Come celebrate David Carradine’s birthday with one of his most beloved performances: as folk legend Woody Guthrie in Hal Ashby’s seminal bio-pic Bound For Glory. Carradine’s emotional range and physical acuity is on full display as the Okie-turned-superstar struggling to balance his penchant for union agitating with a burgeoning music career. A principled man in trying times, Carradine’s Guthrie is a walking (and talking/singing) representation of contradictions at the heart of the American Dream, ones still unresolved to this day. Vividly photographed by Haskell Wexler and directed by Ashby at his peak, the film takes on a complicated, oft-referenced figure with assurance and talent, delivering one of the best of New Hollywood.
“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.” – Variety
“A moving, brilliantly photographed picture… This is a superior biopic. Viewers get to see Guthrie warts and all. That easily half the audience is too young to know who he was should not matter. This is the story of an artist with deeply held political principles, a remarkable quality in any age.” – TV Guide
