Bound for Glory

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Bound for Glory

PG,

1976,

2h 27m,

Biography

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Watchlist

80%

25 Reviews

Tomatometer

76%

1,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

80%

Tomatometer

25 Reviews

76%

Popcornmeter

1,000+ Ratings

The Dust Bowl overtakes his native Oklahoma in the early 1930s, and struggling young musician Woody Guthrie leaves his wife, Mary, to join the great westward migration to southern California. When he meets singer and union agitator Ozark Bule, Guthrie finds his populist political voice — but at the expense of his personal life. Director Hal Ashby adapted this biopic from Guthrie's 1943 autobiography of the same title.

Critics Consensus

Bound for Glory brings the Dust Bowl era to authentic life thanks to Haskell Wexler's opulent cinematography and Woody Guthrie's resonant music, capturing the American mood at the time as much as it does the folk singer's life.

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Pauline Kael

The New Yorker

Jan 22, 2024

Bound For Glory isn't quite an epic; it's a hole-in-shoe pastoral, and we can't help being aware that this is the most expensive-looking Depression we've ever seen,

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Jul 2, 2018

4/4

There are images in Hal Ashby's Bound For Glory so striking or so beautiful I doubt I'll ever forget them... The film has a grave dignity, which is good, but it often seems to lack life, which would be better.

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Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

May 11, 2012

One half of a very good movie.

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Rene Jordan

El Nuevo Herald (Miami)

Aug 16, 2023

This film is intelligently directed, magnificently acted, brilliantly shot, and edited by an angled equipped with scissors. [Full review in Spanish]

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Judith Crist

Playgirl

Aug 9, 2022

Carradine's performance is sweet and sure, spiced by the willfulness of a dedicated man.

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Marina Hirsch

Berkeley Barb

May 12, 2021

The cinematographer is Haskell Wexler, and his scenes are still paintings, glowing at the edges, awash in muted and glowing light. Every scene looks hand-tinted, like old postcards. I wish they'd shot the movie in black and white.

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Jan 27, 2019

The best movie song ever sung: This Land is Your Land!

Finn S

May 13, 2017

Good bio-pic of great Woodie Guthrie. Too bad Arlo did not make an appearance.

Rey W

Apr 14, 2017

More intriguing visually than dramatically.

Han P

Jan 25, 2011

Carradine is brilliant and the cinematography and soundtrack are both magnificent in capturing the feeling of the depression era. However, despite all this, the film does lack in certain areas... There is very little development for any of the other characters, the film lags in places and contains a number of unnecessary scenes. Still, I'd definitely recommend it. "Woody Guthrie: This land is your land/This land is my land/From California to the New York Island/From the Redwood forests to the Gulf Stream waters/This land was made for you and me"

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Hal Ashby

Director

David Carradine

Woody Guthrie

Ronny Cox

Ozark Bule

Melinda Dillon

Mary

Gail Strickland

Pauline

John Lehne

Locke

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Synopsis

The Dust Bowl overtakes his native Oklahoma in the early 1930s, and struggling young musician Woody Guthrie leaves his wife, Mary, to join the great westward migration to southern California. When he meets singer and union agitator Ozark Bule, Guthrie finds his populist political voice — but at the expense of his personal life. Director Hal Ashby adapted this biopic from Guthrie's 1943 autobiography of the same title.

Director: Hal Ashby
Producer: Robert F. Blumofe, Harold Leventhal, Jeffrey M. Sneller
Screenwriter: Robert Getchell, Woody Guthrie
Distributor: United Artists, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Production Co: United Artists
Rating: PG
Genre: Biography
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 5, 1976, Original
Release Date (DVD): Feb 29, 2000
Runtime: 2h 27m
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: 35mm, Scope (2.35:1)

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