The Billion Dollar Hobo (DVD, 2002)

The studio logo for International Picture Show Company morphs out of a brief animated sequence showing a clumsy projectionist. This sets the tome for the feature. Vernon Praiseworthy (Tim Conway) is a butterfingered loser whose most recent job as a cook ends with him burning out the restaurant. But Vernon then finds that he is the last living heir to tycoon R. R. Trane (Will Geer). He stands to inherit the vast empire, but only if he can prove his worth by duplicating the magnate's rise out of his early hobo days. As an assistant, Trane assigns his German shepherd Bo to accompany Vernon, now to be known as "Joe".

Inept Vernon/Joe hops the wrong freight. Then he has to hitchhike to stay on schedule, and gets tangled up in a plot to dognap an expensive Shar Pei, which the Chinese have presented to the U.S. as a goodwill gesture. Not many trains now.

What I like about the movie: At about 12 minutes in (but lasting only a few minutes) you are treated to a exhibit of Standard Gauge trains, railroad lanterns, and locomotive bells in Trane's office. He also has a nicely landscaped 8 x 16 foot O Gauge layout with 4 track loops running 1970s era Lionel trains. Totally incorrect is that they show this display powered by a single 90-watt transformer. In reality, that pike would require 4 of the single channel transformers or a 4-throttle ZW. And where does Hollywood get the idea that the whistle blows automatically? Nonetheless, when I saw "Hobo" in the theatre it was when layout videos were in their infancy and Lionel did get a mention in the end credits. Also enjoyable is a prolonged shot of Vernon and Bo wantering through a rail yard with a relaxing music background.

Dog lovers will appreciate that perhaps the real star is Bo, billed as the smartest dog in the world. Yank a pull chain switch on a light fixture while standing on a ladder? Turn a doorknob? Take a gun away from a crook? Untie a knot? No problem. In fact Bo makes Lassie look pedestrian.

There are some entertaining sight gags, such as Vernon trying to call telephone repair service on a phone with the cord cut. Then there's TV reporter Barbara Henderson (Victoria Carroll), a Jane Fonda look-alike. And of course, like most fictional airlines, the one in this movie is also a variation on TWA.

As far as movies depicting hobo life go, a much more focused film is the gritty (and admittedly sometimes violent) depression era "Emperor of the North". As for train layouts, some 30 years after "Hobo", we have the luxury of professionally produced layout DVD's showing toy trains in action on beautiful personal public layouts. Many of these DVD's are available on ebay.

"Billion Dollar Hobo" was great when it came out. But over time other productions have since overshadowed it. Note, however, that along with "Arthur", "Hobo" was a pioneer in bringing toy trains back to the Big Screen in the modern era and deserves historical merit for that. And the movie is good for a few laughs.