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

I was with RVZ for many years, even before Artimus. This is not in the spirit of RVZ or the band as a whole. I Love Artimus just as much as I Love RVZ and all members of the band and this breaks my heart. I am not sure what happened in the production of this film but it is in the wrong spirit of things. I knew RVZ so well I believe that I could have played his part and done it right. There is so much wrong with this film I just can't continue. Artimus, I know you are a very brilliant man. What went wrong here. Ask yourself in your heart, would Ronnie approve of this film, or would he have done it his way? Because I know for a fact anything that he was involved in was done his way or not at all. No spoilers here.

The movie is bad. Although I like Lynyrd Skynyrd very much, this film is clearly made to show the importance of Artimus Pyle in the band - including pointing out that he was the one who got help to save the survivors of the plane crash. After the accident, Pyle only took part in the band's commemorative tour with the other surviving members. After that, he refused to continue playing just because of the money. Since then, he has been excluded from paying homage to Lynyrd Skynyrd's new lineup at shows - which today only has Garry Rossington from the original members-. I think the attitude of Pyle is very certain, that without Ronnie in the band there would be no reason for her to continue to exist. MONEY TALKS!

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.

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.

I believe the story, but this movie is purely the self indulgent tale of Pyle and how he saved the day. It is a great story that deserves to be told, but maybe as a Netflix show and not a movie that I had to pay for. In the beginning of the movie, Pyle says this story is not just about the crash, but about the music. I disagree with that. This movie has little to do with the music or with the band or even their story. I would love to see a "Bohemian Rhapsody" or "The Dirt" style production of the full Lynyrd Skynyrd story. The production quality of this movie was very poor.