Bound for Glory (film)
| Bound for Glory | |
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 Theatrical release poster by Tom Jung |
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| Directed by | Hal Ashby |
| Produced by | Robert F. Blumofe Harold Leventhal |
| Screenplay by | Robert Getchell |
| Story by | Woody Guthrie |
| Starring | David Carradine Ronny Cox Melinda Dillon Gail Strickland |
| Cinematography | Haskell Wexler |
| Editing by | Pembroke J. Herring Robert C. Jones |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
| Release date(s) |
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| Running time | 147 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Bound for Glory is a 1976 American film directed by Hal Ashby and loosely adapted by Robert Getchell from Woody Guthrie's 1943 autobiography Bound for Glory. The film stars David Carradine as folk singer Woody Guthrie and Ronny Cox, Melinda Dillon, Gail Strickland, John Lehne, Ji-Tu Cumbuka and Randy Quaid.[1]
Bound for Glory was the first motion picture in which inventor/operator Garrett Brown used his new Steadicam for filming moving scenes.[2] Director of Photography Haskell Wexler won an Oscar for Best Cinematography (1976).
All of the main events and characters, except for Guthrie and his first wife, Mary, are entirely fictional. The film ends with Guthrie singing his most famous song, "God Blessed America" (subsequently retitled "This Land Is Your Land"), on his way to New York, but, in fact, the song was composed in New York in 1940 and forgotten by him until five years later.
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Plot [edit]
Much of the film is based on Guthrie's attempt to humanize the desperate Okie Dust Bowl refugees in California during the Great Depression. Many of the scenes were filmed in and around Bakersfield and Kern County, actual places of Dust Bowl strife and settlement. Most of the Texas town of Pampa was filmed in Isleton, CA, a small Delta town with an old main street. Guthrie is best known for his very popular folk songs, most notably, "This Land Is Your Land".
Cast [edit]
- David Carradine as Woody Guthrie
- Ronny Cox as Ozark Bule
- Melinda Dillon as Mary / Memphis Sue
- Gail Strickland as Pauline
- John Lehne as Locke
- Ji-Tu Cumbuka as Slim Snedeger
- Randy Quaid as Luther Johnson
- Elizabeth Macey as Liz Johnson
- Susan Vaill as Gwen Guthrie
- Alexandra Mock as Sue Guthrie
- Kimberly Mock as Sue Guthrie
- Bernie Kopell as Woody's Agent
- Mary Kay Place as Sue Ann, Girl in Bar
Academy Awards [edit]
Wins
- 1977: Best Cinematography
- 1977: Best Music, Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Best Adaptation Score
Nominated
- 1977: Best Picture
- 1977: Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium
- 1977: Best Costume Design
- 1977: Best Film Editing
References [edit]
External links [edit]
- Bound for Glory at the Internet Movie Database
- Bound for Glory at the TCM Movie Database
- Hal Ashby article at Senses of Cinema
- Bound for Glory trailer at YouTube
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