Riding the Rails Rating: Release Date: 25 February, 2003 Retail Price: $19.95 OUR Price: $17.99 You SAVE: $1.96! Cast: Thomas Mitchell Peggy Lee John Hart Jim Lovell Complete Cast (7 total)

Riding the Rails Reviews

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A real eye opener
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.

WE ALL KNOW ABOUT THE DEPRESSION -- BUT WHAT ABOUT ALL THE TEEN HOBOS?
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.

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