Money Train
Short description
Money Train follows two foster brothers, John and Charlie, who work as transit police in the New York City subway. Charlie is a compulsive gambler drowning in debt to gangsters, while John is the steadier of the two. When Charlie learns about the armored train that collects the subway's nightly takings, he dreams up a plan to rob it, both to clear his debts and to strike back at Donald Patterson, the brothers' abrasive security chief, who threatens their jobs. John tries to talk him out of it. Complicating matters is Grace Santiago, a police detective newly assigned to their unit, with whom both brothers become involved. A pyromaniac killer stalking the stations adds further trouble, and the heist is set for New Year's Eve.
Joseph Ruben directed the film, which sits between The Good Son and Return to Paradise in his filmography. Doug Richardson wrote the screenplay. Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson play John and Charlie, with Jennifer Lopez as Grace, Robert Blake as Patterson, and Chris Cooper as Torch. The production, from Columbia Pictures and Peters Entertainment, cost about 68 million dollars and returned roughly 77 million worldwide, a modest result against its budget.
Audience response has been middling: on IMDb it holds 5.7 out of 10 from around 45,000 votes, and on TMDB 5.9 out of 10 from about 900 votes. A film critics' rating of 4.3 out of 10, drawn from 32 reviews, sits below both audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Initially, director Tony Scott and screenwriter Doug Richardson were working on the film. Subsequently, Scott left the project, and Joseph Rubin, chosen to replace him, first fired Richardson and ordered a rewrite of the script.
- Most of the subway scenes were filmed on a specially built set over a kilometer long, accurately replicating the New York subway – with two tracks and three stations. The ceilings, however, were much higher. Initially, the filmmakers intended to shoot in the actual subway, but they were unable to solve all the logistical problems associated with it.
- Cameron Diaz and Catherine Zeta-Jones auditioned for the role of Grace Santiago.
- The scenes at the Wall Street station were filmed at the 14th Street-Union Square station on the Lexington Avenue line, IRT. The 33rd Street station, also on this line, was also used for filming. Old R-30 model cars made of regular steel were used in scenes filmed on the set. Where filming took place in the actual subway, R-62 model cars made of stainless steel were used.
- The money in the film was transported in an R-21 model car, modified to the point that it no longer resembled the cash trains actually used for transporting currency.
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