Freddy runs between the slow-moving trains before jumping inside an open boxcar. As the train rumbles out of the city, the brick factories and warehouses quickly turn into cornstalks and open fields. It's a beautiful image, one of many created by cinematographer Terry Stacey. Within this opening sequence, one immediately senses the mix of joy and despair that describes Freddy's vagabond lifestyle. The cluttered shelves of a convenience store are filmed as lovingly as the corn fields.
Highway overpasses, a Creamy Whip and a roadside diner are treated as architectural works of art.
From a visual standpoint, the film's climax occurs in the Great Salt Flats in Utah. From a strictly, visual perspective, The Dream Catcher is a travel movie, just as focused on its sense of place and surroundings as the mountain climbing movie, Vertical Limit. Thankfully, Radtke shifts his drama back to the core story. The Dream Catcher is only as compelling as its lead characters and the dialogue they share with each other. He never allows the film to shift into the arena of experimental photography or quirky storytelling.