Parents' Guide to

Bound for Glory

By Charles Cassady Jr., Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 13+

Evocative folksinger bio with strong pro-union message.

Movie PG 1976 147 minutes
Bound for Glory Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

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age 2+

Based on 1 parent review

RoBnD4Glory
RoBnD4Glory Adult
May 19, 2020
age 2+

I'm look / 2 The Sequel to this True Story

I think this is a great movie for all ages because it is based on true events of people of history and why shine the truth up for our children it influence them to be of a fictional story and not to be of reality this movie just shows where we were and what it takes to bring change to people that should be important to each other more and we should always influence our children with truth,and love ,to teach them care to care, for all people poor or rich orphaned ,fatherless or widowed ,we should always have their life's of our conciderations through out our whole life's and they are not to be of an ignored people but reconized and humbley addressed as a people of importance just as much or maybe even more than themselves at times , I think it will be helpful for alot of this generations understanding of looking out for others instead of always looking out for just themselves this movie should inspire people to work together for our good everyone's good and spread the message of sacrafise for the common man and the not so adoring people that take the lime light and take from the not so important glamerous ones feel less than when in fact everyone has an important part in all of our futures and all our purposes in this life we are in together so with that all said ,I'm also in this movie and I'm very proud of this story and would like some day to have a write on of my true life story ,so I'm going to have to fill some big shoes thank God I've been blessed with big feet ,also President Trump's Dad was Woody Guthrie's landlord in real life and now here he is our president and he was here for the paradise fires and Woody Guthrie wrote a song about paradise and Trump's Dad ,so it's a good story to use as a teaching tool and share our history with generations to come in our history changing times God bless America ,Thank you Ms.Rosemarie Lagorio - Lamb

This title has:

Great messages
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What's the Story?

During the1930s Great Depression, Woody Guthrie (David Carradine) is a young husband and father in stricken, small-town Oklahoma known for his freehand sign-painting, guitar playing and good nature. Woody decides privately to flee for California and earn a living there for his family with his brushes. Hitchhiking and train-hopping, he sees more poverty than he ever imagined, as thousands of other families are on the same road. In California he finds the migrants used as cheap, nearly slave labor by orchard growers. Guthrie hooks up with a politically oriented folk singer trying to unionize the workers, and the two talents wind up a hit on Los Angeles radio. But Guthrie's insistence on doing union-oriented material directed at the poor workers is offensive to the sponsor, and Woody starts to feel like he's betrayed his ideals. Even with his family arrived at his new L.A. home and offers of national music exposure, Woody turns his back on success to travel the backroads, singing of unionization and resistance to injustice.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: (1):
Kids say: Not yet rated

The surprising thing about this biography of an American music legend is how little performance there is in it, at least for the first hour (and it does feel like quite a long trip). Instead of rustic-nostalgic song-and-dance production numbers, the point is a pitch-perfect dramatization of the Dust Bowl days of yesteryear, with a mammoth, ruinous dust-storm front moving in (which is definitely not CGI) and the convoy of vintage cars, piled with family heirlooms, waiting to get into California but turned away at the border.

While the 21st-century national climate is less friendly towards labor unions, this movie shows vividly the harsh and unfair conditions that existed for America's working poor when they had no power. Both the unforced, easygoing Carradine and the film were nominated for Oscars.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about how Woody Guthrie puts his activism and a life of uncertainty ahead of having an easy existence as a music superstar. Can you imagine doing that yourself? Is Guthrie a role model?

  • What is this movie's message about unions? Do you think it is an accurate representation of the issues? Are there any stereotypes in this film?

Movie Details

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