source: Bound for Glory

Trailer—Bound for Glory

Bound for Glory

Enjoyed this film from beginning to the very end because it was so down to earth and told a great story about Woody Guthrie played by David Carradine. Woody Guthrie left his Texas home and headed for California and along the way he experienced riding the railroad in a box car and even on top of them from town to town and was beaten up by the railroad workers. Woody meets up with some very poor people who were trying to make a living by picking crops in the fields for penny's a day and children deprived of food and shelter. Ronny Cox,(Ozark Bule) meets up the Woody and they play music for a radio station and at the same time try to get a union established for the working people on the farms. David Carradine did a great job of acting and this is a very outstanding picture to view more than once. Enjoy

Found the movie to be "real". Did a great job of showing how things were at the time. Carradine & Cox did an outstanding job. Really enjoyed the music. Feel that this movie has certainly been overlooked during the years. A real QUALITY film.

This biopic starts in 1936. Woody Guthrie (David Carradine) is struggling in the dusty small town of Pampa, Texas with his wife Mary (Melinda Dillon). Jobs are hard to find and everybody is looking to leave for California. He runs off to ride the rails and becomes one of the most influential folk singers. This is limited in excitement and tension. It's a quiet easy movie. It's quietness takes away some of the emotions in the movie. David Carradine is putting in a simple nice guy performance. There are some inventive camera work using the new steadycam. The look of the movie is one of faded dusty postcard. It's a pretty and interesting movie to look but it's not much more than that. It's a long winding road.

One can go into this film from several different angles, and be rewarded at every turn. You like history? Bound For Glory's depiction of Depression Era life is both accurate and eye-opening. You like music? The perspective gained on one of our nation's greatest songwriters is delightful in a way every man can appreciate. You like against-the-odds stories of rugged individualism? Hope you're hungry. The pace may be criticized as slow, but works in emphasizing the dreariness and despair needed to understand the motivations and emotions that lead to Woody Guthrie's greatness. The deliberate storytelling also reminds one of the manner in which Kurosawa might weave a fable. Which reminds me, David Carradine's performance is inspired. Great film any way you look at it.

If you would've asked me, what I thought of the movie, right after I saw it, I would've probably gave it a lower rating. But the movie grows on you. Carradine's performance is mesmerizing to say the least and his underdog is more than likable. You can see that he has his priorities straight, even if they get him in all sorts of trouble, be it at home or at work. The problem of the movie is, that it tries so hard to depict a historical character in a short period of time. Well "short" might be a stretch here, seeing that the pace of the movie itself is pretty slow, which make you think, the movie is longer than it actually is. Not really much is happening and the same issues get played twice or more times, with almost the same conclusion. The stoic Carradine character remains the same. This might be truthful (I can't say, because I haven't read any bios on the real man portrayed here), but could also become boring after awhile for quite a few people.

In one of his many masterpieces throughout the '70s, Hal Ashby tells the story of Woody Guthrie (David Carradine) during the folk singer's Depression-era travels, and how he got politicized. We see the plight of working families moving to California, and everything such. One of the best scenes is when a rich family picks up Woody. While they talk about their wealth and stuff, Woody says something that I'm probably not allowed to write here. All in all, this is a magnificent look into one man's life, and into history in general. If only one thing's for certain, it's that Woody Guthrie will remain an important part of Americana. A great movie. Also starring Ronny Cox and Melinda Dillon.

BOUND FOR GLORY compassionately portrays that Woody Guthrie's gift to mankind was about being at life's mercy, deliberately staying on a par with everyday people -- not just understanding and speaking for them, but being them and speaking for himself. BOUND FOR GLORY had the courage to abstain from the bigger-than-life formula for Hollywood success, and never hurried its pace to placate a predictably impatient audience. The scenes, and David Carradine morphing into Woody Guthrie, took whatever time was needed to ripen into the enriching story of inherent human value, undeniable personal dignity, and the insidious soul-starving quality of greed that this masterpiece movie tells. Ronny Cox, Melinda Dillon, Gail Strickland, Randy Quaid, and David Carradine all delivered academy award worthy performances. No saints, no heroes, no cavalry to the rescue; just actors tenderly disappearing into heart capturing characters who are disturbingly vulnerable, familiar, ordinary, and profound.