brilliant actors, brilliant editing

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

This movie is a joke. It is an early 1960's very sanitized version of a great American song writer and singer. Hanks deserves much better than this. George Williams is simply not convincing as the singer. Only in Hollywood would anyone think pretty boy Hamilton could play the role of a rough and tumble street wise singer like Williams.

There's no doubt that GEORGE HAMILTON does one of the best acting jobs of his career as Hank Williams, lip-syncing the country music star's lyrics with a voice supplied by Hank Williams, Jr. SUSAN OLIVER is fine as the woman he marries, the woman who finds it a struggle to manage his career when he adopts a drinking pattern to forestall going on stage at concerts.The screenplay has taken liberties to stray somewhat from all of the actual events surrounding Williams' life and his early demise. In doing so, they haven't avoided the usual clichés about celebrity and fame and fortune destroying the soul of the artist. Williams obviously had deep-seated fears in connection with performing and was never able to fully resolve them.The musical selections include most of his most famous songs and credit must be given to Hank Williams, Jr. for effectively singing them. One has to wonder why the filmmakers couldn't have used the actual Hank Williams voice from his own recordings, unless there were legal issues to overcome.Summing up: Decent biography of the country singer is given a lift by his great songs.

This is an exceptional musical biography of one of the greatest singer-songwriters-entertainers of the 20th century. Single handedly this country boy from the backwoods of Alabama changed American country music and in the process crossed over and changed popular music as well. His influence is still felt today from the legacy of Ray Charles to the driving force of Hank Williams Jr. Surprisingly the lead role in the movie is done quite well by George Hamilton, usually seen as just another pretty face in those days. It is amazing that fourteen-year-old Hank Jr. does such a fantastic job dubbing his dad's music for Hamilton. In some ways his rendition of Hank Sr.'s most poetic song, "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," is better than the original. He almost captures all the pain and loneliness of his dad's magnificent voice.Though there are many liberties taken with Hank Sr.'s life story, the film keeps the spirit of the man and the legend alive and burning brightly. One reason for the biographical changes besides poetic license to make the film more dramatic was the forced reliance on the no-talent Miss Audrey, Hank Sr.'s ex, as adviser for the movie and mentor for Hank Jr. who sang for his father. This led to all kinds of omissions and changes such as no mention of Hank Sr.'s new bride to whom he was married just before his untimely passing.The latest findings on Hank Sr.'s death, that he died from mixing alcohol and pain killers of the early 50's variety, does not conflict all that much with the ending of the movie. He did die in the backseat of his Cadillac while being chauffeured to a New Year's show in Canton, Ohio.Undoubtedly he died New Year's Eve 1952 but was not pronounced dead until New Year's Day 1953. Hank therefore has the unenviable distinction of having died in two different calendar years. I was nine years old at the time and I remember that my family (poor country folks from the hills of Arkansas) took it as if it were a death in the family. That is how much of an icon he had become during his few short years of stardom.So even though the facts of Hank's life may be wrong from time to time in the movie, his spirit is captured making this a great tribute to the man and his music.

this is hollywood at its worst - the lead characters are cheeseball icons - george hamilton, susan oliver and (believe it or not) red buttons as a travelling musician - mugging their way thru a candy-coated script full of stereotypes, contrived moments and lies to fabricate a character for an artist who already had a compelling story - the best moments are listening to hank williams junior singing in the style of his father giving us a whiff of his dad's passion - the opening montage is insulting, the love story hard to believe, the events suspect, the plot trite - if only the writers and producers simply listened to a hank williams song they would not have sent lesser folks to fill shoes of a greater one -- thank the goddess of arts that other, better hank williams movies have been made