Amazing Stories (1985) 1.01

Ghost Train

starring Robert Blossom, Scott Paulin, Gail Edwards, Lukas Haas

written by Frank Deese, Steven Spielberg

directed by Steven Spielberg

Fenton (Scott Paulin) and Joleen Globe (Gail Edwards) bring his aged father, Clyde Globe (Roberts Blossom) home to live with them and their young son Brian (Lukas Haas) in their new house. The house is built on a piece of land through which the the railroad used to pass. Clyde doesn't like it. He takes his grandson around and figures out exactly where the railroad track used to be. He calculates that the tracks ran right through where the house stands now.

Clyde tells Brian about the railroad accident that happened decades before when Clyde was a young boy. Clyde was supposed to catch that train before it crashed killing everyone on board. He tries to warn his son and daughter-in-law that the train will be there that night. They, worried that he's losing it, bring a doctor over to sedate Clyde.

The train shows up just as Clyde predicted it would. Brian wakes up his grandfather who still has his train ticket from years ago. Clyde says his goodbyes and catches the train, which stopped after obliterating part of the house. The episode ends with Fenton, Joleen, and Brian waving goodbye to the train as it disappears from sight.

Thoughts

I'm pretty sure that I saw a few episodes of Amazing Stories when it first aired but I don't recall if this was one of them.

I thought this episode was excellent. I found it to be emotionally moving. The performances by the four lead actors were all very good. The focus is mostly on Brian's relationship with his grandfather.

Notes

This is the only episode of this show in which the four leads actors appeared. Roberts Blossom and Scott Paulin have been in a few movies I have seen but none that I have seen recently. They and Lukas Haas also appeared in episodes of The Twilight Zone (1985). I know Lukas Haas best from Witness (1985) but I think I may have seen him in a couple other movies or TV shows but nothing that I've watched recently. Gail Edwards was one of the leads of It's a Living which I remember watching intermittently in the 1980s.

This is the only episode of this show that Frank Deese wrote. He only has three writing credits according to IMDb.

Steven Spielberg had a hand in writing all 45 episodes of this show. This is the first of two episodes of this show that he directed. I've seen about a dozen films that he has directed. The only ones that I have watched in recent years are Jaws (1975) and The Color Purple (1985).