''The Yards'' is a 2000 American

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

directed by

James Gray James, Jim, or Jimmy Gray may refer to: Politicians * James Gray (Australian politician) (1820–1889), member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly * James Gray (British politician) (born 1954), British politician * James Gray (mayor) (1862–1916 ...

, written by Gray and

Matt Reeves Matt Reeves (born April 27, 1966) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He first gained recognition for the WB drama series ''Felicity (TV series), Felicity'' (1998–2002), which he co-created with J. J. Abrams. Reeves came t ...

, and starring

Mark Wahlberg Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg (born June 5, 1971), former stage name Marky Mark, is an American actor, businessman, and former rapper. He has received multiple accolades, including a BAFTA Award, and nominations for two Academy Awards, three ...

Joaquin Phoenix Joaquin Rafael Phoenix (; né Bottom; born October 28, 1974) is an American actor. He is known for playing dark and unconventional characters in independent films. He has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academ ...

Charlize Theron Charlize Theron ( ; ; born 7 August 1975) is a South African and American actress and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actresses, she is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. In 20 ...

and

James Caan James Edmund Caan ( ; March 26, 1940 – July 6, 2022) was an American actor. He came to prominence playing Sonny Corleone in ''The Godfather'' (1972) – a performance which earned him Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Academy Award an ...

. Set in the

commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...

yards in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

("the yards"), specifically in the boroughs of the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, and

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, where contractors repair railway cars for the city Transit Authority (TA), bribery,

corporate crime In criminology, corporate crime refers to crimes committed either by a corporation (i.e., a business entity having a separate legal personality from the natural persons that manage its activities), or by individuals acting on behalf of a corpor ...

and

political corruption Political corruption is the use of powers by government officials or their network contacts for illegitimate private gain. Forms of corruption vary, but can include bribery, lobbying, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, in ...

are commonplace, as rival companies sabotage each other's work to win bids, and the undercutting leads to murder.

Plot

Leo Handler rides the subway to his mother Val's house in

Queens, New York Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long I ...

, where she throws a surprise party celebrating his parole. His cousin Erica Soltz is at the party with her boyfriend Willie, 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, as she has a heart condition. Willie suggests working for Erica's stepfather, Frank Olchin. 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 Brooklyn Borough Hall is a building in Downtown Brooklyn, New York City. It was designed by architects Calvin Pollard and Gamaliel King in the Greek Revival style, and constructed of Tuckahoe marble under the supervision of superintendent St ...

, Willie explains how corrupt the contract system is for repair work on the subway. After a hearing to award contracts, Hector Gallardo approaches Willie about leaving Frank's firm for his. Willie brushes him off, taking Leo with him to

Roosevelt Island Roosevelt Island is an island in New York City's East River, within the borough of Manhattan. It lies between Manhattan Island to the west, and the borough of Queens, on Long Island, to the east. Running from the equivalent of East 46th to 85 ...

, 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 The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

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. Frank disowns Willie, who tries unsuccessfully to accept a deal offered to him earlier by Gallardo for protection. 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 Queens Borough President Arthur Mydanick in a backroom deal. 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, sending her falling 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 and Frank of Erica's death. After Erica's funeral, Frank takes Leo aside to promise help in the future, if he stays quiet at a hearing by the Attorney General. Leo disgustedly turns away and joins the grieving Kitty and the rest of the family. Leo testifies against Frank and the others involved in the political corruption surrounding The Yards. (''Note'': A previous editor wrote that the director's cut excluded Leo testifying.)

Cast

In addition,

David Zayas David Zayas (born August 15, 1962) is a Puerto Rican actor. He is best known for his roles as Angel Batista on Showtime's series '' Dexter'' and Enrique Morales on the HBO prison drama series '' Oz''. Early life Zayas was born in Ponce, Puer ...

appears as Officer Jerry Rifkin, while actual New York City based news anchors

Roma Torre Roma Torre (born April 20, 1958) is an American TV journalist and theater critic. She is best known for her time at cable news channel NY1, where she was a lead news presenter for over 28 years. Torre previously served as an anchor for NY1’s m ...

, Lewis Dodley (as Louis Dodley) and

Ernie Anastos Ernie Anastos (born July 12, 1943) is an American news anchor and the host of the show ''Positively America with Ernie Anastos''. He anchored the news at 6 p.m. on WNYW in New York City. He was also the anchor of the 5 and 10 p.m. newscasts on Fo ...

play news anchors seen reporting on incidents in the film.

Production

The film's director and co-screenwriter,

, based the film on an actual corruption scandal in the mid-1980s, which involved his father. The

New York City Transit Authority The New York City Transit Authority (also known as NYCTA, the TA, or simply Transit, and branded as MTA New York City Transit) is a public-benefit corporation in the U.S. state of New York that operates public transportation in New York City. P ...

, known as the MTA, initially disallowed the production companies from filming at any of its yards because it believed the film negatively portrayed the agency. Filming locations included

Maspeth Maspeth is a residential and commercial community in the borough of Queens in New York City. It was founded in the early 17th century by Dutch and English settlers. Neighborhoods sharing borders with Maspeth are Woodside to the north; Sunnyside t ...

and

Elmhurst, Queens Elmhurst (formerly Newtown) is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City. It is bounded by Roosevelt Avenue on the north; the Long Island Expressway on the south; Junction Boulevard on the east; and the New York Connecting Railr ...

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, and

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. The railyard scenes were shot at the MTA's

Inwood, Manhattan Inwood is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, at the northern tip of Manhattan Island, in the U.S. state of New York. It is bounded by the Hudson River to the west, Spuyten Duyvil Creek and Marble Hill to the north, the H ...

207th Street Yard The New York City Transit Authority operates a total of 24 rail yards for the New York City Subway system, and one for the Staten Island Railway. There are 10 active A Division yards and 11 active B Division yards, two of which are shared betwee ...

and shop, as well as an abandoned freight yard in

. It was shot in the spring and summer of 1998 butdue to studio delaysnot released until the fall of 2000.

Reception

On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, 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."

Box office

On a relatively limited release, the film, which had a $24 million budget, took in just $889,352 in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, and $34,684 in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Awards

Won

National Board of Review Awards The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered an early harbinger of the film awards season that culminat ...

(2000): ** Best Supporting Actor:

Broadcast Film Critics Association The Critics Choice Association (CCA), formerly the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA), is an association of television, radio and online critics. Their membership includes critics who review film and television. Founded in 1995, it is the ...

(2001): ** Best Supporting Actor:

Nominated

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

(2000): ** Golden Palm Nomination:

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yards 2000 films 2000 crime drama films 2000s English-language films American crime drama films Films about corruption in the United States Films directed by James Gray Films scored by Howard Shore Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City Films shot in New Jersey Films with screenplays by James Gray Films with screenplays by Matt Reeves Miramax films 2000s American films