The Finishing Line 1977

The film opens with the stern voice of a headmaster, his warning echoing over quiet scenes as he tells his students that some of them have been playing on the railway, and that “the railway is not the game field.” In one quiet moment, a young boy sits on a railway bridge wall, lost in thought. As he gazes out at the tracks, his mind blossoms into a vivid daydream where a school-style sports day unfolds directly on the railway line. The imagined world turns the rails into a stage for competition, and the boy’s fantasy takes on a life of its own, full of risk, rule-breaking, and stark consequences.

In this daydream, the children are split into four competitive teams, each tasked with activities that echo the mischief and daring often associated with trespassing on active rails. The story then centers on four escalating games that test nerve, balance, and speed, all taking place along the railway’s perimeter. The atmosphere is tense, a blend of childhood bravado and real danger, as the boundary between sport and peril grows increasingly thin.

The first game features a bold challenge to break through the fence that surrounds the railway line. The second game turns into a tense game of “chicken” with the approaching trains, where timing and judgement become matters of life and death. In the third game, the children throw objects at passing trains, an act that carries the real possibility of disaster. Each disturbing moment is shown with a stark clarity that underlines the potential consequences of such actions.

Among the scenes is a harrowing moment where a brick is hurled through a train window, leaving the driver and a passenger badly injured by shattered glass. The camera lingers on the aftermath, underscoring the real human cost of the children’s recklessness. The danger isn’t merely suggested; it is laid out in no uncertain terms, forcing a jolt of awareness about the seriousness of trespassing on active rails.

The final task, known as the Great Tunnel Walk, asks the children to run, or at a measured pace walk, through a tunnel. As they move through the darkness, another train suddenly appears from the far end of the tunnel, transforming the imagined race into a lethal standoff. Only four children manage to cross the finish, each bearing serious injuries from the ordeal. The overhead speaker announces the final results as one boy, having crossed, collapses, the moment heavy with consequence.

The closing moments pull back to a broader view. A group of adults enters the tunnel to retrieve the bodies of those who have died or been gravely injured, laying them out in a long, grisly line along the railway track. The camera then slowly pans across the stark tableau—the bloodied and fallen children—before returning to the boy on the railway bridge wall. He seems to reconsider the idea that the rail could ever be a safe playground, his earlier fantasy giving way to a stark, troubling reality.

The film’s cast provides the voices and faces of these intimate, cautionary scenes, and the work of the performers grounds the daydream in a tangible, haunting reality. The cast includes Kevin Flood, David Howe, Antony Carrick, Peter Hill, Jeremy Wilkin, Don Henderson, David Millett, and Yolande Palfrey. Their participation anchors the narrative in a sense of lived experience, even as the central action remains a disturbing, watched daydream of danger.

Ultimately, the film serves as a stark meditation on the allure and hazards of breaking rules, especially when the setting is as perilous as an active railway. It invites viewers to witness how a child’s imagination can illuminate dangerous impulses while leaving an imprint of warning. The lingering image of the boy on the bridge, with the memory of the day’s catastrophic events tugging at him, suggests that some ideas are better left unpursued, and that witnessing their consequences may be the only true lesson learned.