Rails & Ties

Rails & Ties
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Alison Eastwood
Produced by	Robert Lorenz Peer Oppenheimer Barrett Stuart
Written by	Micky Levy
Starring	Kevin Bacon Marcia Gay Harden Miles Heizer Eugene Byrd Brian Bogulski Bonnie Root
Music by	Kyle Eastwood Michael Stevens
Cinematography	Tom Stern
Editing by	Gary Roach
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	October 26, 2007 (limited)
Running time	96 min
Country	United States
Language	English

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.

Plot

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Laura Danner is a single mother driven to despair, who decides to commit suicide 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 Blue Coastal 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 persons 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 Bacon ... Tom Stark
• Marcia Gay Harden ... Megan Stark
• Miles Heizer ... Davey Danner
• Marin Hinkle ... Renee
• Eugene Byrd ... Otis Higgs
• Bonnie Root ... Laura Danner
• Steve Eastin ... N.B. Garcia
• Laura Cerón ... Susan Garcia
• Margo Martindale ... Judy Neasy
• Kathryn Joosten ... Mrs. Brown

External links

• Rails & Ties
• Rails & Ties at the Internet Movie Database