Rails & Ties
Encyclopedia
Rails & Ties is a 2007
drama film
that marks the directorial debut of Alison Eastwood
, the daughter of Clint Eastwood
. The film stars Kevin Bacon
and Marcia Gay Harden
and was written by Micky Levy
.
by driving a car on to a railway track. But she also decides to make this suicide a murder, by also taking her 10-year-old son, Davey, with her, even offering him some tablets beforehand to subdue him though, unbeknownst to her, he spits them out. Davey always keeps with him a train engine, a memento from a father he never knew. Davey is indeed very knowledgeable about trains. But as his mother drives on to the tracks with the oncoming Amtrak
passenger train approaching, he tries to drag her out of the car. Unable to do so, he himself manages to jump clear before the train hits the car, killing his mother. Two train crewmen, Tom Stark and Otis Higgs, see the car on the tracks ahead but cannot agree about the best course of action. The latter thinks they should make an emergency stop, but the former thinks that will derail the train, therefore endangering the hundreds of passengers on board. In the aftermath of the incident, Davey Danner cannot understand why the train did not stop in time. The railroad company calls for an internal inquiry and the two drivers are suspended pending investigation.
Stark returns home where his wife, Megan Stark, is suffering from cancer. Having already undergone a mastectomy
, she has decided that she will no longer endure chemotherapy
, and has decided that she must accept her inevitable death. The couple have no children, and it emerges that this has been partly due to her history of illness and partly due to his job as a train driver. A taciturn man, Tom Stark is unable to deal with his wife's illness and implores her to continue treatment. In accepting her death, she puts forward the proposal of making a final journey to San Francisco - but her husband turns down the idea with the reasoning that it would possibly jeopadize his career, because he should wait for the hearing about the suicide incident. Unable to communicate his feelings, he withdraws to the garage where he spends his time with his hobby, a huge train set.
Meanwhile, Davey Danner has spent the first night after the incident with an empathetic social worker, Susan Garcia. However, she then places the boy with a disciplinarian foster mother
. After being confined to his room, he escapes through the window. The authorities are alerted and a missing person
s search begins. The boy heads to a passenger train and manages to get hold of Stark's home address from a train conductor. He turns up at the Stark house just as Megan Stark is about to leave on her own for San Francisco. The boy attacks Tom Stark, but eventually is placated. Rather than leave, Megan Stark takes care of the boy. Gradually the couple rebond with each other by opening their hearts to the boy who needs the security of a devoted family. One of the father-son bonding agents becomes the train set.
On a chance meeting with the train conductor, the social worker hears that the boy may have sought out the home of Stark. She arrives at the house suspecting the boy may be there. She even searches the house, but is then faced with the presence of the clearly sick Megan Stark. The family bonding continues, but the social worker keeps an eye on the family - her suspicions confirmed when she sees them out in the park for a picnic. She initially phones the police, but stops doing so when she realises that the boy is clearly part of a devoted family.
Megan Stark's illness deteriorates and Davey discovers that she is indeed dying. He has a fit, blaming himself not only for her death but also that of his mother. Tom Stark placates the boy, reasuring him that it is not his fault. Megan Stark talks with Davey during her final hours telling him how much she loves him. She then dies the following night in her sleep. Some time after the funeral, Tom Stark informs Davey that it is perhaps now time to contact the social worker to see if his life can gain some sense of normalcy. The film ends with him and Davey approaching hand-in-hand the offices of the social worker.
2007 in film
This is a list of major films released in 2007.-Top grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2007...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
that marks the directorial debut of Alison Eastwood
Alison Eastwood
Alison Eastwood is an American film director, Hollywood actress, fashion model, and fashion designer. She made her directorial debut with Rails & Ties , starring Kevin Bacon and Marcia Gay Harden.-Early life and education:...
, the daughter of Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
. The film stars Kevin Bacon
Kevin Bacon
Kevin Norwood Bacon is an American film and theater actor whose notable roles include Animal House, Diner, Footloose, Flatliners, Wild Things, A Few Good Men, JFK, Apollo 13, Mystic River, The Woodsman, Trapped, Friday the 13th, Hollow Man, Tremors, Death Sentence, Frost/Nixon, Crazy, Stupid, Love....
and Marcia Gay Harden
Marcia Gay Harden
Marcia Gay Harden is an American film and theatre actress. Harden's breakthrough role was in Miller's Crossing and then The First Wives Club which was followed by several roles which gained her wider fame including the hit comedy Flubber and Meet Joe Black...
and was written by Micky Levy
Micky Levy
Micky Levy is an Israeli-American screenwriter and cinema actress.Her first produced movie is called Rails & Ties and is being produced by Clint Eastwood's "Malpaso Productions" starring Kevin Bacon and Marcia Gay Harden and will be directed by Alison Eastwood.-External links:...
.
Plot
Laura Danner is a single mother driven to despair, who decides to commit suicideSuicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
by driving a car on to a railway track. But she also decides to make this suicide a murder, by also taking her 10-year-old son, Davey, with her, even offering him some tablets beforehand to subdue him though, unbeknownst to her, he spits them out. Davey always keeps with him a train engine, a memento from a father he never knew. Davey is indeed very knowledgeable about trains. But as his mother drives on to the tracks with the oncoming Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
passenger train approaching, he tries to drag her out of the car. Unable to do so, he himself manages to jump clear before the train hits the car, killing his mother. Two train crewmen, Tom Stark and Otis Higgs, see the car on the tracks ahead but cannot agree about the best course of action. The latter thinks they should make an emergency stop, but the former thinks that will derail the train, therefore endangering the hundreds of passengers on board. In the aftermath of the incident, Davey Danner cannot understand why the train did not stop in time. The railroad company calls for an internal inquiry and the two drivers are suspended pending investigation.
