History Film / TheTrain

* ItsAllAboutMe: All von Waldheim cares about is his train with its art cargo; and any other trains no matter how important for the rest of the Nazis (like supplies for the troops on the French front) will have to wait until his own passes. As well, Papa Boulle only cares about "his" train - only he will run it, only he will ''sabotage'' it, he cares none about what gets in the way of his train running smoothly that he didn't had a hand on (including a plan to try to prevent it from getting blown up by Allied bombers and slowing it down) [[spoiler:and when Labiche almost manages to convince von Waldheim to not shoot Papa Boulle for sabotaging said train by reminding him that Boulle drove right through the bombing without slowing down, [[Ungrateful Bastard: Papa Boulle insults von Waldheim and admits to being the saboteur because Labiche implies that Boulle will stop being the train's conductor (and, being an "old man", probably didn't saw who did the sabotage), sealing his fate]].]]

* ItsAllAboutMe: All von Waldheim cares about is his train with its art cargo; and any other trains no matter how important for the rest of the Nazis (like supplies for the troops on the French front) will have to wait until his own passes. As well, Papa Boulle only cares about "his" train - only he will run it, only he will ''sabotage'' it, he cares none about what gets in the way of his train running smoothly that he didn't had a hand on (including a plan to try to prevent it from getting blown up by Allied bombers and slowing it down) [[spoiler:and when Labiche almost manages to convince von Waldheim to not shoot Papa Boulle for sabotaging said train by reminding him that Boulle drove right through the bombing without slowing down, [[UngreatfulBastard Papa Boulle insults von Waldheim because Labiche implies that Boulle will stop being the train's conductor, sealing his fate]].]]

Not a huge hit at the time, ''The Train'' has long since been VindicatedByHistory, now widely regarded as "the last great black and white adventure movie" and a forerunner to films like ''DieHard''. It was even ranked No. 1 in Trains Magazine's special issue, "The 100 Greatest Train Movies."

** And actor BurtLancaster off screen as well. He re-aggravated an old knee injury on a day off from filming but he was determined to keep doing his own stunts, even with a bad leg, as he prided himself on having NoStuntDouble. To compensate for this, Lancaster and Frankenheimer had his character get shot in the leg so that he could limp through the rest of the film.

* IShallTauntYou: [[spoiler:The ending when von Waldheim mocks Labiche for not understanding the value of the art he has spent the whole film fighting to secure. The original ending called for von Waldheim to engage Labiche in a shoot out, but once Paul Scofield was cast as von Waldheim it was felt that physically he would be no match for the rugged, larger than life BurtLancaster, even if only in a gun fight, so the ending was changed to have von Waldheim criticize Labiche for not valuing his own country's national heritage represented by the art.]]

* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: BurtLancaster sounds as New York as ever as the French Labiche, reportedly because he was "tone deaf" when it came to accents. Averted with Paul Scofield, who makes a respectable stab at a German accent.

The year is 1944 and the Allies are closing in on the Nazis in Paris. [[NaziNobleman German Colonel von Waldheim]] (Scofield), an [[WickedCultured avid admirer of great art,]] secures a train to transport France's greatest paintings to Germany. [[LaResistance The French Resistance,]] which includes train station manager Labiche (Lancaster), are determined to make sure they don't lose their greatest artistic treasures, but they have orders from London to make sure the paintings are not damaged in the process.

* MookLieutenant: Several, particularly Lt. Pilzer and Sgt. Schwartz.

* SpySpeak: "The cheese is on the train. Save a piece for Pierre and Raoul."

* CulturedWarrior / WickedCultured: Col. von Waldheim.

* FauxAffablyEvil: Waldheim's first scene has him discussing the stolen art with the museum curator, coming off as intelligent, cultured and sensitive (we learn that he's preserved the art and refused to send it to Germany). Then his men show up to plunder the museum.

* NaziNobleman: Col. von Waldheim is not explicitly stated to have a title, but the "von" in his name, along with his demeanour and taste in art, suggest that he comes from an upper-class background.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Von Waldheim's men abandon him at the end of the film.

* VillainousBreakdown: Col. von Waldheim becomes increasingly crazed and obsessed as the movie progresses.

* IShallTauntYou: [[spoiler:The ending when Von Waldheim mocks Labiche for not understanding the value of the art he has spent the whole film fighting to secure. The original ending called for Von Waldheim to engage Labiche in a shoot out, but once Paul Scofield was cast as Von Waldheim it was felt that physically he would be no match for the rugged, larger than life BurtLancaster, even if only in a gun fight, so the ending was changed to have Von Waldheim criticize Labiche for not valuing his own country's national heritage represented by the art.]]

