{ "id": "ep2kqj82bz", "slug": "track-29", "title": "Track 29", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1980s", "label": "Drama films 1980s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1980s" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1980s.yr-1986-1989", "label": "Released 1986 to 1989", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1980s.yr-1986-1989" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1980s", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000: Drama films 1980s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1980s", "path": [ { "id": "geo.weu", "label": "Western Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1980s", "label": "Drama films 1980s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1980s" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Track 29 is a 1988 psychological drama directed by Nicolas Roeg from a Dennis Potter screenplay adapted from his BBC play Schmoedipus, starring Theresa Russell, Gary Oldman, and Christopher Lloyd for Handmade Films; a box-office failure about an imaginary son.", "snippet": "Track 29 is a 1988 psychological drama directed by Nicolas Roeg from a Dennis Potter screenplay adapted from his BBC play Schmoedipus, starring Theresa Russell, Gary Oldman, and Christopher Lloyd for Handmade Films; a box-office failure about an imaginary son.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1980s.yr-1986-1989", "markdown": "# Track 29\n\n**Track 29** is a 1988 psychological drama film directed by [Nicolas Roeg](https://www.edgepedia.org/nicolas-roeg) and written by Dennis Potter, starring [Theresa Russell](https://www.edgepedia.org/theresa-russell) as [Linda Henry](https://www.edgepedia.org/linda-henry), a bored doctor's wife who encounters a young stranger, Martin (Gary Oldman), who claims to be the son she gave up for adoption as a teenager.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59145-TRACK-29) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/track_29) The film was produced by Rick McCallum for Handmade Films, the company founded by George Harrison, with Harrison and Denis O'Brien as executive producers.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59145-TRACK-29) • [3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096294/fullcredits/) Its title comes from a lyric in the song \"Chattanooga Choo Choo\" by Gordon and Warren.[4](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-09-14-ca-1975-story.html)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director / writer | Nicolas Roeg; screenplay by Dennis Potter, adapted from his 1974 BBC play *Schmoedipus*[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59145-TRACK-29) • [5](https://www.framerated.co.uk/track-29-1988/) |\n| Principal cast | Theresa Russell (Linda Henry), Gary Oldman (Martin), Christopher Lloyd (Henry Henry), Sandra Bernhard (Nurse Stein), Seymour Cassel (Dr. Bernard Fairmont), Colleen Camp (Arlanda)[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096294/fullcredits/) |\n| Production | Handmade Films; producer Rick McCallum; executive producers George Harrison and Denis O'Brien[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59145-TRACK-29) |\n| Release | United States July 12, 1988; United Kingdom August 5, 1988[6](https://www.blu-ray.com/Track-29/85233/) |\n| Runtime and rating | R; reported as 86 or 90 minutes by the AFI Catalog, 1h 26m by Rotten Tomatoes, and 1h 30m by IMDb[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59145-TRACK-29) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/track_29) • [7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096294/) |\n| Reception | Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer 63% from 8 reviews, Popcornmeter 42% from 1,000+ ratings; IMDb 5.8/10 from about 2.8K votes; US box office gross $19.3K[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/track_29) • [7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096294/) |\n| Key crew | Cinematography Alex Thomson, music Stanley Myers, editing Tony Lawson, production design David Brockhurst[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59145-TRACK-29) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nLinda Henry (Theresa Russell) lives in a house in the urban American South with her husband Henry ([Christopher Lloyd](https://www.edgepedia.org/christopher-lloyd)), a surgeon absorbed in his elaborate model railroad layout and an affair with his nurse, Nurse Stein ([Sandra Bernhard](https://www.edgepedia.org/sandra-bernhard)).