Disaster on the Coastliner
1979 American television film
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Disaster on the Coastliner is a 1979 American made-for-television action drama film. It was directed by Richard C. Sarafian and starred Lloyd Bridges, Raymond Burr, Robert Fuller, Pat Hingle, E. G. Marshall, Yvette Mimieux, William Shatner, and Paul L. Smith. It originally aired on The ABC Sunday Night Movie on October 28, 1979.
| Disaster on the Coastliner | |
|---|---|
a movie poster showing helicopters seeing two mans that leaning on the Amtrak EMD F40PH locomotive. | |
| Genre | Action Drama |
| Written by | David Ambrose |
| Directed by | Richard C. Sarafian |
| Starring | Lloyd Bridges Raymond Burr Robert Fuller Pat Hingle E. G. Marshall Yvette Mimieux William Shatner Paul L. Smith |
| Theme music composer | Gerald Fried |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Producer | Frank von Zerneck |
| Production locations | East Lyme, Connecticut Groton, Connecticut |
| Cinematography | Fred J. Koenekamp |
| Editor | Robert Florio |
| Running time | 96 minutes[1] |
| Production companies | Filmways Television Moonlight Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network | ABC |
| Release | October 28, 1979 |
Plot
A disgruntled railroad employee attempts to cause a collision between two passenger trains.
Cast
- Lloyd Bridges - Al Mitchell
- Raymond Burr - Estes Hill
- Robert Fuller - Matt Leigh
- Pat Hingle - John Marsh
- E. G. Marshall - Roy Snyder
- Yvette Mimieux - Paula Harvey
- William Shatner - Stuart Peters
- Paul L. Smith - Jim Waterman / Victor Prescott
- Lane Smith - John Carlson
- Sandy McPeak - Hennessey
- Michael Pataki - Tate
- Peter Jason - LeBoux
- John Brady - Locomotive Engineer
- Dago Dimster - Davy
Production
The film was shot on a railway line in Connecticut. At his own suggestion William Shatner did his own stunts, including standing on top of a moving F40PH. Years later Shatner called the stunt "the most truly dangerous stunt I ever did" and couldn't imagine "what [he] was thinking" in suggesting it. Shatner compared it to the work he'd done in Kingdom of the Spiders, and wondered which was worse: "standing on top of a speeding locomotive without any kind of safety cable or gluing tarantulas to your face?"[2]: 105–108 Jack Sessums worked on the miniature effects and had his work profiled in TV Guide.[3]
Release
Disaster on the Coastliner premiered on The ABC Sunday Night Movie on October 28, 1979.[4] Although no DVD or VHS has been released in America, the movie's current owner, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, has made the movie available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video and Paramount plus in the United States. The movie aired on July 27, 2025 on FETV's Sunday Movie Matinee.