Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Bound for Glory Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 29, 2016

Chances are if you were to ask anyone born in the post-World War II era to name a famous Guthrie, most folks would probably default to Arlo, the “long haired hippie freak” who made Alice's Restaurant such a phenomenon in the late sixties. Some older Baby Boomers at least might ultimately get around to mentioning Woody, Arlo’s (once at least) famous father, an iconic musical rabble rouser who had already begun to fall by the wayside of mainstream American fame by the time Bound of Glory came out in 1976, not even a decade after Guthrie’s untimely death at the age of 55 in 1967. Sadly, Woody’s legacy seems to be perhaps even less well remembered today in an era of celebrity by lottery (i.e., contests like American Idol) and/or the reality television phenomenon which has catapulted otherwise unremarkable folks to the acme of fame and fortune. Hal Ashby’s cinematic exposition of Guthrie’s autobiography is an elegiac story that manages to sustain an unexpected emotional force despite indulging in the trappings of a traditional biographical film. What makes Bound for Glory finally untraditional is its very subject, a man who weathered storms (real and figurative), responding to a variety of both external and internal traumas with some of the most iconic folk songs ever written.

Perhaps surprisingly, Bound for Glory’s screenplay by Robert Getchell doesn’t really dwell on the sometimes quite disturbing facts surrounding Guthrie’s early childhood and upbringing, including such traumas as the institutionalization of Guthrie’s mother at least in part due to Huntington’s Disease, the syndrome which would ultimately lead to Woody’s own death at a relatively early age. Instead, the film picks up in the mid-1930s, with Woody (David Carradine) ensconced in the Dust Bowl with a wife named Mary (Melinda Dillon) and two small children.

Director Hal Ashby (Harold and Maude, The Last Detail, Coming Home, Being There) and cinematographer Haskell Wexler (who won an Academy Award for his work on this film) instantly create a completely believable world of barren, dust strewn streets in what amounts to rural hovel where no one has much (or any) work, and many of whom are planning to get out to supposedly greener climes as soon as they’re able. There are a couple of rather bizarre vignettes early in the film which suggest that Guthrie was a bit of a mind reader and/or faith healer, something that may not have much tether to actual history but which at least establishes Guthrie's easy manner with just about anyone with whom he comes into contact.

An inability to find decent employment as well as the onslaught of various issues arising out of the whole Dust Bowl environment (literal and figurative) finally force Woody to head out on the road, or more accurately, the rails. The film spends quite a bit of time with Guthrie “hitching a ride” on various rail lines, and there are a couple of scenes that play almost like some of the mad shenanigans on display in Emperor of the North. While there are various nefarious “hobos” that show up on occasion, the film once again depicts Guthrie as a guy who could find a common denominator with just about anyone who wandered into his orbit.

What’s odd about Bound for Glory is how it quite artfully depicts the roiling socioeconomic dysfunctions of this era while never really delving deeply into Woody’s increasingly political responses. The film instead seems to want to traffic in a glossier approach, emphasizing the awesome scenery that Woody passes through, albeit scenery that often serves as mere background to, yes, roiling socioeconomic dysfunctions suffered by everyday folks like those forced to ride the rails or, later, migrant farm workers.

As a result, the film is more anecdotal in nature than some so-called biopics, one which relies on visual acuity rather than histrionics to deliver at least some of its emotional content. Things get a bit more traditional, but ironically further removed from any incipient political content, once Woody starts to branch out and get gigs on the radio. Bound for Glory rightly finds its proletriat voice in its closing moments as things once again return to the blandishments of the land “made for you and me”.

Bound for Glory Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Bound for Glory is presented on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. As sad as it was to see the less than spectacular accounting of Academy Award nominated cinematography in Twilight Time's recent (simultaneous to this one) release of Hawaii, some cineastes may find it even sadder that Bound for Glory's Oscar winning cinematography is offered here in a relatively lackluster way. This is another master coming from the auspices of MGM (by way of United Artists) that simply looks old, dated and pretty far removed from the original glories of the theatrical exhibition. Elements are in okay but hardly pristine condition, with higher than average amounts of (typical) age related wear and tear, including lots of positive and negative dirt, and as a result both black and white speckling in abundance. Small scratches and other nicks also pop up regularly. Colors are often quite dowdy looking (even removed from the dusty ambience that sometimes informs the film), with flesh tones often looking pretty brown. That said, some of the outdoor photography still offers some pretty resplendent blues when clear skies are shown. The grain field is quite coarse, often coating those blue skies with a swarthy masking layer. That tendency means detail levels are rarely above acceptable levels, and in fact a lot of this transfer looks pretty soft and ill defined. The good news is things look considerably better in motion than some of the screenshots accompanying this review may suggest. As a result, things are watchable, if never spectacularly impressive.

Bound for Glory Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Bound for Glory features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track which capably supports the film's dialogue, effects and ubiquitous use of both on screen musical sequences as well as a number of source cues which play as underscoring. Leonard Rosenman took home the film's other Academy Award for adapting the music, and if some purists may question a few of the adaptations, the film offers some authentic sounding recreations of Guthrie's immortal songs.

Bound for Glory Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Original Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:38)


• MGM 90th Anniversary Trailer (1080p; 2:06)


• Isolated Score Track is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0.

Bound for Glory Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Bound for Glory was a gloriously visual experience when it first came out, and Haskell Wexler's cinematography was one of the prime reasons people even went to see the film, in a day when Guthrie had started to disappear into the mists of time and word of mouth had to suffice to build audience awareness (in lieu of our present 24/7 infotainment cable channels). Unfortunately, restoration and proper archiving of some of these gems in the deep(er) catalogs of the (former) majors seem destined to languish for the time being, and Bound for Glory is simply the latest example. Watchable? Sure. But fans of this film are almost certainly going to be experiencing a letdown when they see the quality of the master MGM provided to Twilight Time. With that caveat firmly in mind, and with a strong encouragement to parse the screenshots accompanying this review, Bound for Glory comes Recommended.