blizzy63

If you are looking to purchase a DVD copy of 'Rome Adventure (1962)', BE WARNED that there is an extremely inferior version made available through the internet (eBay). This terrible version of this movie can be identified by Chinese characters on the cover and "produced" by "The Castaways Pictures" company. The artwork used to illustrate this movie title on this very IMDb site is, in fact, the very DVD to be avoided! The quality of the picture on this DVD is extremely substandard. It appears that someone merely video recorded a big screen TV with the movie 'Rome Adventure' playing on it. The picture is poor and the colors are washed out (the quality of the images on the cover art is how the imagery on the DVD appears). I suspect that this is an unauthorized Chinese rip-off. BEWARE! Make sure to look for the authentic Warner Bros. release of 'Rome Adventure' (recently with the faded yellow artwork on the cover; find an example on Amazon.com) where the picture quality is as one would expect: Colorful, clear and professional. Ask the seller of the DVD which copy he is offering before you buy. Note: My 1-star rating in this entry is reflective of the poor DVD described above. It is not a rating of the film/movie 'Rome Adventure (1962)' itself (which I would rate highly).

While watching this 1964 biopic, I constantly drew the conclusion that this story needs and deserves to be updated in our contemporary styles a la 'I Walk the Line' and 'Ray'. Each time we hear Hank's songs and recall in our minds the true story of his life and gifted talent, we know that he deserves an honest portrayal on film with higher than average production values. I liked that this film was in B&W. It made the setting of the '40s and early '50s realistic. Unfortunately, the movie sets looked too incredibly stock studio back lot. The half a dozen seedy bars down the back alley beside the Grand Ole Opry was suddenly too stylized a scene (and consequently, less believable). Hank and Audrey's super-stardom mansion looked like they borrowed it from a David Niven melodrama set. George Hamilton was OK as Hank. Sometimes I believed him as Hank, sometimes I just saw George Hamilton. Often, the seams were showing in this film: Hollywood studio, 1964. The story seemed one-sided (the Audrey Williams story)and with too much standard Hollywood melodrama (Red Buttons: Look off into the distance past the camera and make a speech to Hank. Repeat later.). Based on what we know of Hank's real story, much of it seems to be missing in this movie. We saw Hank fall off a horse and hurt his back but where's the pain killers that contributed to his death? (And I won't mention the fact that in the end he was remarried to a second woman.) The music in this movie often bothered me. Hank's song were great but their renditions (apparently by Hank Williams Jr.) sounded too Nashville studios, hi-fi 1964. (I don't remember Hank Sr. being accompanied by back-up singers...oooh, aaah!) This movie almost felt like the altered version of a great and troubled performer's story...safe to tell to the kids and grandma ('Don't mention the pills, just say he died of a broken heart.'). The ending was fitting for the great Hank, though. A filled theater and an empty stage. The show that he was headed to but didn't make. Because I know of the greatness of his talent and contributions to music, I thought that it was right on the mark. It put tears in my eyes. It was the best and truest part of the movie.

A quirky (and hard to find) comedy who's script seems to be right out of a Dave ("Six Days on the Road") Dudley's truckers' song. Filmed in the unadorned, late-'60s/early-'70s low-budget, realist style (like 'Easy Rider', 'Two Lane Blacktop' or 'Five Easy Pieces'), this little cult movie is a strange pop-art odyssey through roadside America circa-1971. It is the story of an oddball trucker's last ride as told through Cooper (Alan Arkin) and his new but stolen Peterbilt 359 big-rig. The plot (?) is a lean one. The story unfolds to us by our observing the conversations and adventures of Cooper and his unexpected hitchhiker (Paul Benedict). Together they attempt to earn some cash by hustling up some short-haul jobs while dodging the authorities. Arkin performs some eccentric scenes and delivers some quotable lines. Is Cooper fresh out of the nut-house or is he just a sad little character trying to give his dream one last try? Music is by Dave Dudley. Cameos abound with actors from the past (Bruce Bennett, George Raft, Ida Lupino) and the future (Loretta Swit, Charles Durning, Hector Elizondo, Richard Kiel). Written by Terrence Malick. This film will not impress everyone. I would recommend it to anyone who considers himself an "eng-ine man" AND is into small, quirky cult films.