Riding the Rails poster & wallpaper

Arvel 'Sunshine' Pearson, Bob 'Guitar Whitey' Symmonds, C.R. 'Tiny' Boland

Riding the Rails offers a visionary perspective on the presumed romanticism of the road and cautionary legacy of the Great Depression. From 'middle class gentility to scrabble-ass poor,' the undiscrim...( read more  read more... )inating Great Depression forced 4,000,000 Americans away from their homes and onto the tracks in search of food and lodging. Of this number, a disturbing 250,000 of the transients were children. The filmmakers relay the experiences and painful recollections of these now-elderly survivors of the rails. Forced to travel more by economic necessity than the spirit of adventure, the film's subjects dispel romantic myths of a hobo existence and its corresponding veneer of freedom. Riding the Rails recounts the hoboes' trade secrets for survival and accounts of dank miseries, loneliness, imprisonment, death, and dispossession. Sixty years later, the filmmakers transport their subjects back to the tracks, where the surging impact of sound and movement resuscitates memories of a shattered adolescence and devastating rite of passage.

Flixster Users

100% liked it

8 ratings

Unrated

Directed by: Lexy Lovell, Michael Uys

Release Date: January 1, 1997

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: June 28, 2003

Stats: 9 reviews

Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites
report incorrect info

Photos

None yet... Got one?

Your Rating


clear rating

Flixster Reviews (9)

  • jam233
    June 18, 2009
    jam233
    A wonderful documentary, effective interviews, excellent footage from the era it is about. Informative, moving and very thought provoking.

View All Riding the Rails Reviews

Critic Reviews

No recent reviews.

Comments

This board looks lonely. Be the first to talk about "Riding the Rails" !

Post A Comment | View All Comments

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

All Rotten Tomatoes content is used under license from Rotten Tomatoes. Rotten Tomatoes, Certified Fresh, and the Tomatometer are the trademarks of Incfusion Corporation, d/b/a Rotten Tomatoes, a subsidiary of IGN Entertainment, Inc.

Cast

More Like This

This list looks lonely.
Add a suggestion!

Theater Showtimes & TV Listings

Movie Quizzes

No quizzes for Riding the Rails. Want to create one?

Video Clips

No video clips yet. Want to upload one?

Meet Other Fans

None yet...

Add Riding the Rails to favorites

Recent News

No recent headlines. Got one?

Recent Lists

Make a List |

View All Lists

Most Popular Skin

No skins yet. Interested in creating one?