Goin’ Down the Road

Pete and Joey drive their 1960 Chevrolet Impala from Cape Breton Island toward Toronto, hoping to connect with relatives who might help them find work. Their relatives hide from what they see as the pair's uncouth behavior, leaving the two men adrift in the city. The opening sequence establishes the precariousness of their hopes and the start of their journey.

The men reach Toronto in search of a new life but discover that their relatives want nothing to do with them because of their rough manners. They are left to fend for themselves on the street and in the city. This frame sets the sense of abandonment that runs through the next chapters.

Pete and Joey secure employment at a local ginger-ale bottler for eighty dollars a week, a wage that barely supports them. The work is tough and the hours are long, reflecting the precariousness of their new life. This job marks the start of their attempt to settle in Toronto.

They rent a modest apartment and fill it with centrefolds from men's magazines and movie posters, creating a makeshift home. Their days become a mix of work, drinking, and pursuit of social life. The living space becomes a microcosm of their desires and the pressures they face.

Joey enters into a romance that leads to pregnancy with his girlfriend Betty. He decides to marry her, signaling a shift toward a credit driven lifestyle. The plans expand as they buy new gear on installment plans.

With his new wife, Joey pursues a lifestyle funded by installments, buying a color television, stereo, and furniture. The purchases reflect a dream of upward mobility that clashes with their reality. The apartment becomes a showcase of borrowed wealth.

Pete and Joey are laid off from the bottling plant at the end of the summer, leaving them unemployed and anxious. They move to a smaller, less comfortable apartment as money tightens. The stability they sought begins to crumble.

They find new jobs washing cars and resetting pins in a bowling alley, but the pay is much lower than before. The tougher wages magnify the stress in the crowded living situation. Money becomes the dominant strain shaping every decision.

Betty tells Joey she will soon need to stop working due to her pregnancy, tightening the household budget. Pete accuses Joey of not earning enough to cover costs, and Betty resents the tension between the two men. The relationship strains push the trio toward a breaking point.

Unable to make ends meet, Pete and Joey steal food from a local supermarket. A grocery clerk is assaulted when he tries to intervene, and the police arrive during the night. Their landlord evicts them, and they return to find Betty has left, and their possessions are discarded on the street.

Broke and on the run, they pawn the rented colour TV to get money for a move west. Pete tells Joey that husbands leave their wives, a moral rationalization that convinces Joey to separate from Betty and her unborn child. The decision marks the end of their Toronto chapter.

With nothing left to hold them, Pete and Joey commit to leaving Toronto in search of greener pastures in Western Canada. They plan to travel together, relying on their stubborn optimism. The road becomes their only option.

The film ends much as it began, with Pete and Joey driving west in their car in the hope of finding a better life. The final shot echoes the opening journey, underscoring the persistence of their dream despite the costs. Their future remains uncertain, but the road ahead is their constant.