Riding the Rails (1997)

About Riding the Rails

Where can I watch Riding the Rails?

Riding the Rails is currently streaming in the United States on PBS Documentaries Amazon Channel.

Who stars in Riding the Rails?

Riding the Rails stars Richard Thomas.

Who directed Riding the Rails?

Riding the Rails was directed by Lexy Lovell and Michael Uys.

How long is Riding the Rails?

Riding the Rails has a runtime of 1h 12m.

What is Riding the Rails about?

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.