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Riding the Rails is an extraordinary video documentary that recounts how hundreds of thousands of teenagers during the Great Depression left their homes and hopped freight trains back and forth across America. Most came from families that could no longer support them, but some were just kids in search of adventure. The documentary is built around interviews with about a dozen survivors from that time, now in their seventies and eighties. Their moving stories are augmented by pictures, newsreel footage, and excerpts gleaned from thousands of letters contributed to the project by other survivors. The reminiscences are by turns grim and humorous, hopeful and bitter, tragic and filled with wonder. By the end of the film you'll feel as if you're close friends with these former hobo kids. The music is likewise outstanding, mixing vintage railroad songs and social anthems with original tracks. The overall effect is a kind of bracing nostalgia that is not cloying but consciousness-raising in the best sense. "Riding the Rails" is the winner of 18 major film awards, including Best Documentary of 1997 from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Directors Guild, and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. If you have any interest in either railroad lore or 20th century U.S. history, you owe it to yourself not to miss this video. ...

This was an excellent documentary!! The men who were picked were so sweet and the whole story is absolutely wonderfull!

If you're interested in what it was like for real people during the Great Depression, buy this video. It's content is excellent, including stills and films of the era and interviews with old-timers who were there and lived it, both men and women. It's story sequence is great, telling how and why young people came to ride the rails: from poverty to adventure and everywhere between, then talking about what it was really like to live that way: good/bad big town/small town, and closing with the various reasons or ways various youth rejoined society or went on in life. Very significant is the soundtrack, which includes high quality recordings of music of the period and/or the situation, often recordings by the original artists. Purchasers of the video may want to consider also getting the book, IRON MEMORIES: RIDING THE RAILS IN THE GREAT DEPRESSION, by the video director's father, Errol Lincoln Uys. The video is great by itself, but with the book they're really a superior pairing.

This is NOT a great movie. Nope. Not even close.

If it were a great movie, it'd be "Terms of Endearment." But it's not. The framing device is lame, the guy who plays the grown-up son needs to go back to acting school immediately, the story is overly condensed in parts so that it doesn't actually make any sense in terms of a narrative... it's just not a very good movie.

But...

Steve Zahn is outstanding as Drew Barrymore's loser boyfriend/husband. In the scenes where they're supposed to be teenagers, Drew Barrymore looks like Drew Barrymore pretending to be a teenager, but Steve Zahn IS that character. Totally authentic. And as the years pass, and when we finally see him in his late 50's or so, he is STILL totally authentic. The man is a damn good actor.

I can't really recommend this movie because there's too much about it that is sub-par, but it's not a complete waste of time. Drew Barrymore has some good scenes (when she's not pretending to be a teenager) and Steve Zahn is superb... it's too bad the rest of the movie wasn't a bit better.

Sweet Drew Barrymore, plays Beverly in this wonderful movie.
Beverly is the daughter of a police sergeant who just can't wait to grow up and when she does she falls madly in love with a guy that doesn't love her. She even writes poems about him then in one party she gives him one of her poems and by this she becomes a laughing object. Her disapointment with the guy she loves makes her feel she has a huge gap inside herself and this "gap" gets filled up with the first boy she meets and as fate would have it she gets pregnant.
A police sergeant's honor was suffering so her father wont talk to her anylonger.
Beverly is a good girl so she doesn't decide on abortion.
Instead against her wishes she marries the boy who got pregnant and then the story unfolds - mind you the True Story that is.

Highly Recommended to Everyone - especially to girls who just can't wait to grow up. There is a great lesson in here.

I was very impressed with the film, "Riding in Cars with Boys". It was a very heartwarming story about a girl who gets pregnant at a very young age and has to struggle raising her son while trying to grow up herself.

Drew Barrymore does an excellent job as Beverly. Steve Zahn is also very good as Ray, Beverly's heroin-addicted husband.

The relationship between Beverly and her son, Jason, is also very interesting as well. Because of Jason's birth while in her teens, Beverly never really had the chance to grow up and be a "normal" teenager. She struggles wondering if she really loves her son because she's supposed to or because she wants to. Sometimes Beverly got the feeling that her son was pulling her down more than he was uplifting and helping her, but by the end of the film, Beverly realizes that even though it was hard, Jason's birth was probably one of the best things to happen in her life.

I would definitely recommend this film to anyone who wants to see a good, heartwarming, intelligent film with a great cast and great acting. You won't be disappointed!!!

I read the reviews and there was one that said if your truely a Creed fan this is worth it, or something like that. I wish I never read it. Yes, I ordered this DVD & everyone else was so right, it's bad. Just a bunch of people I have no desire to see talking about Creed. Please, if you read my review trust me, it's not worth it. I probably will never watch it again.

I too was disappointed with this DVD. Poor production value and yes the greatest disappointment was no music at all. Learned to be more careful in my DVD choices. I was looking for more like VH1's "Behind The Music" about CREED but I got a home movie documentary. Anyone that comes across a REAL DVD with Creed live or MTV type videos of them I would be very interested.

Ok, this video was full of information which was interesting for the fans who want to know how Creed got started. Their are some interview clips with the band unlike some of the unauthorized videos but still no performances or music by the group just like the video warns you on it's cover. Over all, this video was pretty good and interesting. One thumb up!