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.
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.
Freeload
2014
7
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.
Riding the Rails
1997
5
Documentary - Ernest Borgnine, star of the classic train movie Emperor of the North, hosts and narrates this remarkable examination of the uniquely American Hobo.
The American Hobo: History of the Railriding Worker
2003
6
Deschutes Driftwood
1916
7
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.
Hobo
1992
6
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.
Dwellers
2021
3
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.
Down and Out in Beverly Hills
1986
5
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.
Sullivan's Travels
1941
7
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.
He Who Lives In Hidden Lakes
2021
4
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.
Shoot 'Em Up
2007
6
Hobos encounter a sadistic railway conductor that will not let anyone "ride the rails" for free.
Emperor of the North
1973
6
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.
Bound for Glory
1976
6
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.
Wild Boys of the Road
1933
6
An alcoholic drifter spends Halloween in his hometown of Albany, New York after returning there for the first time in decades.
Ironweed
1987
6
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...
The Great McGinty
1940
6
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.
Blues in the Night
1941
6
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.
C.H.U.D.
1984
5
After killing her treacherous step-father, a girl tries to escape the country with a young vagabond. She dresses as a boy, they hop freight trains, quarrel with a group of hobos, and steal a car in their attempt to escape the police, and reach Canada.
Beggars of Life
1928
7
The story of four young people, ShinAe Ahn who is transgender, and three others, pan-sexual, gay, and lesbian respectively, who are fed up with the oppressive and authoritarian conservative government and its influence on the country. ShinAe Ahn decides to run for the office of prime minister, with the help of her friends and supporters. She meets a lot of caring people, and also a lot of haters. The current Prime Minister is not at all tolerant of the LGBTQIA+ community and is trying his hardest to stop any party that does not follow the orders of the conservative government from running without any logical reason to do so. That creates a political divide within the country, as politicians will attack anyone who is and/or who acts differently, or who stands up for people/themselves who they personally don't like. This story however is being told after the fact, a few years after the election, when ShinAe won as prime minister.
So Much To Do- So little Time
2024
0
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.
Oh, Yeah!
1929
4