[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/track_29) • [6](https://www.blu-ray.com/Track-29/85233/) The marriage is sexless and childless, and Linda, tormented by the memory of the baby she gave up for adoption when she was a teenager, drinks heavily and drifts through her days.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/track_29) • [8](https://www.criterionchannel.com/films/Uu4mkla9/track-29)\n\nA young English hitchhiker, Martin ([Gary Oldman](https://www.edgepedia.org/gary-oldman)), appears in town saying he has come \"all the way 'cross the pond in search of my ma-ma,\" and he presents himself as Linda's long-lost son.[9](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1988/10/08/movies/7304c839-0262-4470-9cb7-624fa34604a6/) Flashbacks show that Linda was raped at a carnival when she was 16 and later gave the child up for adoption.[10](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/track-29-1988) Martin alternates between the roles of son, lover, father figure, baby, and tormentor, insinuating himself into Linda's delusions and growing violent and obsessed with Henry.[10](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/track-29-1988) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/track_29)\n\n**The central reveal.** Although Martin usually seems physically real, the film eventually shows that he exists entirely inside Linda's imagination: in a restaurant scene, waiters see her conducting her conversation with an empty chair.[10](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/track-29-1988) • [9](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1988/10/08/movies/7304c839-0262-4470-9cb7-624fa34604a6/) The Washington Post's Hal Hinson read Martin as \"the manifestation of the backed-up mothering impulses in her head,\" evidence that Linda has fractured under the pressure of her childlessness and her frustration with her husband.[9](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1988/10/08/movies/7304c839-0262-4470-9cb7-624fa34604a6/) Roger Ebert, reviewing the film in the [Chicago Sun-Times](https://www.edgepedia.org/chicago-sun-times), wrote that when Martin grows destructive around the house, there is the possibility that Linda created him to mask her own desire to destroy her husband's obsessions.[10](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/track-29-1988)\n\n## Production history\n\nThe film had a long and interrupted development. In July 1983 the trade press reported that principal photography would take place in Dallas, Texas, under director Joseph Losey, with [Vanessa Redgrave](https://www.edgepedia.org/vanessa-redgrave), Lee Marvin, and [Louise Fletcher](https://www.edgepedia.org/louise-fletcher), on an estimated budget of $2,100,000, with the BBC's drama department and Pennies From Heaven Co. as production companies; the title was mistakenly reported as \"Track 39.\"[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59145-TRACK-29) A month later, financing had fallen apart and Losey moved on to direct *Steaming* (1985); a December 1983 report added that filming was shelved over a disagreement between the BBC, whose rule required all BBC films to be made in 16mm, and producers who wanted to shoot in 35mm.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59145-TRACK-29)\n\nIn November 1986 the project was revived as an independent feature outside the BBC, with Nicolas Roeg directing and Roeg's wife Theresa Russell starring.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59145-TRACK-29) Producer Rick McCallum had just completed *Castaway* with Roeg and described the collaboration as a great experience; Losey had died in 1984, and the choice of director for the new version, according to a Glasgow thesis study of Potter's work, never seemed in doubt.[11](https://theses.gla.ac.uk/76049/1/13818828.pdf) The script Roeg received was a reworking of material Potter had originally written for television, his 1974 *Play for Today* drama *Schmoedipus*, which starred a young [Tim Curry](https://www.edgepedia.org/tim-curry); Potter shifted the location to the United States.[11](https://theses.gla.ac.uk/76049/1/13818828.pdf) • [5](https://www.framerated.co.uk/track-29-1988/)\n\nHandMade Films' Denis O'Brien was encouraging during the shoot, but on seeing the finished film he was alarmed by the incest plot and demanded cuts, some of which were made.[12](https://www.netflixmovies.com/track-29-1988) The film opened at the Lumière Cinema, St Martin's Lane, London on August 5, 1988, and reached American theaters on July 12 of that year.[11](https://theses.gla.ac.uk/76049/1/13818828.pdf) • [6](https://www.blu-ray.com/Track-29/85233/) The British Film Institute catalogs the film under 1987, a production year that differs from the 1988 release dates given by other sources.