HANK WILLIAMS The SHOW HE NEVER GAVE

 

Hank Williams is being driven to Ohio for a show.  As he rides along he imagines what it would be like to give a show again in a small honky-tonk, thus the title Hank Williams: The Show He Never Gave. The movie then cuts back and forth from Hank's concert in the bar and him riding in back of the Cadillac. Most of the film centers around the concert he is giving in the club.

Sneezy Waters portrays Hank Williams and while he doesn't really look or sound like Williams it's not that hard to suspend belief and think he's the legendary singer and you're getting to see an up-close concert. Sneezy performs twenty-three songs, most of which were hit songs for Hank, but he also does a couple of Luke The Drifter recitations, and a couple of cover songs. A special note about whoever cast the audience at the club, the people looked like "real" people and not just a bunch of actors, this really helped lead credence to making the film seem more real.

While Hank Williams: The Show He Never Gave doesn't delve a lot into biographical material like An Evening With Hank Williams, Sr., it does touch on his life with some of the stage comments between songs. This movie is more akin to some of the "tribute" shows which currently tour the U.S. recreating concerts by The Beatles, Queen, Michael Jackson, Pink Floyd, etc. Anyone interested in what it would have been like to see Williams do a concert in a small club will certainly enjoy this film.

AN EVENING With HANK WILLIAMS, SR.

 

Your Cheatin' Heart was an entertaining but not very factual movie about Hank Sr. and The Last Ride was a terrible movie that turned Hank Sr.'s last 48 hours into a buddy/road movie. An Evening With Hank Williams, Sr. strives and succeeds in giving you an inside look at the famous entertainer.

As you can see from the photo on the box above, Jim Owen doesn't look that much like Hank Williams, but once he's in character, he's very believable as Hank. His voice and mannerisms really make you believe you are getting a close-up, personal look at one of the most important figures in Country Music. 

An Evening With Hank Williams, Sr. is a one man show with Jim Owen presenting the life of Hank Sr. through a series of stories and songs. It's a great overview of the life of the the Country Music legend and I think it's something any casual or serious fan of Hank Sr. would enjoy.

THE LAST RIDE

The Last Ride purports to tell the story of the last 48 hours of Hank Williams' life as he leaves Alabama on a road trip to West Virginia and Ohio for a couple of concerts to revive his career. It stars Henry Thomas (Elliott in E.T.) as one of the the most important figures in Country Music.

There are no songs sung by Hank Williams in this film. A few of Hank's songs are on the soundtrack, but they are sung by other performers. I imagine since this was a low budget film, that the rights to Hank's recordings could not be procured. Also, I'm guessing that's why the words "Hank Williams" are never uttered by anyone in the movie. Hank's illegitimate daughter, Jett, sings a few songs on the soundtrack and she has a great voice. I guess her contribution is the closest this film gets to anything really related to Hank Sr.

The Last Ride is a terrible movie with so many things wrong with it. First and foremost, the filmmakers turn the last few days of Williams' life into a buddy/road film. What a shame and a waste of a good story, this could have been a really interesting tale. Instead, it's a coming of age film about Hank's driver (played by Jesse James).

And now a few of the other things wrong with the movie:

Unlike George Hamilton as Hank Sr. in Your Cheatin' Heart, I never believed for one moment that Henry Thomas was the legend he was portraying. Thomas did a fine acting job, but I just never bought into him as Hank Sr. Although Thomas is about the same height as Hank Williams, for some reason, he seemed shorter. Maybe he just wasn't lanky or emaciated looking enough.

People in Tennessee in the movie refer to a state called "Carolina"...sorry folks, but people in Tennessee know there's a South and a North Carolina and they can tell the difference. This is a mistake people North of the Mason-Dixon Line and West of the Mississippi make all the time.

Hank Williams drinks constantly out of a flask and the flask doesn't go empty for at least 24 hours. Must be like those six-guns in the old Westerns that never ran out of bullets.

It was supposed to be urgent that Hank got to his concerts on time, but in most of the shots it appeared the old Cadillac wasn't doing much more than 25mph (and many times it appeared slower than that), so the movie never really conveyed any urgency.

The end credits are wrong when they state "new songs by Hank were found in the back seat of the Cadillac" (these were actually uncompleted songs in notebooks). The credits go on to state "Bob Dylan acquired them and working with various modern artists recorded the album Timeless: Hank Williams Tribute." What a boneheaded mistake...that's a tribute album as the title clearly states. The actual album with these songs was called The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams. I guess this is just another factor in showing how little the filmmakers cared about any type of accuracy.

Finally, I never could suspend belief long enough to think one of the most famous entertainers of the time was never recognized anywhere he went, or even if he was, his name was never spoken....Guess what I can recognize....this was a disaster of a film! 

