The Yards
| The Yards | |
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 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | James Gray |
| Produced by | Kerry Orent Nick Wechsler |
| Written by | James Gray Matt Reeves |
| Starring | Mark Wahlberg Joaquin Phoenix Charlize Theron James Caan Ellen Burstyn |
| Music by | Howard Shore |
| Cinematography | Harris Savides |
| Editing by | Jeffrey Ford |
| Release date(s) | October 12, 2000 |
| Running time | 115 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $24 million |
| Box office | $889,352 (US)[1] |
The Yards is a 2000 American crime film with Mark Wahlberg, James Caan, Joaquin Phoenix, and Charlize Theron, written and directed by James Gray. It was released in the fall of 2000, although it was shot in the spring and summer of 1998 and first due for release in fall 1999, this due to studio delays.
The setting and plot is in the commuter rail yards in New York City, in the boroughs of the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn. Corporate and political corruption is commonplace in "the yards", where contractors repair railway cars for the city Transit Authority (TA). Companies wanting to win the bid sabotage rival companies' work to do so. Murder and bribes toward officials are common.
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[edit] Plot
The film opens as Leo Handler (Mark Wahlberg) rides the subway to a his mother's house in Queens, where she has thrown a surprise party in honor of his parole. His cousin Erica (Charlize Theron) is at the party with her boyfriend Willie Gutierrez (Joaquin Phoenix). Willie takes Leo aside and thanks him for serving time, implying that Leo had taken a fall for their gang of friends. Leo is eager to find a job to support his mother (Ellen Burstyn), who has a heart condition. Willie suggests working for Erica's stepfather Frank Olchin (James Caan).
The next day, Leo meets with Frank at the railway car repair company that he owns. Frank encourages him to enter a 2-year machinist program and offers to help finance his studies. Needing to work right away, Leo asks about working with Willie at the company. Frank discourages that idea. Later, Willie tells Leo not to worry about it, because Frank tried to get him to enroll in a machinist program as well. Willie invites Leo to watch him work the next day.
At Brooklyn Borough Hall, Willie explains how corrupt the contract system is for repair work on the subway. After a hearing to award contracts, Willie is approached by Hector Gallardo (Robert Montano) about leaving Frank's firm for his. Willie brushes him off, and he takes Leo with him to Roosevelt Island where he bribes the official in charge of awarding contracts.
One night, Willie takes Leo with him to a rail yard, where he and a gang sabotage the work of Gallardo's firm, in order to lower their quality rating and lessen their ability to get contracts. Willie tells Leo to stand watch while the crew sabotages the train couplings. Meanwhile, Willie heads into the yard master's office to pay him off with Knicks tickets. The yard master tells Willie to get his crew off the tracks, because Gallardo had brought him $2,000 in cash earlier in the week. The yard master sounds the alarm, which draws a police officer to the tracks where he sees Leo. Terrified of returning to jail, Leo tries to run. When the cop begins to hit Leo with his night stick, Leo fights back and beats the cop into unconsciousness. As he runs off, he sees Willie in the office killing the yard master.
As the cop lies in a coma at a hospital, the crew tells Leo that he must murder him, to prevent him from identifying Leo when he wakes up. They warn Leo that if the cop lives, then they will have to kill Leo. At the hospital, Leo is too scared to murder the cop, and he flees. When the cop awakes, he identifies Leo as his attacker, triggering a broad manhunt. The police assume that Leo is also responsible for the yard master's murder. When the police raid his mother's apartment, she has a heart attack, leaving her in an even weaker state.
Even though Willie has told him to lay low, Leo emerges from hiding to visit his sick mother. Erica is tending to her, and she asks Leo if Willie was with him at the train yards. She realizes that it was Willie who actually killed the yard master, and she breaks off their engagement. Erica sets up a meeting between Leo and Frank, but Leo realizes that Frank is prepared to kill him. Out of options, Leo turns to Gallardo for protection. With Gallardo's lawyers at his side, Leo turns himself in at a public hearing into the rail yard incident and contract corruption. Realizing that Leo's testimony is in no one's interest, Frank and Gallardo negotiate a new split of the contracts with the Queens Borough President in a backroom deal.
Meanwhile, Willie visits Erica, trying to win her back. Frank told him that Erica and Leo had been in love when they were younger, and they were caught having sex. Fearful of the broken-hearted and jealous Willie, Erica triggers the house alarm. Willie tries to embrace her, and as she pulls away, a scuffle ensues. Willie accidentally throws Erica off the second floor landing, causing her to fall to her death. Outside the house, he surrenders to the police who have responded to the alarm.
Erica's death emboldens Leo to ignore the deal that Frank and his cronies brokered. The film closes with him testifying against everyone involved in the corruption.
[edit] Cast
- Mark Wahlberg... Leo Handler
- Joaquin Phoenix... Willie Gutierrez
- Charlize Theron... Erica Soltz
- James Caan... Frank Olchin
- Ellen Burstyn... Val Handler
- Faye Dunaway... Kitty Olchin
- Steve Lawrence... Arthur Mydanick
- Robert Montano... Hector Gallardo
- Tony Musante... Seymour Korman
- David Zayas... Officer Jerry Rifkin
[edit] Production
The film was based on an actual corruption scandal in the mid-1980s involving the father of the director, James Gray.
MTA New York City Transit (the city transit authority) first refused the production companies the right to film at any of its yards because it believed the film portrayed the agency in a bad light. The film was shot in Queens, in Maspeth, Elmhurst, Roosevelt Island, the Bronx, and New Jersey. The "rail yard" scenes were shot at the 207th Street shop on the New York City Transit system and at an abandoned freight yard in Brooklyn.
[edit] Box office
On a relatively limited release, the film took in $889,352 in the United States and Canada, and $34,684 in Australia.[1] The final scene (Senate Oversight Committee) was shot in a room also used for The Godfather.
[edit] Awards
[edit] Won
- National Board of Review Awards (2000):
- Best Supporting Actor: Joaquin Phoenix
- Broadcast Film Critics Association (2001):
- Best Supporting Actor: Joaquin Phoenix
[edit] Nominated
- Cannes Film Festival (2000):
- Golden Palm Award: James Gray
[edit] References
- ^ a b The Yards (2000). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2011-02-27.
[edit] External links
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