Punk: The Robert R. Young Story

No, this is not about punk rock. Robert Ralph Young (1897-1958) was nicknamed "Punk" as a child because of his oversized round head and reddish hair, which made him resemble a pumpkin. A self-made speculator and promoter, he was one of the last railroad barons, fighting a losing battle against the encroachment of trucks and interstate highways. Raised in small-town Texas, Young was closer to his sensitive, poetic mother than his banker father. At 19, he left college to marry Anita O'Keefe (sister of painter Georgia O'Keefe) and, after working as a statistician at General Motors, he later became treasurer for an investment firm and correctly predicted the stock market crash of 1929, emerging unscathed. Specializing in buying bankrupt companies and turning them around, he eventually purchased the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad. For the rest of his life, he fought the government, tried hostile take-overs of other railroads, and attempted to modernize train travel. A feisty little man known as a gadfly and "Little Napoleon," Young was also subject to depressive episodes, particularly after his only daughter Eleanor was killed in 1941 in an airplane crash. In 1958, as his railroad's stock plummeted, Young committed suicide. Unfortunately, Young doesn't really come across as a fully realized character, nor does the documentary place him adequately in the context of his times (a shame, because his attempts to save the railroad in the Eisenhower era provide an interesting, tragic dimension to that rather bland period). In addition, the production is marred by rushed narration and repetitive photographic images. Optional. Aud: C, P. (M. Pendergrast)