Hobo

In 1991, Davis made Hobo, generally considered to be his finest work. Certainly his most famous film, Hobo follows the exploits Beargrease – the hobo of the title – as he criss-crosses America, stowing away on freight trains and foraging for food in dump trucks.

Hobo is by turns tragic, farcical and downright bizarre. Davis first meets his subject at a hobo convention. Apparently, although America’s vagabonds refuse to be constrained by the structures of established society, they are more than happy to have formalised meetings.

For Davis the experience of making Hobo was not to be that of a mere spectator, passively recording the hardships of his subject’s life. For his film to display the veracity he desired would require the understanding that could only be attained by direct experience.

So for the duration of filming Davis too led the life of the hobo, jumping trains and scavenging for food. Parallels have been drawn between Davis’ work on Hobo and the earlier Route 66 and the American Beat movement’s obsession with the transitory life, with life lived on the road. However, what Davis shows us is that the Beat dream soured. He removes all the gloss and through the story of Beargrease, shows us the true price to be paid in attaining a life of ‘freedom’. —culturenorthernireland.org