Hank Williams: The Show He Never Gave

I am the guy in the doorway, bar patron Lonnie Jewks, having a cigarette in the opening shot and patting Hank on the back as he enters the bar. I had a great view of Hank's performance as the director positioned me directly behind the bandstand. Say what you will about his lack of resemblance to Williams, Sneezy was channelling Hank. The director allowed us to improvise our movements. My buddies, actors John Corbett (Pee-Wee Hupple) and John Novak (Soldier) scuffled and I attempted to intervene and break them up. They handed out unfiltered Camels and the beer was real, folks. I also appear, with my back to the camera, coming out of the bathroom and getting in the way of my dear, departed friend, singer-actor Tex Konig, O"H. Most of us were hired for the entire shoot, which not only helped pay the rent, but made for some memorable after-parties at John Corbett and John Novak's place on Oxford Street (affectionately known as The Baths) in Kensington Market ( Toronto, Canada). The director and Sneezy were professional and friendly; no "star" nonsense. I was there when the shoot wrapped and the producers presented Sneezy with his costume as a gift; he accepted it with sincere gratitude and humility. (The janitor) Jackie Washington's guitar-playing, beautifully recorded in a studio and over-dubbed, sparkles and forges a true-to-life link between Williams and his childhood teacher, Montgomery street- musician, Tee-Tot. Peace and Love, Wolf Krakowski www.kamea.com

@ lechuguilla: Williams was on his way to Canton, Ohio.

Damn son! You done it! Whoever's responsible for this movie, you done it! I been drinking and listening to Hank for 50 years. And this is the real deal. Forget all them hats you hear on the radio today. They ain't. That's all I'll say about that. They just ain't. My mama listened to Hank on a battery powered radio cause they didn't have no electricity. But he pulled more heart and more soul out of that $10 radio than all these wannabes today who spend $10K on the clothes they wear onstage trying to make you believe they're country. Like hell. If they don't got an Academy Award for getting the most out of an audience, they ought to. And the interplay between 'Hank' and the audience in this film speaks volumes about a time and a place and a people that are just about gone. This is real country. Give it a look-see.

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.

A fairly touching film about a man that I knew very little about, and whom quite frankly I had only heard a few tunes from my boyhood in the rural part of the United States. It was another HBO afternoon airing that caught my attention for this film. I gave it a chance because it seemed to be of some quality.

It's a bit of a sleeper that also has some fire in it. We see summation of a man's life in a performance that is fictional, but brings to both audience and characters the reflections of ups and downs of life's challenges. Hank Williams, as brilliant as he was as a musician, musical orator, and musical philosopher, was, after all, merely mortal-- as are we all.

But it's Hank Williams that we're interested in. He seems to know more about life than we do, and gives us messages on how to live better, or, when down, how to slug through the mire of life's toughs by telling us how he knows that life can be cruel, but that we're not the only ones by virtue of his singing.

The film itself has a kind of raw cinema veritae, almost documentary like quality to it. It's classic film making from the late 70s, on the cusp of the 80s. Who or what was Hank Williams? He was a man with a physical ailment that perhaps put him in tune a little better than most people with the pain that infects everyone. Sneazy Waters may not strictly resemble Hank Williams, but he does give us a good mimicry of Hank Williams energy in performances that Williams would have been proud of.

A Canadian film touching on an American icon, and telling of American ideals, the independent quality, as has been mentioned in other reviews, is something that actually helps deliver the film's story. Even so it doesn't quite translate to DVD, as the print seems to be somewhat battered.

Yet the film itself shines. Waters' performance is superb, the supporting cast do a fine job, even if the technical merits are a little on the rough side. A fresh print from an original negative would be welcome, but that may have to wait for another generation to rediscover this film.

If you can forgive the technical marks of the DVD, then you should be able to enjoy a touching character study of a brilliant mind with a heart.

Give it a whirl.

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.