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Bound For Glory Details

1976 Certificate PG
  • Rated:
  • 60
  • from 359 members

Hal Ashby's film of Woody Guthrie's autobiography, BOUND FOR GLORY, recounts the protest singer's life starting when he's a young man with a wife and two children, trying to find work as a sign painter in the Dust Bowl-ravaged Texas of the 1930s. He leaves his wife, Mary (Melinda Dillon), with her family and, like thousands of .. Read more

Starring David Carradine, Ronny Cox, Melinda Dillon, Randy Quaid
Director Hal Ashby
Genres Drama

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Bound For Glory

Hal Ashby's film of Woody Guthrie's autobiography, BOUND FOR GLORY, recounts the protest singer's life starting when he's a young man with a wife and two children, trying to find work as a sign painter in the Dust Bowl-ravaged Texas of the 1930s. He leaves his wife, Mary (Melinda Dillon), with her family and, like thousands of others, rides the rails to California. Along the way he sees the brutal treatment of men by the railroad's hired thugs before being thrown into a hard life in the migrant workers camps of the San Fernando Valley. He begins to write songs about everything he's seen and joins Ozark Bule on the radio, not just singing about union organizing, but actually going to meetings and brawling with union-busting goons. When the radio station management, as a result of pressure from its advertisers, tells Woody--who's now attracting a following with his protest songs and ballads about the lives of oppressed people--that he can't do those songs, he gives up the radio program and decides to ride the rails to New York to seek a larger audience for his music. David Carradine, as Guthrie, does his own singing, giving an intimacy to the songs that might have been lost by dubbing. The award-winning cinematography by Haskell Wexler captures both the bleakness of the Great Depression and the beautiful grandeur of America, exactly what Guthrie expressed in his songs.

Starring David Carradine, Ronny Cox, Melinda Dillon, Randy Quaid, Gail Strickland, John Lehne
Director Hal Ashby
Studio MGM ENTERTAINMENT
Run time DVD: 2 hrs 22 mins
Certificate Certificate PG
Genres Drama
Language DVD: English
Released DVD: 15 Sep 2003
Production year: 1976
Format DVD
  • Critics' reviews (3) of Bound For Glory

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  • 4 stars out of 5

    This is a moving account of the folk singer Woody Guthrie, a real-life rebel who travelled through the Dust Bowl during the Depression years, singing and whingeing as he went along. David Carradine, who provides his own vocals, makes a credible Guthrie, while director Hal Ashby creates many a vivid composition lit by flashes of real insight. Guthrie influenced many of today's balladeers; watching this, it's not hard to see why.

    • Radio Times
  • 1 stars out of 4

    Care and occasional beauty in the photography do not obscure memories of The Grapes of Wrath (qv), which told much the same story more dramatically and succinctly, and with less earnestness and self-pity.

    • Halliwell's Film Guide
  • Most helpful member's review of Bound For Glory

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  • 6 out of 6 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 4 stars [Highly rated reviewer]

    Great Biopic

    Biopic of Woody Guthrie which swings between feeling like a real film to a TV film. The latter really only surfaces in some of the scenes and they don't really detract from an excellent film. I don't think there are enough films that really explore the Grapes Of Wrath side of America and this is as good as any I've seen. If you know who Woody Guthrie is and haven't seen this, I recommend it to you now.

      • McClennan from St Helens
  • Most recent members' review of Bound For Glory

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  • 5 out of 5 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 4 stars

    Under-rated film tells it like it was

    This is not only the true story of an influential folk singer who refused to compromise his principles and paid dearly as a result. It is also tells the story of a largely forgotten episode of American history - perhaps one that America would prefer to forget - the acutely painful experience of being poor during the great Depression, particularly for the 'Dust Bowl' migrants who headed west for the promised land of California.

    The portrayal of Woody Guthrie is 'warts and all' - there is no attempt to depict him as a modern day saint - but his failings and weaknesses make for a figure we can feel considerable sympathy and respect for.

    It would make an interesting juxtaposition to watch this in conjunction with a Michael Moore documentary and to reflect on the degree to which things have improved for the poor in America or not.

      • Brian Macphee from Kent, England
  • News and features

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    The Silent Flute

    David Carradine 1936-2009

    • 05 Jun 2009

    A forthright and intelligent actor who wasn’t afraid to speak his mind, David Carradine was found dead in his hotel room in Bangkok on 4th June 2009, after what seems to have been an act of auto-asphyxiation. The actor will be remembered most vividly for the title role he played in Quentin Tarantino’s two volume revenge opus “Kill Bill” – a part he inherited when the director’s first choice, Warren Beatty, pointed out that if Tarantino wanted him to act so... Read more

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Rating breakdown

359 Member ratings
  • 100
20
  • 90
17
  • 80
59
  • 70
64
  • 60
77
  • 50
46
  • 40
27
  • 30
21
  • 20
19
  • 10
9

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    • Hal Ashby's film of Woody Guthrie's autobiography, BOUND FOR GLORY, recounts the protest singer's life starting when he's a young man with a wife and two children, trying to find work as a sign ...