really missing something obvious.  Grrr.  A lot of what I'm thinking of are just road trip movies, or movies that feature scenes on public transit... (like Dogma, which I'm not sure qualifies)

Re:Weekly Theme for February 9: Public Transportation

The closing scene of The Graduate.

The bus Will Farrell never misses in Stranger Than Fiction.

The train packed full of hippies in Festival Express.

The train systems of India in Slumdog Millionaire and The Darjeeling Limited.

The zeppelin in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

The commuter train where Spider-Man fights Dr. Octopus in Spider-Man 2.

Anna Faris using the bus for the first time in Smiley Face.

Re:Weekly Theme for February 9: Public Transportation

hmmmm. how about Sliding Doors? The story line splits in two when she is trying to make the train. Such a great movie, I watched it all the time when I was younger, so now I have a big thing for Gwenyth Paltrow (Martin?). Has anyone seen her on the PBS show Spain...On The Road Again? omg, it's pretty amazing. It's her, Mario Batali, Mark Bittman, and this great spanish actress. They just travel around and eat really amazing food. I could watch it all day. and some times I do. when they have marathons. that was a fun tangent.

Re:Weekly Theme for February 9: Public Transportation

leeroy711:

How about subways and trains? I loved Dark Days. A doc about the people that live in underground in the subway systems of NY. I also really liked a Hungarian movie called Kontroll that takes place entirely in the subways of Budapest. Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes was about a train ride and Kurosawa's High and Low has a great scene on a train. (my beautiful wifey bought me that one for Christmas) I read he used something like 9 different camera angles to get that scene and in such a small space it was quite an accomplishment.

Well the two films I immediatly thought about with this are subway movies.  The Taking of Pelham One Two Three and Dutchman.  I'm really surprised that no one mentioned the former.  It's one of my favorite movies!!  And pretty well known I thought.  It's focused on all ends of the public transit system, and a great thriller.  And many times hilarious too.

Dutchman is based on a play.  It's basically a filmed play that takes place entirely within a subway car.  And there are only two speaking roles.  Pretty good if you are interested in that kind of thing.  Lots of stuff about racism and sexism.