Review of Bound for Glory (1976) by Ilsa L — 28 Apr 2013

David Carradine handles singing and playing as the great Woody Guthrie with equanimity. The soundtrack is glorious. This was made just as Carradine was finishing his tv show Kung Fu. The filmmakers choose some odd life events (mostly fictionalized) to illustrate what Guthrie's life was like before making his way to California.

And yet he spends most of the time hitching and walking west without picking up a guitar. The film does not shy away from Guthrie being unfaithful to his wife and the other marital problems he faced being such a wanderin' ramblin' man.

Similarly to the characters in The Grapes of Wrath, Woody Guthrie observes and confronts the plight of the working folk caught up in the dust bowl migration. Ronny Cox plays Ozark Bule, a radio folk musician, who visits the work camps and turns Woody on to his call as a singer/activist.

At this point we are treated to more songs, both traditional and Guthrie's own. Ozark, a fictional character, stays quite close to Guthrie as they entertain the poor mostly out of work mid-westerners and try to spread the empowering force of unions.

Carradine as Guthrie struggles hard to not "sell out" to commercial interests. This movie introduced the Steadicam, which contributed to its winning the Cinematography Oscar. An artistic film of the life of a folk hero.