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.

This is a docudrama as told through the memory of drummer Artimus Pyle. The band is portrayed as a redneck Motley Crue with all the drugs and naked girls. The film covers the last couple days of the band and the accident. I was hoping for more of a back story. It seems Aerosmith had enough common sense not to fly in that same plane. If the plane was a little lighter they would have made it.

Guide: F-word. Nudity. No sex.

I can't in good faith give this title a lengthy reviews though I will do my best. The great southern rock band known as Lynyrd Skynyrd produced a number of hit song and best-selling LPs placing them in the pantheon of rock bands that will long be remembered. Hailing from Florida they established themselves as a force to be reckoned with on the road playing to everything from bar crowds to stadiums in their short lived career. Their first LP was released in 1973 but in 1977 their career was cut short when their chartered plane crashed killing lead vocalist/songwriter Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and backup singer Cassie Gaines while seriously injuring the rest of the band. The band struggled but eventually regrouped with Van Zant's younger brother Johnny on lead vocals. It would seem like this would be a great story to turn into a feature film. Unfortunately it gave us this.

Drummer Artimus Pyle kicks the film off appearing as himself and telling his version of the band and what took place the year the crash happened. Actors portray the various band members in what appears more like a cliché of the hard drinking, hard living rock bands of the time. While I have no doubt that they lived that lifestyle the script and performances here make it almost a cartoon version of that.

Most of the film takes place in small locations. Backstage rooms where fights and arguments break out, tiny clubs that the band no doubt was not playing by the time they died and interactions inside the airplane they were spending plenty of time in. To watch this film you would think that the reason they died was because the co-pilot was so much of a fan boy for the band that he forgot to fill the spare gas tank among other screw ups. I don't know if that was the case but I wouldn't trust this film to give me the facts.

Bits and pieces of songs are heard no doubt because they couldn't get the rights to feature them all in their entirety. Pyle is seen in different spots leading into the various segments as well as the end of the film where he's playing drums. Why he loaned his participation in this film is beyond me unless the producers convinced him that it was going to be more than what the final product ended up being.

I liked the band but was never a die-hard fan that would still listen to them on a daily basis now. That being the case it is sad to think that this is the legacy they left behind. Fans will most likely clamor to pick this up thinking they are getting some new insight into the band. Unfortunately that isn't the case.