Bound for Glory (1976)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Hal Ashby

Writers:

Robert Getchell (screenplay)
Woody Guthrie (autobiography)

Release Date:

5 December 1976 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | Music

Plot:

This film is an excellent biography of Woody Guthrie, one of America's greatest folk singers. He left his dust-devastated Texas home in the 1930s to find work, and discovered the suffering and strength of America's working class.

Plot Keywords:

1930s | Singer | Texas | Desert | Dust Bowl

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 10 nominations

Cast

David Carradine	...	Woody Guthrie
Ronny Cox	...	Ozark Bule
Melinda Dillon	...	Mary (Woody's wife) / Memphis Sue
Gail Strickland	...	Pauline
John Lehne	...	Locke (radio station manager)
Ji-Tu Cumbuka	...	Slim Snedeger (Hobo on train)
Randy Quaid	...	Luther Johnson (migrant worker)
Elizabeth Macey	...	Liz (Johnson's wife)
Susan Vaill	...	Gwen Guthrie
Sarah Vaill	...	Gwen Guthrie
Alexandra Mock	...	Sue Guthrie
Kimberly Mock	...	Sue Guthrie
Miriam Byrd-Nethery	...	Sick woman (water-swallowing scene) (as Miriam Byrd Nethery)
Jane Lambert	...	Other woman (water-swallowing scene)
Jan Burrell	...	Other woman (water-swallowing scene)

Runtime:

147 min | Sweden:120 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

New Zealand:PG | Netherlands:12 (2005) (DVD) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 | Netherlands:AL | Sweden:15 | USA:PG | West Germany:12 | Singapore:PG | Iceland:L

Filming Locations:

Altamont, California, USA

Trivia:

Mary Kay Place's first movie.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Guthrie's singing partner on KFVD radio in Los Angeles was not named Memphis Sue. Her real name was Maxine Crissman, and she was known as "Lefty Lou," because she shared Guthrie's politics and was just as outspoken. In fact, Guthrie was never pressed to stop singing union-organizing songs; the station owner, Frank Burke, was a populist New Dealer who agreed with Guthrie. The reason Woody was fired was because after the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany in 1939, he started singing songs that, mirroring the Communist Party line, denounced the war as a capitalist fraud.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood (2003)

Soundtrack:

So Long (It's Been Good to Know Yuh)

My brief review of the film

An unusual film, it starts by depicting the harsh life that many had to live during the Depression era, but then about halfway through it takes a sharp turn to become a biography of a musician. This change is rather jarring, as it comes unexpected. It manages to paint the glumness and the poverty of the Depression era so well that the sudden change in story direction just about violates what has gone before. In fairness, it does give us an idea of what the protagonist went through and what motivated his career, but is there not too much time spent on it? There is relatively little in the way of story until the music side enters in. It is quite meandering, and full of characters that have no importance later on, there is cause to wonder whether it could have been compressed down. For the adventure genre that the film best fits into, it is also relatively unexciting. The film is rather awkwardly put together, and it could do with a few events removed, but there are still a lot of good points to it. The cinematography won the film an Academy Award, as did the adapted music soundtrack, and both these elements are good. Haskell Wexler has chosen some interesting angles to shoot the film from, and the songs are fitted into the material quite well. Overall it is a good film, but a difficult one too. It takes patience to get through, but there are some good things in the end.