Goin' Down the Road

Any Canadian who has left his or her home to move to Toronto can identify with this movie. Doug McGrath and Paul Bradley star as Peter and Joey, who leave their home on Cape Breton for prosperity in Hogtown. After searching for "doctorin' and lawyerin'" jobs, they eventually settle for factory work. The movie chronicles the quest of these small town boys trying to take on the big city. Also starring are Jayne Eastwood as Betty, Nicole Morin as the unforgettable daughter of the boss, and Stompin' Tom Connors as himself. Peter and Joey would serve as the models for countless characters in Canadian culture, including Bob and Doug Mackenzie, Wayne and Garth, and "Dumb and Dumber." The movie also acts as an apt reminder of how much the city of Toronto has changed in the past thirty years. It's worth watching if you can find it.

After reading so many good reviews on this film and seeing an in-depth and up-to-date documentary with some of the cast members and Trailer Park Boys' writer/producer/director Mike Clattenburg I finally caught an airing of this film on the IFCC. It's more a drama than a comedy though you can't help but laugh at these poor guys. Pete and Joey are a pair of East Coast bumpkins who come to Toronto for a better life, but they now face a new series of hurdles as they try to fit in to the metropolis but only land a string of short term manufacturing jobs. Life gets tougher and eventually becomes worse as they drift through a period of structural unemployment.

Cool to see the backdrop filming locations along the downtown Yonge/Dundas street corner and an old Loblaws sign. And when did grocery packers last wear bowties? Then there's a cameo with Stompin' Tom Connors who looks almost exactly today as he did back then. Few copies of a DVD release but one must see the televised documentary (seen on Star! and the Drive-In Classics channel) to complete the whole story.

Fans of The Trailer Park Boys TV series may enjoy this film for the story, though fans of the original cult horror hit Black Christmas, another Toronto filmed project that included Doug McGrath among the cast, may find Going' Down The Road interesting just to catch a glimpse of the city of Toronto, the way it was in the seventies.

A great story of two simple-minded hosers from Cape Breton who move to Toronto to try and make a better life for themselves.

They get into amusing situations while trying to make it in the big city, but the real strength of this film is the acting and directing. It is difficult to tell if it's a film or a documentary - the actors and director Don Shebib do such a great job.

I watched the film a few times before it grew on me. After purchasing the VHS, I've now watched it many times, finding something new with each viewing.

Torontonians will marvel at how busy the nightlife was on the Yonge Street strip between Dundas and Gerrard back in '69. Now, of course, it is all but forgotten by nocturnal revellers.

I stumbled upon this low budget Canadian movie while flipping channels, and although somewhat slow in areas, its grittiness and realism gripped my attention from beginning to end. At first it appeared to be a Canadian version of "Midnight Cowboy" which was released a year earlier, however as the movie progressed it became obvious that the story being told was different.

The heros, Pete and Joey, are high school dropouts from the economically depressed east coast (Nova Scotia), who like so many others travel to the big city (Toronto), in search of a better life. Their enthusiasm is quickly dashed, and they settle into a series of minimum wage jobs, ranging from factory work to washing cars. As the underdogs I couldn't help routing for them, in particular Pete has aspirations for better jobs and dating classier women. However Joey's interest in Toronto's nightlife, working class women and constant beer drinking holds his friend back. Even an interviewer's candid comment "You need to get more education or go back home" does not provide the wake up call Pete needs. In the end Pete and Joey can't seem to help themselves.

Although the main characters appeared to be in their 40's (both are heavy smokers), a decade or two too old for their roles, the acting, dialog, camera work, sound track and interactions with other bit characters worked very well together to distract the viewer from this fact. In particular the scenes of our heros hard at menial work and at play were extremely well done.

All in all, a realistic drama and time capsule to the working class of Toronto in 1970, particularly interesting to Canadians, and lover's of dramas and foreign films.

They just don't make them this way anymore. I'm an American viewed, but appreciated the importance of this film in Canada. The film has a highly realistic, "70s feel" grittiness with a pace that always keeps you interested. This is not meant to be a crowd pleasing film. Worth a view.