A portrait of Arthur "Peg Leg Sam" Jackson --black harmonica player, singer, and comedian who made his living "busking" on the street and performing in patent-medicine shows touring southern towns. Footage includes excerpts from one of his last medicine shows, videotaped at a county fair in 1972, and material filmed near his home in South Carolina in 1975. The performance includes harmonica solos, songs, a parody of a chanted sermon, folktales and reminiscences, and three buck dances.
A clip from this film appeared in Jean-Piere Jeunet's popular French feature Amelie. Born for Hard Luck is available on DVD from Davenport Films.

If you are interested in other films about medicine shows, we recommend Free Show Tonight, by academy award winner Paul Wagner