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Bound for Glory (1976)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
5 December 1976 (USA)
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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. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
Won 2 Oscars.
Another 4 wins
&
10 nominations
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NewsDesk:
(6 articles)
Tune in alert for "Bound For Glory" Tna's PPV featuring Christopher Daniels
(From Monsters and Critics. 14 October 2009, 10:03 PM, PDT)
Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: An overwhelming study of life and illusion
(From t5m.com. 21 August 2009, 8:26 AM, PDT)
(From Monsters and Critics. 14 October 2009, 10:03 PM, PDT)
Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: An overwhelming study of life and illusion
(From t5m.com. 21 August 2009, 8:26 AM, PDT)
User Comments:
Great performance from...David Carradine!!??
more (30 total)
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only) | 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) |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
147 min | Sweden:120 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
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:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
The first film to use a long Steadicam tracking shot.
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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.
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Gamera (#4.2)" (1991)
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Soundtrack:
Columbus Stockade
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"Bound For Glory" is a very involving and interesting movie in a hypnotic, slow-moving seventies kind of way. In fact, for the first 45 minutes I was watching it on cable TV, I had no idea why I was watching it. Nothing much was happening. The "story" was episodic and meandering. But I did watch the thing all the way through--all 2 and a half hours of it. In retrospect, I can now see some reasons why the film held me so. To begin with, the cinematography is beautiful and the music is wonderful. But mostly it was the acting, which is uniformly excellent in a naturalistic way that is rarely seen these days. I had the impression I was peeking in on real people and events, not on movie actors playing out a script. The biggest revelation, however, was David Carradine, who gives an amazing performance as Woody Guthrie. He's just living the part. I mean--what has the guy ever done before or since that even hinted at the fact that he could act so damn well? Nothing, that's what! Carradine's performance in "Bound for Glory" reminds me of two other, more recent performances in similar films: Ashley Judd in Victor Nunez's "Ruby in Paradise" and Peter Fonda in the role that gave him an Oscar nomination, "Ulee's Gold", also by Nunez.
In these films you can see the main character thinking, breathing--living. Not acting out some melodrama.
Another common thread runs between these three performances, too: none of these actors have been allowed to (or been able to?) do work anywhere near as good again. The post-"Ruby" Judd has gone on to major in spunky thriller heroines and Fonda has drifted back off the map to wherever he was before "Ulee."
But Carradine is the one who really breaks your heart. He has continued acting, like Judd. But the horrendous quality of his projects make you wish he'd disappeared back in to the vapor of obscurity, like Fonda. After watching "Bound For Glory", the sight of Carradine zombie-walking through an episode of "Kung Fu: the Legend Continues" or snarling like a brain-dead idiot in one of his European-made direct-to-video action cheapies is enough to make you cry. The massive talent he wasted.
Still, many actors never have even one moment of glory.