1976 - BOUND FOR GLORY, is boring

The completely fictitious and very long and boring life of singer and union organizer Woody Guthrie.  During the reign of the old studio system, the studios would spit out biographies of famous people that were to put it mildly loose with the facts.  But for every Life of Emile Zola, or Dr Ehrlich's Magic Bullet that might play loose with the facts at least they were sincere and not boring.

Bound for Glory is very sincere and very boring.  This plot free film has non singer David Carradine wander around the south western part of the United States becoming socially aware about the plight of the Okie's in the dust bowl and the exploitation of fruit pickers in California, all the while strumming that damn guitar.

Somehow kind of  creepy David Carradine portrays Woody Guthrie as a real lady killer which seems highly doubtful.  The film oddly casts an actor, Melinda Dillion in two roles.  One as Guthrie's wife Mary and another as a singer called Memphis Sue for no apparent reason.  The film also has spectacular photography from Haskell Wekler, which is great to look at but completely distracts from one should be a hard edged story about poor people suffering.

Bound for Glory is what you get when you let a bunch of rich Hollywood liberals make a movie about the "simple people." A film which means well but is as disconnected about real life as Star Wars was from science fiction.

For a good film about the Depression and the Dust Bowl check out John Ford's The Grapes of Wrath.  The photogrphy by Haskell Wexler is impressive, probably the best thing in the film

147 minutes, written by Robert Getchell but supposedly mostly improvised by the cast and director.