Stark returns home where his wife, Megan Stark, is suffering from cancer. Having already undergone a mastectomy
Mastectomy
Mastectomy is the medical term for the surgical removal of one or both breasts, partially or completely. Mastectomy is usually done to treat breast cancer; in some cases, women and some men believed to be at high risk of breast cancer have the operation prophylactically, that is, to prevent cancer...
, she has decided that she will no longer endure chemotherapy
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with an antineoplastic drug or with a combination of such drugs into a standardized treatment regimen....
, and has decided that she must accept her inevitable death. The couple have no children, and it emerges that this has been partly due to her history of illness and partly due to his job as a train driver. A taciturn man, Tom Stark is unable to deal with his wife's illness and implores her to continue treatment. In accepting her death, she puts forward the proposal of making a final journey to San Francisco - but her husband turns down the idea with the reasoning that it would possibly jeopadize his career, because he should wait for the hearing about the suicide incident. Unable to communicate his feelings, he withdraws to the garage where he spends his time with his hobby, a huge train set.
Meanwhile, Davey Danner has spent the first night after the incident with an empathetic social worker, Susan Garcia. However, she then places the boy with a disciplinarian foster mother
Foster care
Foster care is the term used for a system in which a minor who has been made a ward is placed in the private home of a state certified caregiver referred to as a "foster parent"....
. After being confined to his room, he escapes through the window. The authorities are alerted and a missing person
Missing person
A missing person is a person who has disappeared for usually unknown reasons.Missing persons' photographs may be posted on bulletin boards, milk cartons, postcards, and websites, along with a phone number to be contacted if a sighting has been made....
s search begins. The boy heads to a passenger train and manages to get hold of Stark's home address from a train conductor. He turns up at the Stark house just as Megan Stark is about to leave on her own for San Francisco. The boy attacks Tom Stark, but eventually is placated. Rather than leave, Megan Stark takes care of the boy. Gradually the couple rebond with each other by opening their hearts to the boy who needs the security of a devoted family. One of the father-son bonding agents becomes the train set.
On a chance meeting with the train conductor, the social worker hears that the boy may have sought out the home of Stark. She arrives at the house suspecting the boy may be there. She even searches the house, but is then faced with the presence of the clearly sick Megan Stark. The family bonding continues, but the social worker keeps an eye on the family - her suspicions confirmed when she sees them out in the park for a picnic. She initially phones the police, but stops doing so when she realises that the boy is clearly part of a devoted family.
Megan Stark's illness deteriorates and Davey discovers that she is indeed dying. He has a fit, blaming himself not only for her death but also that of his mother. Tom Stark placates the boy, reasuring him that it is not his fault. Megan Stark talks with Davey during her final hours telling him how much she loves him. She then dies the following night in her sleep. Some time after the funeral, Tom Stark informs Davey that it is perhaps now time to contact the social worker to see if his life can gain some sense of normalcy. The film ends with him and Davey approaching hand-in-hand the offices of the social worker.
Cast
- Kevin BaconKevin BaconKevin Norwood Bacon is an American film and theater actor whose notable roles include Animal House, Diner, Footloose, Flatliners, Wild Things, A Few Good Men, JFK, Apollo 13, Mystic River, The Woodsman, Trapped, Friday the 13th, Hollow Man, Tremors, Death Sentence, Frost/Nixon, Crazy, Stupid, Love....
... Tom Stark - Marcia Gay HardenMarcia Gay HardenMarcia Gay Harden is an American film and theatre actress. Harden's breakthrough role was in Miller's Crossing and then The First Wives Club which was followed by several roles which gained her wider fame including the hit comedy Flubber and Meet Joe Black...
... Megan Stark - Miles HeizerMiles HeizerMiles Heizer is an American actor. His most notable film appearance was in Rails & Ties, playing Davey Danner when he was 12 years old. He also played the recurring character Joshua Lipnicki on the television series ER. He also stars in the 2010 show Parenthood as Drew Holt, Sarah Braverman's ...
... Davey Danner - Marin HinkleMarin HinkleMarin Elizabeth Hinkle is an American actress, perhaps best known for playing the role of Judith Harper-Melnick, Alan Harper's ex-wife on the hit series Two and a Half Men and her role as Judy Brooks the sister of the series lead Lily Manning on Once and Again.-Career:Hinkle started her career on...
... Renee - Eugene ByrdEugene ByrdEugene Byrd is an American actor.-Career:He has been in movies including Dead Man, Sleepers, 8 Mile, Lift and Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid, and has the leading role in Confess, for which he won the Break-Out Performance Award at the 2006 Method Fest Independent Film Festival...
... Otis Higgs - Bonnie RootBonnie RootBonnie Root is an American actress. She is primarily known for her recurring guest role in the CBS series Cold Case as ADA Alexandra Thomas and for her role in the soap As The World Turns as serial killer Eve Coleman Browning...
... Laura Danner - Steve EastinSteve EastinSteve Eastin is an American character actor. He has appeared in nearly 150 television and film roles throughout his decades long career....
... N.B. Garcia - Laura CerónLaura CerónLaura Cerón is an Alma Award winning Mexican-American actress. Her most recognizable role is that of Nurse Chuny Marquez on the television series ER.-Early life:...
... Susan Garcia - Margo MartindaleMargo MartindaleMargo Martindale is an American stage, television and film actress. In 2011, Martindale won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her performance as Mags Bennett on Justified.-Early life:...
... Judy Neasy - Kathryn JoostenKathryn JoostenKathryn Joosten is an American television actress best known for her regular role as Karen McCluskey in Desperate Housewives and for her recurring role in The West Wing as Dolores Landingham.-Early life:...
... Mrs. Brown