Rails & Ties

views updated

Rails & Ties ★½ 2007 (PG-13)

Despite some good performances, this drama goes off track with some unbelievable plot machinations in (daughter of Clint) Eastwood's directorial debut. Emotionally distant train engineer Tom Stark (Bacon) can't cope with his wife Megan's (Harden) terminal cancer diagnosis and is glad to escape through work. At a rail crossing, a disturbed young woman (Root) deliberately parks her car on the tracks; the train/car crash kills her but her noworphaned son Danny (Heizer) survives. Tom gets suspended and is brooding at home when Danny shows up on the Stark's doorstep, having run away from foster care. Childless Megan is happy to take the boy in and Tom and Danny are soon bonding over their mutual love of trains. 101m/C DVD . Kevin Bacon, Marcia Gay Harden, Marin Hinkle, Eugene Byrd, Miles Heizer, Margo Martindale, Bonnie Root, Micky Levy; D: Alison Eastwood; W: Micky Levy; C: Tom Stern; M: Kyle Eastwood, Michael Stevens.

More From encyclopedia.com