# Identify this old movie from one scene...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-old-movie-from-one-scene/763604>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [August 22, 2016, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-old-movie-from-one-scene/763604 "2016-08-22T07:26:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-old-movie-from-one-scene/763604/1 "2016-08-22T07:26:18Z")

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It was on TV when I was a kid, late 70s. Not prime time. It was B&W, as I recall it, and I suspect it was from the 1950s, but it could have been earlier, though probably not much later. I’m pretty sure it was a US film, though it could have been from some other English-speaking country. It was set, I’m almost certain, during the Great Depression.

The scene I remember:

Some teenage boys are on a freight train. Train is moving through a shunting yard type area. Boys are discovered by Railway cops. The boys flee, leaping off the train and running through the yard. The last boy off the train bangs his head on a sign, stumbles, and falls across some tracks, and a passing train runs over his legs as the boy screams.

This impressed me greatly when I was a lad, but I don’t remember anything else about the film. I was reminded of this scene recently while I was on a train.

So, movie buffs of the SDMB, identify this film.

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**Author:** ![GWF\_Hefel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/898d66/32.png) [@GWF\_Hefel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GWF_Hefel)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-old-movie-from-one-scene/763604/2 "2016-08-22T09:44:43Z")

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Could it be _Wild Boys of the Road_?

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**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-old-movie-from-one-scene/763604/3 "2016-08-22T11:59:04Z")

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[Kings Row?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kings_Row)

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**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-old-movie-from-one-scene/763604/4 "2016-08-22T12:25:21Z")

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> [@GWF\_Hefel](#):
>
> Could it be _Wild Boys of the Road_?

Bingo!

[Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf7PGmruCmI) is the scene I remembered.

Turns out it really was made in the 30s, not just set then.

Well done, **GWF Hefel**.

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**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-old-movie-from-one-scene/763604/5 "2016-08-22T12:27:18Z")

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> [@campp](#):
>
> [Kings Row?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kings_Row)

No, in King’s Row, Ronald Reagan’s girlfriend’s father had his thugs throw Ronnie under the train in an ultimately futile attempt to break his spirit. _“What do they think-- that I live in my legs??”_ Go Ronnie!