The Yards

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This article is about a film. For the waterfront development, see The Yards (Washington, D.C.).
The Yards
The Yards Poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJames Gray
Written byJames Gray
Matt Reeves
Produced byNick Wechsler
Paul Webster
Kerry Orent
Starring
CinematographyHarris Savides
Edited byJeffrey Ford
Music byHoward Shore
Production
companies
Miramax Films
Paul Webster/Industry Entertainment
Distributed byBuena Vista Pictures
Release date
  • October 12, 2000 (2000-10-12)
Running time
115 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$24 million
Box office$889,352 (US)[1]

The Yards is a 2000 American crime film directed by James Gray. It was written by Gray and Matt Reeves, and stars Mark Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix, Charlize Theron and James Caan.

The setting is the commuter rail yards in New York City, in the boroughs of the Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn. In the film's plot, bribery, corporate crime and political corruption are commonplace in "the yards", where contractors repair railway cars for the city Transit Authority (TA). Rival companies sabotage each other's work to win bids. The undercutting leads to murder.

Plot[]

Leo Handler (Mark Wahlberg) rides the subway to his mother's house in Queens, New York, where she throws a surprise party celebrating his parole. His cousin Erica (Charlize Theron) is at the party with her boyfriend Willie Gutierrez (Joaquin Phoenix), who takes Leo aside and thanks him for serving time in prison, 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, at the railway car repair company Frank owns, Leo is encouraged to enter a 2-year machinist program and Frank offers to help finance his studies. Needing work immediately, Leo asks about working with Willie for the company but Frank discourages that idea. Willie advises Leo not to worry about it, saying Frank also tried to get him into a machinist program.

At Brooklyn Borough Hall, Willie explains how corrupt the contract system is for repair work on the subway. After a hearing to award contracts, Hector Gallardo (Robert Montano) approaches Willie about leaving Frank's firm for his. Willie brushes him off, taking Leo with him to Roosevelt Island, where he bribes an official in charge of awarding contracts.

One night, Willie takes Leo 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. Leo is told to stand watch while the crew sabotages the train couplings. Willie heads into the yard master's office to pay him off with Knicks tickets, but is told to get his crew off the tracks, Gallardo having brought him $2,000 in cash. The yard master sounds the alarm, which draws a police officer. Terrified of returning to jail, Leo tries to run. When the cop begins to hit Leo with his night stick, Leo beats him into unconsciousness. As he runs off, he sees Willie kill the yard master.

With the cop in a coma at a hospital, the crew tells Leo that he must murder the officer to prevent him from identifying Leo when he awakens because if the cop lives, Leo will die. Upon awakening, the cop identifies Leo as his attacker, triggering a broad manhunt. The police assume Leo also killed the yard master. When they raid his mother's apartment, she has a heart attack, weakening her even further.

Despite Willie's instructions to lay low, Leo emerges from hiding to visit his sick mother. Tending to her, Erica discovers Willie was with Leo at the yards and realizes Willie actually killed the yard master, consequently breaking up with him.

Erica implores Frank to help, but instead Leo realizes that Frank is prepared to kill him. Out of options, Leo turns to Gallardo for protection. With Gallardo's lawyers beside him, Leo turns himself in at a public hearing into the rail yard incident and contract corruption. Realizing that the injured cop's testimony against Leo is in no one's interest, Frank and Gallardo negotiate a new split of the contracts with the Queens Borough President (Steve Lawrence) in a backroom deal.

Frank disowns Willie, who tries unsuccessfully to accept a deal offered to him earlier by Gallardo for protection, which Leo had already accepted. Willie goes to see Erica, trying to win her back. Frank has told him that Erica and Leo had been in love when they were younger, and once were caught having sex. Fearing his temper and jealousy, Erica triggers the silent house alarm. Willie tries to embrace her, but as she pulls away, he 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.

Police enter the hearing to inform Erica's mother Kitty (Faye Dunaway) and Frank of the incident at the house, and the discovery of Erica's body.

After Erica's funeral, Frank takes Leo aside to promise help in the future. Leo disgustedly turns away and joins the grieving Kitty and the rest of the family in an supportive embrace. Leo then leaves Queens on the elevated train.

(Note: A non-director's cut of the film ended with Leo testifying against Frank and his company, rejecting the deal. The version currently available on the Miramax DVD in the US is the director's cut.)

Cast[]

Production[]

The film was based on an actual corruption scandal in the mid-1980s involving the director (James Gray)'s father.

MTA New York City Transit (the city's Metropolitan 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 Maspeth and Elmhurst, Queens, Roosevelt Island, the Bronx, and New Jersey. The railyard scenes were shot at the 207th Street shop on the New York City Transit system and at an abandoned freight yard in Brooklyn.

It was shot in the spring and summer of 1998 but not released until the fall of 2000 due to studio delays.

Reception[]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 64%, based on 96 reviews, with an average rating of 5.93/10. The website's consensus reads, "Featuring strong performances and direction, The Yards is a richly textured crime thriller with an authentic feel."[2]

Box office[]

On a relatively limited release, the film, which had a $24 million budget, took in just $889,352 in the United States and Canada, and $34,684 in Australia.[1]

Awards[]

Won[]

  • National Board of Review Awards (2000):
  • Broadcast Film Critics Association (2001):

Nominated[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b The Yards (2000). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2011-02-27.
  2. ^ The Yards at Rotten Tomatoes

External links[]

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