The Yards DVD, 1999

Returning to his Mob-connected family after doing time, Leo Handler has to choose between a career as a machinist in the subway yards, or a life of strong-arming for maintenance contracts with friend Willie Gutierrez. Drawn in by Willie and wads of cash, one night a contract sabotage goes badly wrong...

Set against the amoral fringes of New Yorks transit system, The Yards opened over here a few weeks after Ken Livingstone appointed the ex-chairman of the Metropolitan ... more >

Set against the amoral fringes of New Yorks transit system, The Yards opened over here a few weeks after Ken Livingstone appointed the ex-chairman of the Metropolitan Transit Authroity to reinvent Londons transportation network. Coincidence, naturally. But ironic, given the regenerative thrust of the film. Most movies (provocatively, usefully) split the film-writing fraternity, but now and again there is unanimity. "The Yards" is another of those grave, articulate and histrionic American movies which not only persuade the world that Americas problems are our problems, but have the clout to headline film festivals (London, ironically), and play to an unflappable audience which wants its thrillers Shakespearean in intensity if not prolixity. "The Yards" joins a select few which show how far original dialogue, strong characterizations, and sensitive acting can go in a darkened room. Co-writer/director James Gray wrote and directed Tim Roths best to date - "Little Odessa" - and here he revives its preoccupation with troubled outsiders and unhappy families. Working out the Good Kid/Bad Kid dilemma so essential to the gangster movie, Wahlberg and Phoenix vie with such 70s veterans as Caan, Dunaway and Ellen Burstyn. Its title suggesting the agoraphobia of post-industrial cityscapes, while its visuals evoke Machiavellian interiors and grey marshalling yards, this account of the trappings of allegiance and agenda evokes classical tragedy. < less

View all 20 of Richard Armstrong’s reviews