Search - Bound for Glory on DVD

MPAA Rating: PG Content Advisory: Adult Situations, Questionable for Children Movie Release: 1976 DVD Release: 02/29/2000 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Audio Tracks: English, French Subtitles: English, French, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 2 hrs 26 mins Studio: MGM Members Wishing: 0 Genres: Drama, Road Movie, Americana, Period Film, Biopic [feature]

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. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

David Carradine - Woody Guthrie
Ronny Cox - Ozark Bule
Melinda Dillon - Mary Guthrie
Gail Strickland - Pauline
John Lehne - Locke

Hal Ashby's depiction of legendary folksinger Woody Guthrie in this film is a gutsy and unromanticized view of both a complicated personality and the time in which he lived. Starring David Carradine as Woody Guthrie, the film follows events chronicled in Guthrie's own diary and features much of his music, adapted by Leonard Rosenman for the screen. The Dolby Mono audio track does little to showcase this major feature of the film and all that can be said for it is that the dialogue is clearly translated. As far as the image goes, there is a grainy, washed-out quality to the transfer and although the setting of a dusty heartland America may account for some of this, a lack of attention to detail on the part of MGM is also probably a factor. The disc is haphazardly packaged with a "collector's booklet," which in reality is only a tiny, two-page information guide with background info on the setting, as well as history and quotes from Ashby and producer Harold Leventhal on production details such as the use of Guthrie's diary. This information could have been placed directly on the disc, as could cast and crew information and a theatrical trailer, neither of which appear here. There needs to be more effort made with the presentation of such American classics as Bound for Glory, or it is likely that many will be lost to DVD audiences. ~ Marsha Mehran, All Movie Guide