''It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books'' is a 1988 American film written, produced, and directed by

Richard Linklater Richard Linklater (; born July 30, 1960) is an American filmmaker. He is known for making films that deal thematically with suburban culture and the effects of the passage of time. In 2015, Linklater was included on the annual ''Time'' 100 li ...

, who also stars in it.

Plot

The protagonist (played by Linklater) receives a cassette tape from a friend, with a recorded message encouraging him to "blow off school" and leave Austin. The protagonist goes about his daily activities, including shooting a gun from his window. He gets on a train and after a long journey, meets his friend in

Missoula, Montana Missoula ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Missoula County, Montana, United States. It is located along the Clark Fork River near its confluence with the Bitterroot and Blackfoot rivers in western Montana and at the convergence of five ...

. They visit Glacier National Park and walk through town, before the protagonist leaves to visit West Coast cities such as San Francisco, also by train. He arrives back in Austin, only to travel to a family reunion and his mother's house. Finally, the protagonist returns to Austin once again.

Production

Richard Linklater began making short films upon moving to Austin, Texas in the late 1980s, where he also began running the Austin Film Society. The film was shot on Super 8 film over the course of a year.

Release

The film never received a widespread release, but was made available as a bonus feature on the

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

and

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

release of Linklater's film ''

Slacker A slacker is someone who habitually work aversion, avoids work or lacks work ethic. Origin According to different sources, the term "slacker" dates back to about 1790 or 1898. "Slacker" gained some recognition during the UK, British Gezira Sche ...

'' (1990) by

The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". A "sister company" of art film, arth ...

References

External links

* 1988 films 1980s English-language films Films directed by Richard Linklater American independent films 1988 directorial debut films 1980s American films {{1980s-comedy-drama-film-stub Amateur filmmaking