Watch Hank Williams: The Show He Never Gave For Free

Best movie of this year hands down!

People are voting emotionally.

Fresh and Exciting

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Strumming his guitar and singing the songs he made famous, Hank Williams (Sneezy Waters), together with his band, entertains an audience at a typical roadside bar in this fictional account of what might have been, if the night of December 31, 1952 had been a little different. On that night in real life, Williams traveled by car from Montgomery, Alabama to perform a show in Charleston, West Virginia. He died en route.Director David Acomba uses that cold, snowy nighttime road trip as a structural frame, with Williams in the backseat talking about his life, his problems, his dreams, and his regrets. These brief interludes punctuate the fantasy performance at the bar, wherein individual songs introduce new sequences, in lieu of standard script plot points.Aside from the terrific music, what's really striking is the excellent cinematography. My best guess is that the DP used 16mm, low saturation film stock, resulting in grainy visuals, combined with sepia-toned hues of mostly browns, tans, and grays. There's little variation in the color palette. The photography creates a melancholy, almost depressing mood, and implies a dreamlike journey back in time.The film's costumes and prod design reflect the reality that the Great Depression had not completely gone away. Threadbare clothes, a wooden floor, plain overhead lights and other props imply hard times. Even Williams' outfit, though countrified, is not flashy.One would be hard pressed to find a better actor than Sneezy Waters for the role of Williams. His looks and that Southern vocal delivery scream Hank Williams.Minor complaints include my understanding that the film was not shot in the American South. I think it should have been. Second, I could have done without the little monologues Williams imparts to the audience. And the film's ending is a tad too doleful for my taste.The early 1950s were tough for working folks. Hank Williams, with his heartfelt, down-home songs came along at just the right time with just the right music for the common man and woman. This film captures not only the Hank Williams persona but also an era that is gone forever.

I also saw this movie over a decade ago, and enjoyed it very much. I knew very little about Hank Sr. before this movie and feel as though I know about a very talented and self destructive person, who was not really an alcoholic, but rather due to his spinabifida was addicted to morphine and drank heavily. Either way Hank Sr. drove around the country from town to town performing his songs even though he was in a great deal of pain. Then he died tragically in the back seat of car (I think) many years to early. This story does tell about the show behind the scenes but doesn't get to bogged down in the addiction but rather weaves that part of Hank Sr.'s life into the story. The story did not glamorize his problems. Hank Williams Sr is a piece of Americana to be cherished right or wrong.

I saw this about a decade ago, at Christmas, on HBO. I don't follow country music, but I knew of Williams from my sister. The story is almost a "Twilight Zone" tale; even as Williams, dying in his alcoholic haze, imagined an ideal concert, his fantasy is plagued by the demons that haunted his real life. The demons include the casual racism of country music of that time (although black music and country were intertwined), the celebrity-hungry fan who wants to seduce a famous person, and (as I recall) the basic despair of the audience, who have no other way to spend Christmas than to go to a bar and get drunk. The end of the fantasy, with Williams's haunting song about being deserted even by God, was devastating. I knew country music was nearly always sad, but I never thought it could approach existential despair. An unforgettable character portrait.

I've loved the songs and the singing of Hank Williams for many years. When I saw this film I felt as though I were watching Hank himself. The actor who portrays him is excellent, the songs wonderful. My only criticism is that the film could have been an hour or two longer, with a lot more songs. Any Hank Williams fan would have to love this movie.