The stars and the scenery make this doc. Wish they remastered it, as the copy I got was missing some sound in some scenes. It reminded me of Jack Kerouac's book On the Road (1957).
It is not romanticised at all, and the participants still do a decent job of selling this lifestyle. The camera goes where they go: on freight trains night and day. Seeing America from this angle with excellent cinematography, while listening to their stories which drove them there, was powerful film making. Some of the scenery wants you to jump a train. That said it is a difficult life out in the environments, and as pointed out, a dangerous one. The price of freedom. Imagine these days will be much more difficult to ride freight trains for free (if not impossible), as they bring up that security was already being beefed up in 1990 when this doc was released. There was a character called Big Red who's foresight struck me, as his comments were quite prophetic, as it was if he was almost seeing in to the future of 2023.
Some nice tunes selected also for soundtrack.
It is not romanticised at all, and the participants still do a decent job of selling this lifestyle. The camera goes where they go: on freight trains night and day. Seeing America from this angle with excellent cinematography, while listening to their stories which drove them there, was powerful film making. Some of the scenery wants you to jump a train. That said it is a difficult life out in the environments, and as pointed out, a dangerous one. The price of freedom. Imagine these days will be much more difficult to ride freight trains for free (if not impossible), as they bring up that security was already being beefed up in 1990 when this doc was released. There was a character called Big Red who's foresight struck me, as his comments were quite prophetic, as it was if he was almost seeing in to the future of 2023.
Some nice tunes selected also for soundtrack.