Customer Reviews

End of the Line

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I purchased this dvd because I have an all region dvd player by Toshiba. The disk arrived and when I went to play it the picture which is supposedly in 4:3 was displayed in 16:9. Furthermore the image was scrunched up. I tried the various settings on the dvd player with no change. My tv is an older JVC 27" model from circa 1999. I don't think it is to blame but I don't understand the result. If this was common to all the copies of End of the Line it would have been commented on by others but no one has mentioned this problem. However, it happened to me so I pass it on as a possiblility for others.

This delightful piece relates of an unscheduled jaunt aboard a locomotive "borrowed" by veteran trainmen Will Henry (Wilford Brimley) and Leo Pickett (Levon Helm) after their employer, Southland Railroad, shifts its manner of freight transport to the airlanes, resulting in the closure of a railyard in Clifford, Arkansas, with a subsequent loss to many in the small town of their livelihood. Freshman director Jay Russell, invited while attending a similarly fledgling Sundance Institute's workshop to develop his script, does so very effectively, with most of the filming taking place near his hometown of Little Rock, enabling Russell's strongly regional feeling for the South to aid him in composing a very personal, well-executed work. The locomotive is being taken by Will and Leo to Chicago, wherein the pair hope to present their grievances to the parent corporation's board chairman, and Russell formulates a recipe for some delicious humour, some satirical, during the adventure, with blessedly minimal slapstick, focussing not only upon the two railroaders but their waiting families, as well. A well-selected cast is aptly directed, with particularly strong performances from Kevin Bacon, Mary Steenburgen and Holly Hunter, the last two of whom gift the scenario with delicious comedic timing. With talented supporting players helping to make possible a successful blend of whimsy and the didactic, END OF THE LINE belies its rather low budget, assisted to a large extent by cinematographer George Tirl, who here intensifies the standard colour scale while utilizing a wide range of facial lighting to help in representing performers' thoughts.

A railroad worker decides to steal a train engine to protest the closing of the freight depot where he was working for thirty years.

Looking back in our memory, we should remind the most important contribution in this sense, was given by Jiri Mentzel in "Closed watched trains", in the middle of those troubled years of the Czech resistance, to understand how the railroad men live in absolutely different coordinates of time and space.

Memorable performances make of this first film of Jay Russell a must-see.

This film is akin to The Flim Flam Man, starring George C. Scott. You'll recognize characters from your childhood, that you admired, but prayed you wouldn't duplicate. Nevertheless the heroes in this film, have the qualities in people you know you admire for the values you're not willing to fight for. You just love it when they appear in movies.