Disaster on the Coastliner is a 1979 American made-for-TV action thriller film written by David Ambrose and directed by Richard C. Sarafian. It originally aired October 28, 1979 on ABC.
The airlines are on strike, so the Vice President's wife is taking the southbound train from San Francisco. Secret Service agent Al Mitchell (Lloyd Bridges) is concerned about a collision with the northbound train from Los Angeles, which runs on the same track, but programmer Roy Snyder (E. G. Marshall) assures him he has nothing to worry about, as the computer that controls all the trains will ensure that the southbound train switches tracks before it gets close to the northbound train. However, Jim Waterman (Paul L. Smith), who lost his wife and child in a previous derailment, wants revenge. He reprograms the computer to keep the trains on the same track, then hijacks the northbound train to prevent the error from being corrected.
Disaster on the Coastliner contains examples of:
- And Starring: "Starring Lloyd Bridges, Raymond Burr, Robert Fuller, Pat Hingle, E. G. Marshall, Yvette Mimieux, William Shatner, Paul L. Smith; co-starring Arthur Malet, Harry Caesar, Jacque Lynn Colton, Lane Smith, Sandy McPeak, Virginia Kiser, Rockne Tarkington, Michael Pataki, Peter Jason, and Peter MacLean." The end credits continue with "co-starring" again and "featuring."
- Briefcase Full of Money: Con man Stuart Peters (William Shatner) carries his money in the same briefcase he uses to carry disguises.
- Cutting the Knot: Mitchell suggests shooting the computer that has shut down all the safeguards, but Snyder tells him that will cause hundreds of other crashes.
- High-Speed Train Reroute: Workers quickly build yards of track to switch the southbound train from one track to the other.
- Janitor Impersonation Infiltration: Waterman reprograms the computer by pretending to be a technician checking out a fault prediction.
- Just Train Wrong: The conductor would surely know that disconnecting the brake pipe anywhere along the train would stop it.
- The Missus and the Ex: Stuart originally tells Paula Harvey (Yvette Mimieux) that the police are after him because he punched out his ex-wife's new man in a fight.
- Mugged for Disguise: Waterman knocks out the northbound train's engineer and steals his uniform.
- Non-Indicative Name: While the title might lead you to expect this to be a Disaster Movie, it really isn't one. If anything, it's a Disaster Aversion Movie.
- Not Now, Kiddo: Davy (Dago Dimster), a young boy, tells his mother that the engineer has been replaced, but she thinks he's just being annoying and tries to give him mints to keep him quiet.
- Simple Solution Won't Work: After it's discovered that the Big Bad hacked the computer that manages the trainway routes so two trains (one of which has the Vice President's wife) will collide (and furthermore he has hijacked one of them to make sure), Secret Service agent Al Mitchell (The Hero) immediately tells the computer's programmer that they should just shoot the computer, but the programmer tells Mitchell that destroying the computer would just make all of the train tracks in the line go haywire and cause hundreds of train crashes.
- Soft Water: During the climax, Stuart and Waterman both leap from the Runaway Train off a bridge and into a river. Stuart is completely uninjured, while Waterman is hurt but alive.
- Take My Hand!: Stuart pulls Waterman onto the roof before the two of them jump into the river.
- Title In: Used in a lot of scenes.
- Tragic Keepsake: Waterman keeps a pair of children's shoes tied up next to him in the train.
- Vapor Wear: Paula doesn't appear to be wearing a bra under her crop top.
- Waving Signs Around: Crowds of bystanders hold signs for Waterman that say things like "Stop," "Why Murder," and "Jesus Loves All." One group of young people holds a large banner that says "Why Do It?"
