The Great American Hobo

Jul 4, 1980

0h 30m

★ 0.0

Overview

The Great American Hobo produced in 1980 features the music of Supertramp's "Take the Long Way Home" documenting the men and women who rode freight trains. Shot in 14 states and culminates with the Hobo Convention in Britt Iowa. Premiered the Independent Eye series for PBS in 1980.

Genres

Documentary

Production Companies

Super Chief Films

PBS

The Great American Hobo Trailers

Cast

No Cast found.

John T. Davis stashes a camera in his bedroll, catches out, and rides the rails from Minneapolis to Seattle with Beargrease - a part-time hobo and full time philosopher, who narrates their way through the incredible scenery of the Northwest and gives us his views on life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Along the way, the pair meet with several other men living life on the margins.

7.0

Freeload

Feb 28, 2014

Just as the original hobos of the early 20th century were scorned the mainstream of society, so too are today's train riders. FREELOAD is a dive into a beggar's existence. It is a ride through America's backyard. It is a musical endeavor that feels like a drama. It is a sociological examination of the ignored.

5.7

Riding the Rails

Jan 1, 1997

Riding the Rails offers a visionary perspective on the presumed romanticism of the road and cautionary legacy of the Great Depression. The filmmakers relay the experiences and painful recollections of these now-elderly survivors of the rails. Forced to travel more by economic necessity than the spirit of adventure, the film's subjects dispel romantic myths of a hobo existence and its corresponding veneer of freedom. Riding the Rails recounts the hoboes' trade secrets for survival and accounts of dank miseries, loneliness, imprisonment, death, and dispossession. Sixty years later, the filmmakers transport their subjects back to the tracks, where the surging impact of sound and movement resuscitates memories of a shattered adolescence and devastating rite of passage.

7.0

Deschutes Driftwood

Jan 1, 1916

A "scenic picture from a hobo's point of view".

6.9

The Great McGinty

Aug 1, 1940

Told in flashback, Depression-era bum Dan McGinty is recruited by the city's political machine to help with vote fraud. His great aptitude for this brings rapid promotion from "the boss," who finally decides he'd be ideal as a new, nominally "reform" mayor; but this candidacy requires marriage. His in-name-only marriage to honest Catherine proves the beginning of the end for dishonest Dan...

5.0

A Stinking Fairytale

Nov 25, 2015

Moma is a hobo and suffers from depression. Ema is a hobo and had been treated for alcoholism. Moma lives in the abandoned factory premises. Ema lives in the shaft. Moma liked Ema at first sight. Ema liked Moma at second sight.

7.4

Sullivan's Travels

Nov 30, 1941

Successful movie director John L. Sullivan, convinced he won't be able to film his ambitious masterpiece until he has suffered, dons a hobo disguise and sets off on a journey, aiming to "know trouble" first-hand. When all he finds is a train ride back to Hollywood and a beautiful blonde companion, he redoubles his efforts, managing to land himself in more trouble than he bargained for when he loses his memory and ends up a prisoner on a chain gang.

4.0

He Who Lives In Hidden Lakes

Jul 7, 2021

The fanatic beliefs of an internet mystic, a cult leader, and a rookie cop gone rogue are tested on the hunt for the "Hidden Man" -- an elusive forest-dwelling cryptid that terrorizes their idyllic suburb.

6.5

Shoot 'Em Up

Jul 26, 2007

A man named Mr. Smith delivers a woman's baby during a shootout, and is then called upon to protect the newborn from the army of gunmen.

5.9

Down and Out in Beverly Hills

Jan 31, 1986

Beverly Hills couple Barbara and Dave Whiteman find their lives altered by the arrival of a vagrant who tries to drown himself in their swimming pool.

No Image Available

0.0

Dogmouth

Oct 27, 2019

A piece of writing with real danger and which focuses on a mysterious mafia of violent Viet Nam Vets living on freight trains who are akin to Hell's Angels without the Harley. The net is closing since they are being pursued by relentless railroad agents. They may be a repugnant set of people and the film will disturb and provoke the audience that sees it but it follows what John Steppling (also writer of '52 Pickup' directed by John Frankenheimer w/ Roy Sheider and Ann Margaret and 'Animal Factory' directed by Steve Buscemi w/ Willem Dafoe. Mickey Rourke. Ed Furlong) believes - 'Art is not your friend'.

3.4

Dwellers

Oct 12, 2021

While shooting a documentary on the suspicious disappearances within the homeless community, a filmmaker and his crew go missing while uncovering a terrifying and vicious secret below the city's surface.

5.6

C.H.U.D.

Aug 31, 1984

A rash of bizarre murders in New York City seems to point to a group of grotesquely deformed vagrants living in the sewers. A courageous policeman, a photojournalist and his girlfriend, and a nutty bum, who seems to know a lot about the creatures, band together to try and determine what the creatures are and how to stop them.

6.3

Blues in the Night

Nov 15, 1941

A struggling band find themselves attached to a fugitive and drawn into a series of old feuds and love affairs, as they try to stay together and find musical success.

6.7

Emperor of the North

May 23, 1973

Hobos encounter a sadistic railway conductor that will not let anyone "ride the rails" for free.

6.9

Bound for Glory

Dec 5, 1976

A biography of Woody Guthrie, one of America's greatest folk singers. He left his dust-devastated Texas home in the 1930s to find work, discovering the suffering and strength of America's working class.

6.8

Wild Boys of the Road

Oct 7, 1933

At the height of the Great Depression, Tommy's mother has been out of work for months when Eddie's father loses his job. Eager not to burden their parents, the two high school sophomores decide to hop the freight trains and look for work.

6.3

Ironweed

Dec 18, 1987

An alcoholic drifter spends Halloween in his hometown of Albany, New York after returning there for the first time in decades.

4.3

Oh, Yeah!

Oct 19, 1929

A couple of roving vagabonds hitch a freight to the railroad town of Linda, and between bouts with the fright-yard bulls and other drifters, find romance in the persons of two waitresses at the camp restaurant. American-slang rules the dialogue to the point non-USA viewers need a slang-glossary to follow the dialogue.