[13](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/d87bb75c-10fe-510b-8252-800fb2473261/track-29)\n\n## Themes and style\n\nPotter's screenplay plays with the boundary between fantasy and reality, a signature concern of the writer of *Pennies from Heaven* and *The Singing Detective*.[10](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/track-29-1988) • [14](https://www.filmfestival.be/en/film/track-29) In a later interview, Potter said he was interested in \"how a bad act done years before will fester… and have its own yeast,\" and explained that, having sympathy for how badly women are often treated by men, he wanted to play with the Oedipus myth from a female point of view and to offer a positive resolution to Linda's plight.[5](https://www.framerated.co.uk/track-29-1988/) The Film Fest Gent program describes the result as \"a postmodern spin on the Oedipus myth that flirts with kitsch,\" a take on American family life and arrested development in which the long-lost son shows up to seduce his mother and murder his father.[14](https://www.filmfestival.be/en/film/track-29)\n\n**Roeg's visual approach.** Roeg, whose earlier films include *Don't Look Now* (1973), *The Man Who Fell to Earth* (1976), *Bad Timing* (1980), *Eureka* (1983), and *Insignificance* (1985), cut the apparently linear narrative into clashing subjective viewpoints, crisscrossing the boundaries between fantasy and reality.[4](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-09-14-ca-1975-story.html) • [5](https://www.framerated.co.uk/track-29-1988/) Cinematographer Alex Thomson, whom Roeg had worked with on *Eureka*, lit the film like, in Michael Wilmington's words, \"an icy, garish dream, a doll's house gone berserk.\"[4](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-09-14-ca-1975-story.html) • [5](https://www.framerated.co.uk/track-29-1988/) Wilmington read Henry's train set as the film's key metaphor, \"the American Dream reduced to toy and idée fixe,\" a train going nowhere that exists only for play.[4](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-09-14-ca-1975-story.html)\n\nThe film's set pieces include the Trainorama, a flamboyant model-train convention staged like a blend of political convention, industrial show, and television revival hour, at which the [Glenn Miller](https://www.edgepedia.org/glenn-miller) recording of \"Chattanooga Choo Choo\" is played like an anthem.[4](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-09-14-ca-1975-story.html) [John Lennon](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-lennon)'s song \"Mother\" accompanies Oldman's opening scene; according to an IMDb trivia note, projectionist Herbert Gambill suggested the song to the producer after screening the dailies of Oldman screaming, because both the scene and the song suggested primal scream therapy.[7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096294/) Russell said in an interview that her character was obsessed with the color violet, and that Roeg built a special set just for the trains, \"like a film onto itself.\"[15](https://freepresshoustonarchive.com/articles/theresa-russell-on-track-29)\n\n## Reception\n\nThe film was neither critically embraced nor well attended.[16](https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/54737/track-29/) Its US gross was $19.3K, and Rotten Tomatoes records a 63% Tomatometer from 8 reviews against a 42% audience score from more than 1,000 ratings.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/track_29) Ebert gave it three stars out of four while writing that he did not like it: \"the film is unlikable, perhaps deliberately so. But that doesn't make it a bad film, and it probably makes it a more interesting one.\"[10](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/track-29-1988) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/track_29) He praised Oldman's performance as Martin, placing it beside his work in *Sid and Nancy* and *Prick Up Your Ears*, and called the model-railroad convention a piece of social satire in the spirit of *Dr. Strangelove*.[10](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/track-29-1988)\n\nOther critics divided along similar lines. Wilmington, in the Los Angeles Times, called the film a \"satiric fantasia on motherhood and malaise\" filled with \"eccentric charm, subversive humor and quirky visual riches,\" comparing it to *Blue Velvet* as a piece of modern American hip Gothic.