“The Last Ride” details the final days of Williams’ life, and the movie’s title is a reference to the fact that Williams, a Georgiana native, died during a car trip to a concert date in Canton, Ohio. Williams traveled under the assumed name of “Mr. Wells,” and his driver was an 18-year-old Auburn University freshman named Charles Carr. On or around New Year’s Day 1953, Williams died in the back seat of the 1952 blue Cadillac that Carr was driving. Williams death was discovered somewhere around Blue Field, W. Va., and heart failure was listed as his cause of death.
“The Last Ride” was released in limited theatres in October 2011 and was recently released on DVD. (I got the DVD through Netflix as soon as it came out a few weeks ago.) Henry Thomas, who is probably best known for his role as Elliott in Steven Spielberg’s “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," played the lead role of Hank Williams. Jesse James played the role of “Silas,” a character modeled after Carr. Arguably the biggest name in the movie was actor Fred Thompson, who played the role of “O’Keefe,” Williams’ manager who arranged the singer’s concert dates.
Personally, I thought the movie was poorly cast, mainly because Thomas looked nothing like the real life Hank Williams. The acting was OK, but I just couldn’t get over the fact that Thomas just had too much meat on his bones. Williams had that lean cowboy look about him, and Thomas would have made a better “Fat Elvis.” I hate to be overly negative, but this role could have been cast better.
One interesting bit of trivia about this movie is that no songs performed by Williams are played during the movie. Instead, the soundtrack is made up entirely of Williams songs but performed by other country music stars. The soundtrack's pretty awesome, and you can buy the entire thing on Amazon.com. The soundtrack features 22 songs, including “Hey Good Lookin’,” “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” and “Honky Tonk Man.” Performers covering those songs include Williams’ daughter Jett Williams, Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings.
Before I wrap this thing up I also want to mention that, sadly, Carr passed away around the time that this movie was released on DVD. According to his obituary, Carr died in Montgomery on July 1 at the age of 79 after a brief illness. After his historic ride with Williams, Carr went on to graduate from Auburn in 1956 and become an investor, real estate professional and cab company owner. For most of his life, Carr was reluctant to talk about his time with Williams, but he did become heavily involved with the Hank Williams Museum in Montgomery when it opened.
In the end, I enjoyed this movie and recommend it to any Hank Williams buffs in the reading audience. How many of you out there have seen this movie? What did you think about it? Did you like it or not? Let us know in the comments section below.
(For more information about “The Last Ride,” visit the movie’s official Web site at www.thelastridefilm.com.)
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