Bound for Glory
Bound for Glory is a 1976 American biographical film directed by Hal Ashby and loosely adapted by Robert Getchell from Woody Guthrie's 1943 partly fictionalized autobiography Bound for Glory. The film stars David Carradine as folk singer Woody Guthrie, with Ronny Cox, Melinda Dillon, Gail Strickland, John Lehne, Ji-Tu Cumbuka and Randy Quaid. Much of the film is based on Guthrie's attempt to humanize the desperate Okie Dust Bowl refugees in California during the Great Depression.
Plot
Set during the 1930s Great Depression, Woody Guthrie, a sign painter and musician, is unable to support his family in Pampa, Texas, a town badly affected by the drought known as the Dust Bowl period. He hears great reports about California, including from those headed there; unable to find work, he joins the migration westward to supposedly greener pastures via boxcar riding and hitchhiking, leaving his wife a note promising to send for her and their children. Woody discovers the low pay and no job security for California's casual labor fruit pickers. He joins singer/union activist Ozark Bule in using music to fight for people's rights. He becomes a celebrated folk singer on radio with partners Ozark and Memphis Sue while campaigning for his causes.