Bound for Glory [Blu-ray]

Director: Hal Ashby Hal Ashby

Overview

Adapted by Robert Getchell from Woody Guthrie's autobiography, Hal Ashby's biopic portrays a few pivotal years in the life of the celebrated folk singer and social activist. In the Depression 1930s, Midwesterner Guthrie (David Carradine) plays music locally but cannot make enough as a sign painter to support his wife (Melinda Dillon) and children. With only his paintbrushes, Woody joins the migration westward from the Dust Bowl to supposedly greener California pastures via boxcar and hitchhiking. When penniless Woody is turned back from the California border, he sneaks into the state alone and meets Luther (Randy Quaid), who takes Woody to a farm where hundreds of workers scrounge for a few ill-paid harvesting jobs. When singer Ozark Bole (Ronny Cox) arrives both to entertain and to urge the workers to unionize, Woody joins Ozark in song, fleeing with him after thugs break up the assembly. He lands a job singing with Ozark on the radio, and the two become partners in union agitation. Unable to commit in his personal life as he finds his political voice, Woody brings his family west, but his wife can't tolerate Woody's wandering ways. Reluctant to sell out his ideals for a lucrative career, Woody hits the road again, bringing his songs of freedom and protest to a nationwide audience on his own terms. Opting for atmospheric story-telling over strident polemic, the filmmakers present Guthrie as a complex individual with contradictory virtues and faults. Despite critical praise and nominations for several Oscars, including Best Picture, Bound for Glory proved less than glorious at the box office.

Product Details

Release Date:	04/26/2022
UPC:	0850035985267
Original Release:	1976
Rating:	PG
Source:	Sandpiper Pictures
Language:	English
Time:	2:28:00
Sales rank:	17,796

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

David Carradine	Woody Guthrie
Melinda Dillon	Mary Guthrie
Ronny Cox	Ozark Bule
Randy Quaid	Luther Johnson
Gail Strickland	Pauline
John Lehne	Locke
Ji-Tu Cumbuka	Slim Snedeger
Elizabeth Macey	Liz Johnson
Allan Miller	Agent
Mary Place	Actor
M. Walsh	Actor
Ted Gehring	Connors
James Hong	Actor
Lee McLaughlin	Heavy Chandler
Leonard Rosenman	Composer

Technical Credits

Robert Getchell

Hal Ashby	Director
Robert Getchell	Screenwriter
Robert F. Blumofe	Producer
Harold Leventhal	Producer
Charles Mulvehill	Producer
Robert Glass	Sound/Sound Designer
Jeff Wexler	Sound/Sound Designer
Dan Wallin	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

One of America's most powerful troubadours was the legendary folk-singing social activist Woody Guthrie, and this lushly photographed and carefully told tale presents him honestly, warts and all. Using Guthrie's own words and music, screenwriter Robert Getchell and director Hal Ashby recreate the pivotal Great Depression years during which Guthrie left the Dust Bowl for California, took up singing, and got involved in union organizing. David Carradine's portrayal of Guthrie is deeply affecting but never maudlin. The filmmakers put considerable effort into portraying Guthrie's personal failings as part of his authentic humanity. The great cinematographer Haskell Wexler won an Academy Award for his mythic American landscapes, and Bound for Glory was nominated for five other Oscars. Some critics unfairly compared the film to the classic The Grapes of Wrath, with which it shares subject matter and viewpoint. Bound for Glory is a rare latter-day portrait of social unrest and progressive populism in the United States.

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