Billy (Rick Schroder) has been in trouble – living by the law of the street, getting wasted and taking anything he wanted. Letting himself be led into worse trouble by his crazy raw-headed friend, Louie (David Anthony Marshall) – the shit gets deeper (shit happens, it’s just the depth that varies.) Billy gets in over his head, gets caught and finds himself, after doing kid time at juvenile detention, back at home with his brother, Joe (Brad Pitt) and his mother, (Carrie Snodgress). At home with nothing to show for his troubles.
Billy tries to start over. Stay out of trouble. But the locals aren’t making it easy for him and Joe’s resentment hurts. Joe runs track and he pushes himself too hard. Win at all costs, every time. Their mother appears like a ghostly waif, trying to support both boys but barely affecting either of them. The boys try to care for their mother, but she is ineffectual and out of touch, half crazy and ignorant of the bad in both boys.
Across the Tracks is a small story about two brothers from different worlds and what happens when those worlds collide.
This film is trapped in the 80s and Billy’s conflict with the ‘jocks’ at his new school is laughable – if only because they look odd and idiotic.
Joe is desperate for attention and reassurance, and with his dad gone, he turns to his mother for this. But she is often busy trying to clean up after Billy. This is at the centre of the conflict in this film.
Billy’s friend, Louie resurfaces to save Billy from a beating by the school jocks. Louie is the reason for Billy’s arrest and the initiator of the crime that got Billy put away. Billy didn’t rat on Louie, so Louie served no time. It’s obvious that the scale on this friendship swings one way.
The lack of subtlety in the message of this film makes it seem at times like a Christian TV movie. It is, however, elevated to the ranks of retro guilty pleasure due to the Stella performances by Schroder and Pitt.
Billy is wedged between his family and his friend. It’s hard for him to choose, because doomed to descend as this friendship is, he sees parts of himself or the person he sees himself as, in Louie.
Billy isn’t that badass he sees in Louie. And the playful friend Louie puts on, is a mask to hide the leech at his core.
Louie is a parasite that imitates the images of a misunderstood rebel, like the image of James Dean’s Jim Stark (Rebel Without a Cause.)
But only Billy is fooled by this. Joe is not. Their mother is the run ragged, tortured, leftovers of a person that she is because of Billy and Joe and their effect on her.
Running becomes the one thing that ties these brothers together, but Joe is so competitive (he has a lot on the line,) that running is more than a passion, it’s a religion to him and he takes it personally. Billy’s past is entwined with his self-image. It’s in too deep under his skin and Louie knows how to play with his weaknesses.
Joe tries to look out for his brother, but the old habits are keeping them apart.
3 stars
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