Street Survivors: The True Story of the Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash

First off this isn't a documentary. This is a 1st hand account from someone in the crash made into a movie.

Sure there's no history before Artimus joins the band, because he's the one telling the story ... from his point of view.

Is it all true ? Who knows ? ... it's his account of the story and that's what matters here. I have no reason to not believe him as I'm sure some of it is verifiable.

Gary, Billy, Leon, Allen, Leslie, JoJo ... they didn't make a movie about the crash from their point of view. So, we may never know the facts to 100% certainty ... if even that could make it 100% certain.

In conclusion, I suggest you watch Artimus' recollection of the most tragic plane crash in music history and quit worrying about all the minutiae.

I'm going to just keep it short. I've loved Skynyrd since I was 14 one of my very first albums was One More From the Road so I was not introduced to them long before the end. But I started learning all their songs on guitar and I just was absolutely amazed at their musicianship. I cannot believe how little respect for these human beings was shown and if Artemus signed off on this he's really crazy. They made a mockery of all of them. Art by making him look foolish like he was a superhero saving the day which I do believe happened but the way it was portrayed and him being pretty much squeaky clean do nothing wrong. While the rest were just redneck animal chemical rejects. This was a slap in the face of fans but worse it was a spit in the face of the band. They should have made a two part movie and told it right. From beginning to end.

I thought after exposing the inaccuracies in "If I Leave Here Tomorrow," where out of 96 minutes the six minutes that was about Cassie & Steve Gaines was never fact checked about the date, location, venue where Steve Gaines auditioned even who made the call to turn Steve's guitar up in the mix. If those facts are blown over what other facts stated in the movie can you believe to be accurate? That movie was reviewed as a documentary. It wasn't ! That movie and this movie are tales told by people who's brains experienced a plane crash after being in a drug induced environment. And should we be surprised when they get it wrong. You can believe LS & MCA about as far as you can throw them.

Being a lifelong Skynyrd fan, I so wanted to like this movie, but it was mostly dreadful. Very centered around Artimus being the good guy, while painting Ronnie in a fairly poor light for most of the film. The only other band member that gets much of a look in is Cassie Gaines. The rest of the band are just a supporting cast. The pilots are made out to be a pair of incompetant buffoons, ejecting fuel instead of redirecting it, not filling the fuel tanks up completely etc. Plus all of their ridiculously naive conversations must be supposition, as both perished in the crash. The acting is, without exception, terrible. Typical dialogue, Artimus, "I was an aviation sergeant in the marines for four years, what's going on with that fuel gauge, it's showing empty..Jeez man, it sounds like the right engine is about to blow." Funny he didn't exercise that knowledge after the previous flight when flames were coming out the engine. The fatal crash itself is an overdrawn, over melodramatic segment, with music more suited to a soap opera. Of course after the crash it's all about Artimus again, being the hero of the day. He single handedly realises the plane is in trouble, discovers all the bodies, then helps to rescue some of them. The most excruciating scene lasts for close to ten minutes, where Artimus clambers over hills and through the undergrowth and across rivers to go and find help. The last 30 minutes is basically Artimus' recovery and post crash trauma. In his ego centric world there is no mention of the other surviving members, or any real acknowledgement of those who died. Pitiful. Lost all respect for the guy after watching this.

The story was too overdramatized. A couple of incompetent pilots flying a broken down plane carrying a bunch of drug addicts just wasn't something I could get into. I never felt any pity with the exception for Cassie.