THE YARDS

Year: 2000
USA: Miramax Films
UK: FilmFour
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix, Charlize Theron, James Caan, Ellen Burstyn, Faye Dunaway, Andrew Davoli, Steve Lawrence, Tony Musante, Victor Argo, Tomas Milian, Robert Montano, Victor Arnold, Chad Aaron, Louis Guss, Domenick Lombardozzi, Joe Lisi, David Zayas, Joseph Ragno, Teresa Venque, Jose Soto, John Tormey, Teddy Coluca, Jack O'Connell, Dan Grimaldi, Garry Pastore, Ron Brice, Gene Canfield, Keith Hernandez, Allan Houston, Andi Shrem, Joe Dimare, Barry Wetcher, Oscar Colon, Jace Kent, Brandon Danziger, Doug Barron, Floyd Resnick, Chris Edwards, Raymond Seiden, Annika Pergament, Maximiliano Hernandez, Kip Evans, John Elsen, Douglas Crosby, Scott Nicholson, Kim Merritt, Erin Walls, Tyree Simpson, Peter Vallone, Irwin Gray, Denise Traficanti, Roma Torre, Lewis Dodley, Ernie Anastos, Jeffrey Hoffman, Lisa Pickell, Marc Romeo, Andy Signore
Director: James Gray
Country: USA
USA & UK: 115 mins
USA Rated: R for language, violence and a scene of sexuality
UK Certificate: 15 for coarse language and moderate sex and violence
USA Release Date: 20 October 2000 (Limited Release - Los Angeles and New York)
UK Release Date: 10 November 2000


Synopsis

THE YARDS is a drama set in the vast New York City subway yards. After serving time in prison for taking the fall for a group of his friends, Leo Handler (Mark Wahlberg) just wants to get his life back on track. So, Leo returns to the one place he thinks will be safe - home. There, he takes a new job with his highly connected and influential Uncle Frank (James Caan), and is reunited with his longtime friend, Willie Guitierrez (Joaquin Phoenix) and Willie's girlfriend Erica (Charlize Theron).

However in the yards, which his uncle now controls, safe is not how they do business. Unwittingly, he's drawn into a world of sabotage, high stakes pay-offs and even murder, when he discovers secrets that make him the target of the most ruthless family in the city - his own! Now, in the name of justice he'll have to do everything in his power to take them down.

Additional cast members include Faye Dunaway as Leo's aunt, Kitty, and Ellen Burstyn as Val, Kitty's sister and Leo's concerned mother. Directed by James Gray (LITTLE ODESSA) and written by Gray and Matt Reeves (director of THE PALLBEARER, co-creator/ executive producer of the Golden Globe award-winning television series FELICITY), THE YARDS is a contemporary drama that tells the story of one man's struggle to survive in a world where the lines between love, loyalty and betrayal are obscured.