| Product Summary | | Publisher: Warner | | Format: DVD | | UPC: 00085391176282 | | Buy.com Sku: 206830709 | | Item#: V2NHHC | | Buy.com Sales Rank: 25668 | | Category Keywords: Theatrical Release Trains | Rating:  |
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| | | "When Life Comes Apart, Life Puts it Back Together."
Features: DVD, Widescreen, English, Spanish, French, Subtitled
Kevin Bacon and Marcia Gay Harden give soaring performances in Rails & Ties, director Alison Eastwood's moving tale of people in crisis and emotions at the brink. Bacon plays Tom Stark, a train engineer unable to face his wife's (Harden) illness. Then a terrifying railway collision leaves a little boy orphaned. Tom takes the boy into his home and -- step by step, strength by strength -- learns how to bond with the wife he adores by opening his heart to a boy who needs the security of a devoted family.
"A powerful and emotional film. Kevin Bacon shows us once again why he is the most underrated actor of his generation." eTalk
"Great performances in an emotionally powerful film." Natasha Gargiulo, ET Canada
Editor's Note
Suffering from addiction and depression, Laura Danner (Bonnie Root) drives her car--with her son, Davey (Miles Heizer), inside--onto the railroad tracks, waiting for the train to come and kill them. Davey is able to get out but not save his mother as the train, driven by engineer Tom Stark (Kevin Bacon), crashes into the car. Davey lashes out at Tom, wanting to know why he didn't stop, but Tom is adamant that he did the right thing and followed the rules. While awaiting a hearing on the devastating event, Tom is given some time off, forcing him to deal with his wife Megan's (Marcia Gay Harden) metastasizing cancer. While Megan wants to spend her remaining days living life and traveling, Tom refuses to get out of his cold funk--until Davey, also a train aficionado, appears at the door, wanting answers to his questions and trying to avoid being sent to foster homes. A moving, emotional melodrama, RAILS & TIES features the directing debut of actress Alison Eastwood, Clint's daughter. She's learned well from the old man, especially from such touching films as MILLION DOLLAR BABY, MYSTIC RIVER, and A PERFECT WORLD, which were also all about family. The soundtrack was composed by Alison's brother Kyle, along with Michael Stevens, who have previously collaborated on the Clint movies LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA and FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS. Alison Eastwood, who has acted in more than 20 films, gets stellar performances from Bacon and Gay Harden as a childless couple suddenly facing some very tough decisions. Heizer, making his feature-film debut, is outstanding as the troubled Davey, who finds himself alone, desperately trying to connect.
| Features | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Warner |
| Release Date: 2/10/2009 |
| Running Time: 98 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2007 | | Catalog ID: 1000026358 | | UPC: 00085391176282 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: Color |
| Cast & Crew
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| | Professional Reviews | Box Office
"[F]eaturing some beautifully etched performances....Bacon gives one of his quietly intense performances that builds in heartbreaking intensity..." 11/01/2007 p.115Chicago Sun-Times 7 of 10
Sometimes there's a movie that has better things in it than the underlying material deserves. Alison Eastwood's "Rails & Ties" is a movie like that. I found the opening third tremendously intriguing and involving, I thought the emotions were so real they could be touched, but then the film lost its way and fell into the clutches of sentimental melodrama...That is not to overlook the qualities of "Rails & Ties," above all in the acting. Marcia Gay Harden has a scene by herself that defines hopelessness and desolation. Kevin Bacon makes it clear, without even seeming to try, why the railroad is his fortress and its rule book is his bible. And young Miles Heizer does such a good job with the 9-year-old...Alison Eastwood (Clint's daughter) must be a good director because she can place those qualities on the screen. I wish I knew more about the history of the Micky Levy screenplay -- whether it went through rewrites, was steered in a wrong direction, was questioned. When the film premiered at Telluride and Toronto, there were some who doubted coincidences involving characters and trains. Those sorts of things go with the territory, and I find it interesting that the screenplay risked them. But there were fundamental decisions to be made about the lives and fates of these characters, and I think somehow the filmmakers lost the way, lost sight of the people inside the plot. - Roger Ebert
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