Film

Von Ryan's Express

Name: Von Ryan's Express
Genre: War, Action, Adventure, Thriller
Released: 1965
Cast: Frank Sinatra, Trevor Howard, Raffaella Carrà, Brad Dexter, Sergio Fantoni

Action

A WWII escape thriller where Frank Sinatra's American colonel commandeers a train full of Allied POWs from Italian captivity. It's a propulsive, high-stakes adventure that trades introspection for momentum—tense enough to grip you, smart enough to respect your time, and buoyed by the strange electricity of Sinatra leading men rather than singing to them. Perfect for anyone who loves old-fashioned military thrillers that actually thrill.

TMDb rating

3.6

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy a big, sun-baked wartime caper where the pleasure lies in prickly characters bickering their way toward teamwork, with a train barreling through the Italian countryside.

Skip it if you want a grim, close-up study of prisoner life; this one keeps things breezy and widescreen, and its tension is mostly the kind that arrives with a rousing set piece.

What it asks of you: Settle in for just under two hours of steady, old-fashioned adventure, with plenty of rugged landscape and banter between scenes and a firm but never punishing attention to the plot.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Great Escape1963

The definitive POW escape film. Methodical, ingenious planning, an ensemble cast firing on all cylinders, and enough humanity beneath the precision to make you care who gets out alive. Essential viewing.

But At 172 minutes it demands real attention. Some escape sequences move slowly by modern standards, and the tone is graver than Von Ryan's breezier adventure spirit.

The Guns of Navarone1961

A crack team on an impossible military mission in the Mediterranean, with the same blend of wit, danger, and rousing action. Gregory Peck leads an ensemble cast through intricate setpieces that actually make logical sense.

But The pacing is deliberate, almost leisurely by today's standards. It takes its time getting to the explosions, which some will find glacial.

Stalag 171953

Billy Wilder's POW camp thriller—darker and funnier than you'd expect, with genuine suspense about who the spy is and real stakes for everyone involved. William Holden is magnificent.

But The comedic tonal shifts might feel jarring if you're in the mood for pure action. It keeps undercutting tension with laughs.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Von Ryan's Express

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Battle of Algiers1966

Both films treat military operations as puzzles to be solved, where tactical intelligence matters as much as heroism. Neither sentimentalizes war—they show it as a series of problems your wits must navigate.

A 1966 Italian-Algerian film about resistance fighters using urban guerrilla tactics against occupying forces. It has the same lean, propulsive energy as Von Ryan's—constant forward momentum, real stakes—but it's documentary-rigorous in its approach to combat and strategy.

But It's unsettling and morally ambiguous. Some viewers will find it propagandistic; others will struggle with watching it as cinema first. The ending offers no comfort.

The Dirty Dozen1967

Rogue soldiers on a suicide mission: charismatic, messy, full of personality clashes and improvisation. Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, John Cassavetes—a cast of characters, not actors filling roles.

But It's nearly two and a half hours, and the third act is mostly just carnage. Not much plot left by the end, just explosions and mayhem.

Where Eagles Dare1968

Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood infiltrate a Nazi castle. It's absurdly entertaining—Alistair MacLean scripted it to be a no-brain thrill ride, and it absolutely delivers on that premise without apology.

But The plot is nonsense. It doesn't hold up to even mild scrutiny, and if you need things to make sense, this will frustrate you constantly.

The Italian Job1969

A heist film disguised as a caper, with Michael Caine leading a team of specialists through Turin. It's clever, stylish, funny, and the famous Mini Cooper sequence remains a joy.

But It's lighter and less intense than Von Ryan's—closer to playful fun than nail-biting suspense. If you want real danger, this won't deliver it.

The Poseidon Adventure1972

A disaster film where a group of survivors must escape a capsized luxury liner. It has the same ensemble-under-pressure structure and that old-school craftsmanship where you can actually see how stunts are being pulled off.

But It's campy and melodramatic, with dialogue that creaks. Some of the emotional beats feel overwrought by modern standards.

Breakheart Pass1975

Charles Bronson as a convict on a train full of soldiers and secrets. It's a tighter, more cynical take on the train-based action thriller, with real train stunts and a mystery that actually holds together.

But Bronson's granite-faced stoicism can feel airless compared to Sinatra's roguish charisma. The pacing is slower in the middle stretch.

Dunkirk2017

Nolan's WWII film is pure structure and tension—three timelines converging on a desperate evacuation. It shares Von Ryan's obsession with logistics and escape, but in a radically modern, almost abstract way.

But There are barely any character arcs or dialogue to latch onto. It's closer to a technical problem than a human drama, which some find cold.

The Wages of Fear1953

Both are escape narratives where the real enemy is circumstance and the landscape. Survival depends on quick thinking and gambling on your instincts. The train and the trucks are both characters in their own right.

Four men drive trucks loaded with nitroglycerin across treacherous terrain in South America. It's a masterpiece of tension built from character and consequence, where every decision has weight. Yves Montand is unforgettable.

But It's French, from 1953, and moves at its own pace. There are long stretches where almost nothing happens except mounting dread. Requires patience and tolerance for ambiguity.

The Ballad of Little Jo1993

Both films are about characters who must live as someone they're not to stay alive, and both refuse to treat that as tragedy or irony—just fact. They're about the arithmetic of survival, not its romance.

A woman disguises herself as a man to survive the 1880s frontier. It's a quietly radical film about performance, identity, and belonging—nothing like a WWII thriller, but it has the same unsentimental pragmatism about what survival actually costs.

But It's slow, meditative, and deeply sad. There are no rousing action sequences. If you want spectacle or momentum, this offers the opposite.