End of the Line

I am a huge fan of The Band, so I watched this for Levon Helm.

The movie gets off to a strong start. It's one of those movies from the pre-digital era of filmmaking that you just don't see anymore, where the locations look like real places you could see if you walk down the street in any small town in America, and the actors are so convincing that it's hard to believe they're not real people. Movies are so airbrushed and polished and over produced now, and it makes me miss the grit and authenticity that films like this used to have.

If it had stayed grounded and allowed the comedy and drama to arise naturally from the characters and their predicament this could have been a very good and very different movie, but unfortunately it turns cartoonish and silly in the third act.

It has a surprisingly great cast, including two actors, Holly Hunter and Kevin Bacon, who would go on to become stars. I've noticed that some of the promotional material gives Bacon top billing, but this is misleading. This is Wilford Brimley and Levon Helm's movie. Wilford Brimley does a great job being Wilford Brimley, and Levon as always has a convincing, endearing, and charismatic screen presence as a naive but loveable railroad man. Bob Balaban and Clint Howard also make appearances as the chairman of the board of the railroad company and his assistant. They're great character actors and it's always good to see them. Balaban's character has a strange accent that I can't quite place.

It's worth watching not for the quality of the writing but for the performances, and for the way that it highlights a specific, bygone time and place and way of life in America.

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.

This popped up on YouTube, so I looked it up on IMDb. It was classed as a comedy and I saw that Wilford Brimley was a major character. I enjoy most of the parts he played. So I found it on a free streaming service and enjoyed the video. It had a few time jumps but they were understanable for time restraints in a video (movie). And of course, an opportunity for pleasant new beginning. It was not time wasted for me. There was strong expressions for love for The United States of America, and encouragement to be thankful for what one has. Also gave encouragement for people to choose their own path an not always let others make all your decisions.

A fish-out-of-water, high-concept indie comedy with goofy humor and broad characters...that's actually fairly funny, despite it's MAGA-approved fight-against-progress ethos. Brimley and Helm are so well-casted, and Balaban's small part only further proves his comic genius; but don't believe the poster...Kevin Pork-fat is barely in this joker.

This is a story about two old codgers who steal a freight train to make a point. In fact, they intend to drive it to Chicago from their homes in Arkansas to tell the president of their railroad to re-open their shop and save their jobs.

If you hate America, don't watch this movie. If you despise the working man, don't watch this movie. If your father or his father never sweated the loss of a crucial job that could not possibly be replaced, don't watch this movie.

Otherwise, you're going to love this outstanding cast as they portray a very corny but heartwarming story about the struggles of Middle-America. Throw in a few laughs, a couple of shotguns, some lunchmeat and booze, and you've got yourself one helluva good time.

Watch. Enjoy. Be thankful for what you have.