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How others will see it. Guthrie is a likeable Will Rogers sort of Okie with a good reason for his sympathy for the impoverished and disenfranchised. He's been there himself. Guthrie is like the Henry Ford character from The Grapes of Wrath, a common man looking for a way to make it, even if it means moving into a California shanty land.
Since Guthrie is sympathetic, we pull for him, but patience is required to see him along his way toward eventual fame. Those who require action or hot babes will probably not be able to stick with this film. Those interested in Guthrie the Artist may also be disappointed.
Instead, we are given Guthrie the Enigma: a man of unique talent whose music is more accessible than the man himself. Guthrie has empathy for the suffering of strangers he has just met, but when it comes to those he knows, it seems he couldn't care less. He walks away from beckoning career success, because he won't compromise his freedom. Freedom also applies to his relations with women. Woody is the love 'em and leave 'em type.
How I felt about it. Although our lead is folksinger Woody Guthrie, Bound for Glory also focuses on the hardships of the poor. These desperately poor people are idealized in the form of Randy Quaid, his comely wife, and their infant child. Quaid can't get a crop picking job to support his family, and apparently FDR's New Deal hasn't reached him yet. There's no hope, but plenty of hunger.
The plight of the poor contrasts with the indifference of the companies that require their labor. Workers are dispensable, and if that's not enough to keep them in line, the company has hired armed bullies to intimate union organizers and other "troublemakers." There is no doubt that Bound for Glory sides with the unionists. But might is right, this side of a ballot box, and our socialist-minded heroes receive the bruises to prove it.
A different theme of the movie is that of the drifter. Woody leaves for California, and it seems he is doing so to make a living, rather than merely to experience the hard knocks of the disenfranchised. Further evidence of Woody's family intentions comes when he brings the family he abandoned to the good life in California, once he has made it (relatively) big as a local radio star.
But Woody doesn't want success after all, not even for the sake of his wife and young children. He wants to soak in the experiences of the downtrodded: their troubles and hopes. After all, they inspire his singing and songwriting, which turns out to be his lasting legacy.
A telling incident comes when Woody, hitch hiking cross country, is picked up by a middle class husband and wife. He promptly sabotages his newfound good fortune by informing them of the wisdom, "The more you eat, the more you shit." Woody would rather ride the rails with hobos, even though there's a chance of getting shot.