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Usually ships in 1-2 business days | | | Desperate times call for desperate measures, and perhaps no time in America's history has been so desperate as the Great Depression. Hundreds of thousands of young men and women left home seeking work and money wherever they could find it, and many of them took to hopping trains as a means of cheap, speedy (though by no means safe) travel. Riding the Rails lets survivors tell their stories of thrills, humiliation, and boredom from a distance of 60 years. You'll be amazed at the strength and determination of these folks to survive the difficult times, and find their reminiscences beautiful, sometimes angry, sometimes poetic. Contemporary newsreel footage and songs from such depression-era chroniclers as Woody Guthrie and Jimmie Rodgers make the 1930s come alive and evoke the vitality and suffering of a generation. --Rob Lightner | | | |
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| | Product Details | | Actors: | James San Jule; Arvel 'Sunshine' Pearson; Rene Champion; Richard Thomas; Peggy De Hart; John Fawcett (II); Charley Bull; Clarence Lee; Jim Mitchell; Bob 'Guitar Whitey' Symmonds; C.R. 'Tiny' Boland | | Director: | Michael Uys; Lexy Lovell | | Format: | Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC | | Language: | English | | Number of Discs: | 1 | | Studio: | WGBH BOSTON | | Run Time: | 72 minutes | | DVD Release Date: | February 25, 2003 | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 9 reviews |
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| | Customer Reviews | Average Customer Review:
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1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Great of Teenagers Apr 14, 2008
I am a history teacher and showed this movie to my students and they really enjoyed it. It talked about childern their age (15).
1 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 Very Insightful Aug 07, 2006
Centers upon teens force to leave home looking for work and adventure during the great drepression. Keeps your attention through the enitre film.
10 of 10 found the following review helpful:
WE ALL KNOW ABOUT THE DEPRESSION -- BUT WHAT ABOUT ALL THE TEEN HOBOS? Nov 09, 2005
Sure, the Great Depression is a part of history that has been studied, examined, exposed and studied some more, but until now the story of 250,000 teen hobos who spent years "Riding the Rails" went largely untold.
WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?
This DVD examines the lives of over a dozen Depression-era, freight-train stowaways who spent many of their teen years on the bum, traveling by rail throughout America looking for something better. But what and why? A very diverse group of former rail riders were interviewed including men and women, white and black, but all were teens at the time. This documentary delves into what motivated them and what it was like to be a teenager "riding the rails". In looking at this small group we do see a pattern and reasons which motivated this relatively large group of underaged runaways to choose such a difficult and risky lifestyle.
There are some photographs and archival photos and movietone-news-style film excerpts from the Depression era shown to give perspective. We also see an excerpt of a feature film "Riding The Rails - Teenagers On The Move" made to dissuade youngsters from taking up the lifestyle. Of course it only encouraged more rail runaways despite the tragic depictions of the film. It seems incomprehensible that so many children would take to riding the rails, but they did. This is their story.
All in all, this is a very worthwhile documentary about an almost forgotten piece of American history.
ABOUT THE DVD:
This DVD is part of the "AMERICAN EXPERIENCE" series produced by WGBH - BOSTON. An interview with the filmmakers is included as well as a "slide-show" featuring Depression-era photos. Web sites of interest are also included. It has the scene selection feature and closed captions available.
4 of 7 found the following review helpful:
Riding the Rails Aug 22, 2005
Featuring archival footage of the period and a folk song score from Woody Guthrie (and other balladeers of the time), the films' most memorable sequences are the interviews with the now elderly, respectable folks who eked out existences as young hoboes during the Depression, but still recall the sheer romance and adventure of hopping those freights. A heartwarming glimpse into a defining moment for our country, and how a hearty generation adapted.
3 of 5 found the following review helpful:
A real eye opener Aug 02, 2005
Words in the book, by the same name, don't create the same images as the DVD does. Here are the real stories of the real people who lived on the rails and survived to tell about it. Spell binding tales of leaving home and being asked to leave... because there was something better, someplace else... because the family could't afford to feed / support another child. Children setting out on their own to seek... who knows what. My teenage son 'got-it' when my Father and he sat down to watch it.
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