Across the Tracks

Joe Maloney (Brad Pitt) is an all-star runner on his high school track team. Billy Maloney (Rick Schroder) is a troubled youth who is in with the law, and about to be kicked out of the family. Trying to be a good older brother, Joe asks Billy if he wants to run with him in the mornings before school. Billy gives it a shot, and much to everyone's surprise turns out to be quite a little runner. Joe convinces Billy to try out for his schools track team (Billy is in a different school because he's caused too much trouble in previous ones) and it's a good thing he does, because that sets up the rest of the movie. It's a pretty cliché tale of everyone struggling but overcoming their inner demons at just the right moment. Carrie Snodgress does do a great job as the mom who refuses to move on from the point where her husband died. Overall, I'd say it is worth a shot; you won't learn anything new but you will feel better about yourself and life around you. As a last thought, the only problem I had was that as soon as the protagonist made the decision to change they didn't have to face the past. So the movie was a little fantastical that way, but that can be pretty easily overlooked. Rating: 24/40

The snappiest thing about this film is the title. Two American teenage brothers, one a swat and a goody two shoes on the athletic track, and the other a rebellious delinquent (born on the wrong side of the tracks, get it?), end up at the same school after bad boy Billy (Rick Schroder) gets a second chance after a spell at a Borstal.

Members of Billy's delinquent melee try to reclaim him for the bad side, but we all know that is not going to happen. Joe, the elder brother (Brad Pitt), is trying for a scholarship to a prestigious university by running a faster race than anyone else. This is where the story falls apart.

Brad Pitt has by far the more convincing physique. Rick Schroder is good looking enough, provided he stops slicking his blond locks back with a cartload of grease, but he is no athlete. The clever cinematic device of dressing him in black shorts and shirt for the running sequences cannot hide the flab. The slow motion sections (a la Chariots of Fire) only accentuate this.

Watch this if you want to see obviously twenty-something year olds trying to be school kids; if you enjoy folk belting round the running track; if you want to remind yourself of what Brad Pitt looked liked before he became a real actor.

Two redeeming quotations from the film are "The only thing personal is the size of your d**k" and "I thought you were as straight as a virgin's d**k". Memorable because, as I remember, at the age the characters are supposed to be, these comments pepper every day conversation. That there are only two during the 1 hour 40 minutes is an indictment of authenticity.

So it's obvious no one would watch this movie for any other reason than to see a young Brad Pitt climb from the depths of the Hollywood industry that is this film.

Generally, I am a fan of Brad for his motion pictures. And this one is actually fairly good.

It's about two brothers on the opposite sides of life. One is studious and smart, the other is the troublemaker. As the brothers compete in high school track, we are caught between the struggle of good and evil, and contemplate it's real meaning at the end of things.

Great vehicle for Pitt, though probably will not appeal to most.

5 Stars

I recommend this movie as one that stands up 25 years later. It is written and directed by Sandy Tung and done so with great empathy for two brothers who both suffer from the loss of their father and the struggles of their mothers, yet do so in two completely different ways. The film being actually shot in Compton gives it a very real feel, rather than a cliched setting. The class issue is one that resonates today, as does the story of why a struggling adolescent can so easily fall victim to the criminal justice system, and how hard it can be for the single working mom. Considering the opiod epidemic, the growing struggles of working people, the hardship for so many to attend college, I found this film to be an intense viewing experience in 2019. Ricky Schroder was captivating. The tale was timeless.

Across The Tracks stars Rick Schroder and Brad Pitt as a pair of brothers with Carrie Snodgrass as their put upon mom. Schroder is on probation and recently released from reform school where he took a rap for joy riding in a stolen car for David Anthony Marshall his drug dealing buddy. Pitt is an aspiring track star and a straight arrow if there ever was one.

Schroder has to attend another high school and he discovers that he too has a skill in running. That's encouraged by Pitt until Schroder shows he just might have more ability than Pitt. After that Pitt starts straying over to the dark side.

This was a no frills type film which is carried by the good chemistry shown by Snodgrass, Schroder, and Pitt as the Maloney family. It plays like one of those after school special films, but it's much better than that.

Anyway it's a good chance for his fans to see Brad Pitt in his salad days.