YOUR CHEATIN' HEART

If you're looking for a movie that's an accurate portrayal of  Hank Williams life, be forewarned, Your Cheatin' Heart is NOT the movie for you. This film takes some of the basic facts of Hank's life, adds in some events of its own, and then dramatizes a story around those facts and events.  Hank's wife Audrey was the technical adviser for the film, which of course, makes the film somewhat slanted to present her in a good light.

The Hank Williams songs in the movie are done by Hank Williams, Jr. (who was only 15 at the time) and George Hamilton lip synches them. Hamilton does a good enough job with the lip synching that it doesn't distract from the film. 

Just like when Richard Thomas played Hank Jr. in Living Proof,  George Hamilton seemed an odd choice to portray Hank Williams, but Hamilton really does a credible job in making you believe he's Hank Sr. A few years later, he would also do another great acting job in portraying the title character in another biopic, Evel Knievel. As stated above, Your Cheatin' Heart is more of a dramatic film with a few true facts about Hank Williams' life mixed into the storyline. It's still a pretty good movie, and as long as you view it with that fact in mind, you should enjoy this film, I know I did.

LIVING PROOF - The HANK WILLIAMS JR. STORY

Living Proof presents the story of Hank Williams, Jr. starting with his early years, where his career was guided by his mother as she molded him into basically a Hank Sr. impersonator. The movie continues with Hank, Jr. leaving his mother and searching for his own sound. This era of Hank Jr.'s life is also dominated by a lot of partying and drug use. Just after Hank Jr. records his watershed album, Hank Williams Jr. and Friends, he has a tragic accident falling off the side of a mountain and breaking every bone in his skull. With the help of friends and family he is able to make a comeback from the accident with his own sound, and no longer be considered to be riding on the coattails of his famous father.

Richard Thomas portrays Hank Jr. and sings Sr.'s songs in the first half of the movie and lip synch's Jr.'s songs in the latter half of Living Proof. There were two other country musicians of note in this film: Naomi Judd of The Judds has a small part as as a groupie who, according to the film, was Hank Jr.'s first sexual encounter. The other musician is Merle Kilgore (writer of Wolverton Mountain and co-writer of Ring of Fire amongst other songs) who plays himself, a close friend of Hank Jr. in the movie and in real-life, and he does a fine job in his role. Also, Mickey Jones (drummer for Bob Dylan, First Edition, Johnny Rivers, and Trini Lopez) appears in many scenes.

I had seen Living Proof when it first aired on TV in 1983. Richard Thomas had just finished his run on The Waltons a few years prior and it seemed odd for him to play Hank Jr. In 1983, Hank Jr. was in full country outlaw mode having already recorded the classics “Family Tradition” and “Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound,” and here he was being played by clean cut John Boy Walton, it almost seemed like a joke. Looking back now, Hank Jr. was a pretty clean cut looking guy, as can be seen in his only starring movie, A Time To Sing. Since time has passed, and I no longer strictly think of Richard Thomas as John Boy, I  can see see what a good actor he was and what a great job he did in portraying Hank Jr. While I can't vouch for the accuracy of the movie (however it was based on Hank Jr.'s book of the same name), I can without hesitation recommend this film for any Hank, Jr. fan.

A TIME TO SING

A Time To Sing is Hank Williams, Jr.'s only starring film role. In this movie he plays the nephew of Ed Begley, who owns a small tobacco farm. Although Hank is a talented singer/songwriter, his uncle is dead set against Hank having anything to do with the music business. The reason why is revealed later in the movie. Through a series of convoluted plot twists, most involving Shelley Fabares, Hank winds up becoming a big star.

As far as music in the movie goes, Hank Jr. sings a handful of songs (1/2 of which he wrote), one with Clara Ward and the rest solo, plus Shelley Fabares sings one number. In several scenes,  Hank Jr. is backed up by his real-life band, The Cheatin' Hearts. Hank Jr.'s country songs in A Time To Sing fare much better than the pop/folk style songs he sings. Those songs just didn't fit with Hank Jr.'s voice/personality.

A Time To Sing is a very poorly made movie with a badly written plot and lots of weak acting. And the weak acting doesn't just come from Hank Jr., I mean he's a singer and his acting reflects that fact, but there's no excuse for his co-stars. Only Donald Woods as Shelley's father, Clara Ward as herself, and Charles Robinson in the hilarious role of "hipster" agent Shifty Barker (think Maynard G. Krebs with a work ethic) show any talent in the acting department and that includes veteran actor, Ed Begley. I can only recommend this film for BIG fans of Hank Jr. (casual fans, don't waste your time).