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: [[spoiler:At the end of the film when the train is finally derailed - with the art safely intact - Labiche and Von Waldheim come face to face, with Labiche armed with a machine gun and a desire to kill clearly in his eyes. Von Waldheim calmly proceeds to chastise Labiche for not appreciating the precious art that he has spent the entire film fighting to save, even going so far as to observe that the valuable paintings, part of his national heritage, means about as much to Labiche as "a string of pearls to an ape", meaning that Labiche can never truly appreciate his own victory, while Von Waldheim and others like him will always be able to appreciate the great art in ways that Labiche cannot. Labiche guns Von Waldheim down anyway.]]

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'''The Train''' is a 1964 film directed by John Frankenheimer, starring BurtLancaster, Paul Scofield, and Jeanne Moreau.

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[[caption-width-right:421:Labiche pleads with von Waldheim to spare Papa Boule]]

* NaziNobleman: Col. von Waldheim.

* UngratefulBastard: [[spoiler:Papa Boule, the old train engineer and apparent ParentalSubstitute Labiche tries to save from being killed by the Nazis for sabotage.]]

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: [[spoiler:At the end of the film when the train is finally derailed - with the art safely intact - Labiche and Von Waldheim come face to face, with Labiche armed with a machine gun and a desire to kill clearly in his eyes. Von Waldheim calmly proceeds to chastise Labiche for not appreciating the precious art that he has spent the entire film fighting to save, even going so far as to observe that the valuable paintings, part of his national heritage, means about as much to Labiche as "a string of pearls to an ape", meaning that Labiche can never truly appreciate his own victory, while Von Waldheim and others like him will always be able to appreciate the great art in ways that Labiche cannot. Labiche guns Von Waldheim down anyway.]]
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Labiche is motivated more by a desire to avenge the death of one of his oldest and dearest comrades than he is to reclaim and protect the train's art.

* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: BurtLancaster sounds as New York as ever as the French Labiche, reportedly because he was "tone deaf" when it came to accents.

* OneLastJob: leading to {{Retirony}} for [[spoiler:Pesquet and Didont.]]

The year is 1944 and the Allies are closing in on the Nazis in Paris. [[NaziNobleman German Colonel von Waldheim]] (Scofield), an avid admirer of great art, secures a train to transport France's greatest paintings to Germany. [[LaResistance The French Resistance,]] which includes train station manager Labiche (Lancaster), are determined to make sure they don't lose their greatest artistic treasures, but they have orders from London to make sure the paintings are not damaged in the process.

* Sarcastic Confession: When Christine is hiding Labiche in the wine cellar of her hotel, the Germans come asking where he is.

** Christine: Yes, I see him every day, and General de Gaulle too. They're my best customers, and I keep them cool in the wine cellar.

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: The movie is based on the book ''Le Front de l'art'' by [[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Valland Rose Valland.]]

The year is 1944 and the Allies are closing in on the Nazis in Paris. German Colonel Von Waldheim (Scofield), an avid admirer of great art, secures a train to transport France's greatest paintings to Germany. The French Resistance, which includes train station manager Labiche (Lancaster), are determined to make sure they don't lose their greatest artistic treasures, but they have orders from London to make sure the paintings are not damaged in the process.

* TheDeterminator: Both Labiche and Von Waldheim.

* UngratefulBastard: [[spoiler:Papa Boule, the old train engineer and apparent ParentalSubstitute Labiche tries to save from being killed by the Nazis for sabotage.]]

* IShallTauntYou: [[spoiler:The ending when Von Waldheim mocks Labiche for not understanding the value of the art he has spent the whole film fighting to secure.]]

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Labiche is motivated more by a desire to avenge the death of one of his oldest and dearest comrades than he is to reclaim and protect the train's art.

** And BurtLancaster as well. He re-aggravated an old knee injury on a day off from filming but he was determined to keep doing his own stunts, even with a bad leg, as he prided himself on having NoStuntDouble. To compensate for this, Lancaster and Frankenheimer had his character get shot in the leg so that he could limp through the rest of the film.

* TheReasonsYouSuckSpeech: [[spoiler:At the end of the film when the train is finally derailed - with the art safely intact - Labiche and Von Waldheim come face to face, with Labiche armed with a machine gun and a desire to kill clearly in his eyes. Von Waldheim calmly proceeds to chastise Labiche for not appreciating the precious art that he has spent the entire film fighting to save, even going so far as to observe that the valuable paintings, part of his national heritage, means about as much to Labiche as "a string of pearls to an ape", meaning that Labiche can never truly appreciate his own victory, while Von Waldheim and others like him will always be able to appreciate the great art in ways that Labiche cannot. Labiche guns Von Waldheim down anyway.]]