Bound for Glory

With the Woody Guthrie centennial occurring this month, I wanted to see Bound for Glory, Hal Ashby's film about him from 1976. I had seen the film years ago on HBO, before I really knew who Guthrie was and what he represented. It was great to see it again. It was nominated for Best Picture that year, and was kind of the red-headed stepchild of a quintet that included Rocky, All the President's Men, Network, and Taxi Driver, but it deserved being there.

The film covers Guthrie's life from when he was a struggling sign painter in Pampa, Texas in 1936 through his trip to Los Angeles, becoming a popular radio personality, and then throwing that away to head to New York. From what I know about Guthrie, some of it is fictional, including many of the characters (his radio partner Lefty Lou is here called "Memphis Sue") but the film captures the spirit of Guthrie, and supposes how he came to sympathize with the downtrodden of society.

David Carradine stars as Guthrie, and though he really doesn't resemble him, they both exhibit the rawboned features of a hard life on the plains. The film shows how Guthrie was a shit to his wife (Melinda Dillon), taking off for California, leaving a note. Carradine then rides the rails, learning the ways of the hobo, and when he gets to California sees how the authorities demand that emigrants have enough money (which inspired the song, "Do Re Mi").

He then hitches a ride with a farmer (Randy Quaid) and his wife, and they all end up in a worker's camp, where conditions are harsh and the bosses oversee things. A local radio star (Ronny Cox) visits to entertain and stir up union talk, and discovers Guthrie and helps get him a radio show.

However, the sponsors don't want him singing rabble-rousing songs, and Guthrie is naturally rebellious to this control. He meets a woman at a soup kitchen (Gail Strickland) and is appalled to find that she's rich (but he still has an affair with her).

The film takes it's sweet time (at almost two and a half hours), but it's a pleasurable ride. Haskell Wexler won an Oscar for cinematography, and it's easy to see why. The film seems coated with dust, as this was the height of the dust bowl days (one scene effectively shows how frightening a dust storm was).

Above all, there are Guthrie's songs, used to startling good effect. For example, the sweet strains of "So Long, It's Been Good to Know You" are heard whenever a parting takes place.

The film is a great introduction to the work of Guthrie, and a landmark film of the 1970s.