Rails & Ties

November 9, 2007

Rated: PG-13 Runtime: 101 min Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

RAILS & TIES involves a mentally disturbed woman who commits suicide, leaving her young son an orphan.
Suicide is a selfish act, but this one is more selfish than most. She almost takes her son with her, and she parks herself on a railroad track. The train engineer, played by Kevin Bacon, can’t stop the train without risking derailing and injuring his passengers, so he slows down, but still hits the car, killing the woman.

Meanwhile, the train engineer’s wife (Marcia Gay Harden) is dying of cancer.

The son of the dead woman, although he knows his mom was trying to kill herself, still believes the train engineer has some responsibility for her death, and confronts him.

This sounds like the makings of a sappy and maudlin movie, but it works. The actors, including the kid, are exceptional. And the movie is competently directed by Alison Eastwood, the daughter of Clint Eastwood (she’s also an actress who has appeared in some of her father’s movies, and other movies). It manages to sell a premise that in other hands would have come across as improbable.

My only real fault with this movie is the way it details the train engineer’s hobby, which is model railroading. But the model railroad depicted in the movie is the kind a twelve-year-old would make. No adult, especially one who works for a real railroad, would have a layout as depicted in the movie.

Posted by Mack Guffin | Filed Under 3 Stars, Drama, Kevin Bacon, Marcia Gay Harden, Miles Heizer, PG-13, Theatrical