[4](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-09-14-ca-1975-story.html) Hinson in The Washington Post found the movie preposterous but watchable, crediting Oldman's \"cheerfully twisted performance,\" while faulting Russell's Southern accent and suggesting that a more straightforward director would have served Potter's themes better.[9](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1988/10/08/movies/7304c839-0262-4470-9cb7-624fa34604a6/) [Hilary Mantel](https://www.edgepedia.org/hilary-mantel), writing in [The Spectator](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-spectator) in 2018, called it \"a wild and unnecessarily noisy film, with confusion and violence that becomes hysterical and outgrows its context.\"[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/track_29)\n\nThe film has since been revived on home video and streaming. A 2018 Indicator Blu-ray from Powerhouse Films included a 1994 National Film Theatre interview with Roeg, an audio commentary by film historian Jim Hemphill, interviews with [Colleen Camp](https://www.edgepedia.org/colleen-camp), editor Tony Lawson, and costume designer Shuna Harwood, and a 36-page booklet with an essay by Danny Leigh and extracts from Graham Fuller's *Potter on Potter*.[17](https://thedigitalbits.com/reviews/item/track-29-region-b-bd) It is available on the Criterion Channel, which describes it as \"an outré Oedipal psychodrama,\" and on Prime Video and other services.[8](https://www.criterionchannel.com/films/Uu4mkla9/track-29) • [18](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/track-29?package=plc)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Track 29 (1988), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59145-TRACK-29)\n2. [Track 29, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/track_29)\n3. [Track 29 (1988), Full cast & crew, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096294/fullcredits/)\n4. [Michael Wilmington, \"Modern Hip Gothic Rides on 'Track 29',\" Los Angeles Times, September 14, 1988](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-09-14-ca-1975-story.html)\n5. [Kim Vertue, \"Track 29 (1988),\" Frame Rated, September 24, 2018](https://www.framerated.co.uk/track-29-1988/)\n6. [Track 29 (1988), Blu-ray.com](https://www.blu-ray.com/Track-29/85233/)\n7. [Track 29 (1988), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096294/)\n8. [Track 29, The Criterion Channel](https://www.criterionchannel.com/films/Uu4mkla9/track-29)\n9. [Hal Hinson, \"Twisted 'Track 29',\" The Washington Post, October 7, 1988](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1988/10/08/movies/7304c839-0262-4470-9cb7-624fa34604a6/)\n10. [Roger Ebert, \"Track 29,\" Chicago Sun-Times, October 7, 1988](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/track-29-1988)\n11. [Chapter Six, \"Living Dolls: From 'Track 29' to 'Blackeyes',\" University of Glasgow thesis](https://theses.gla.ac.uk/76049/1/13818828.pdf)\n12. [Track 29 (1988), NetflixMovies.com trivia](https://www.netflixmovies.com/track-29-1988)\n13. [Track 29 (1987), British Film Institute](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/d87bb75c-10fe-510b-8252-800fb2473261/track-29)\n14. [Track 29, Film Fest Gent](https://www.filmfestival.be/en/film/track-29)\n15. [Theresa Russell on Track 29, Free Press Houston archive](https://freepresshoustonarchive.com/articles/theresa-russell-on-track-29)\n16. [Christopher McQuain, Track 29 review, DVD Talk](https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/54737/track-29/)\n17. [Track 29 (Region B) Blu-ray review, The Digital Bits](https://thedigitalbits.com/reviews/item/track-29-region-b-bd)\n18. [Track 29 streaming, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/track-29?package=plc)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 1980s › Released 1986 to 1989*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/track-29", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/track-29.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Track 29\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/track-29. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Track 29](https://www.edgepedia.org/track-29)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/track-29](https://www.edgepedia.org/track-29). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Track 29\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/track-29. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Track 29 is a 1988 psychological drama directed by Nicolas Roeg from a Dennis Potter screenplay adapted from his BBC play Schmoedipus, starring Theresa Russell, Gary Oldman, and Christopher Lloyd for Handmade Films; a box-office failure about an imaginary son." }