Bound for Glory (1976)

82% of critics liked it
(17 reviews)
74% of users liked it
(1,186 ratings)

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… More 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, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG, 2 hr. 26 min.
Directed By: Hal Ashby
Genres: Drama

In Theaters: Dec 5, 1976 Wide
On DVD: Feb 29, 2000
Studio: United Artists

Critic Reviews

Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
One half of a very good movie.
Variety Staff, Variety
Bound for Glory is outstanding biographical cinema, not only of the late Woody Guthrie but also of the 1930s Depression era which served to disillusion, inspire and radicalize him and millions of other Americans.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
A moving, brilliantly photographed picture that portrays the legendary eccentric folksinger Woody Guthrie in a trip across Depression-era America.
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
Though made with an eye for the Bicentennial, this biopic of folk singer and union organizer Woody Guthrie didn't make any attempt to speak to contemporary viewers, which might explain its box-office failure.
, Time Out
An overlong, sentimental and lifeless biopic of Woody Guthrie.
Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com
Hope you like folk music, because there isn't much variety to be found among his music. Neither is there much variety in the scenery.
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
A remarkably touching and humane film about Woody Guthrie
, Film4
The major strengths of the movie are Haskell Wexler's cinematography and the score (both of which deservedly picked up Oscars): they create a sense of time and place perfectly in accord with the story.
Jonathan R. Perry, Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
Elegant, shamefully forgotten celebration of one of America's true patriots.

Read all 9 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Bob S

Great performance by David Carradine but some of the domestic stuff plays a bit like a made for TV movie to me. Hey look! Annother bare-bones DVD realease from MGM! I shouldn't complain, at least the transfer was decent which is way better than the usual from these clowns.
Tim S

I could watch David Carradine and Ronny Cox sing duets all day, especially when it is being filmed by Haskell Wexler. The film looks beautiful and is more about Guthrie's music and its roots (almost a pre-cursor to Haynes' Bob Dylan bio-pic). The problem is that the movie… More
I could watch David Carradine and Ronny Cox sing duets all day, especially when it is being filmed by Haskell Wexler. The film looks beautiful and is more about Guthrie's music and its roots (almost a pre-cursor to Haynes' Bob Dylan bio-pic). The problem is that the movie rambles too much and ends too quickly, wrapping up too nicely for my taste. Carradine and Cox give amazing performances, but the film falls a little short.
Robert C

As a fan of Guthrie's music and someone who has always been oddly drawn to the stories of depression era America (it's so surreal!) I found this film to be enjoyable to spike the fact that it feels (at times) a bit "made for tv". It is just as much a film about… More
As a fan of Guthrie's music and someone who has always been oddly drawn to the stories of depression era America (it's so surreal!) I found this film to be enjoyable to spike the fact that it feels (at times) a bit "made for tv". It is just as much a film about the period as it is about Guthrie and his music. So much so that I was left wishing it would have given more details about him and his life.
Walter M

Directed by Hal Ashby, "Bound for Glory" is less a biopic of Woody Guthrie(David Carradine, in perhaps his best performance) than an origin story, set mostly in 1936. And I know you're thinking that I should cut back on the comic books if I put a reference like that… More
Directed by Hal Ashby, "Bound for Glory" is less a biopic of Woody Guthrie(David Carradine, in perhaps his best performance) than an origin story, set mostly in 1936. And I know you're thinking that I should cut back on the comic books if I put a reference like that in a review for a highly evocative movie about the legendary folk singer that has quite a lot to say about artistic integrity and the standard definition of success. But Woody Guthrie was much more than just a simple musician. He was a hero to millions of people, especially the poor and destitute, who worked for long hours and low wages when they could find any employment at all. We should remember that he started out as just another underemployed man during the height of the Great Depression and Dust Bowl in rural Texas, attempting to support his family with odd jobs like sign painting, playing in a band, and even giving a try at being a local pundit. So, like many other people, he struck out for California, leaving his wife(Melinda Dillon) and children behind until he could send for them, hitchhiking and riding the rails, meeting and talking with other people while seeing the country first hand, where violence was always a possibility.