0
0
In late December of 1952, Hank Williams hired a college student to drive him from Montgomery, Alabama, to Charleston, West Virginia. On New Year’s Day, the student realized that the singer had passed away in the back seat while they were driving. The span between those events forms the basis for The Last Ride, a fictionalized version of the last hours in the life of the American country music legend. While it doesn’t nearly live up to the potential of its setup, there’s some quiet charm to be found in this mid-century road trip.
While working in a Montgomery garage, 19-year-old Silas (Jesse James) gets an offer to drive a gentleman named “Mr. Wells” (Henry Thomas) to Charleston. The enigmatic client turns out to be an unruly musician with a taste for whiskey and an assortment of reckless behaviors. Silas’s deal specifies that Wells must reach the gig both on time and sober. Despite being in poor health, Wells is more determined to find a good time and get his new assistant to loosen up.
If you can’t name at least three of the four or five major beats that will occur along the way, you need to get out to the movies more. Wells generally behaves badly and gets the pair into trouble while Silas steadfastly keeps them moving toward their destination. There’s a run-in with local cops, along with the requisite bar fight after Wells flirts with the wrong woman. Kaley Cuoco shows up briefly as a local girl who catches Silas’s eye, but she doesn’t have much impact on the story.
Without an engaging plot to keep things moving, a lot depends on the performance of Thomas and James as the world-weary singer and the wide-eyed kid. Both somewhat underplay their roles, but Thomas fares better. This version of Hank Williams is a subdued troublemaker, given to long silences and a soulful gazing. James gets a few moments to show the effect that Wells has on Silas’s inexperience, but they’re only glimmers. I understand the film’s understated intentions, but there was plenty of room to color in either character just a bit more.
Where The Last Ride succeeds is in evoking the small-town South of the 1950s—or at least our collective memory of it. The production design can be quite beautiful at times, and the film is well punctuated with music. Thomas wisely elects not to sing, and the film includes a couple of excellent live performances from other artists. The soundtrack also boasts a number of excellent Hank Williams covers, and his moody lyricism fits the film nicely.
The Last Ride isn’t the most exciting biopic out there, and it doesn’t earn quite enough drama for its sacrifice of historical accuracy, but there’s enough here for fans of the legendary singer to enjoy. The story may not always hold your interest, but the look and sound of it all will keep you going to the end of the road.
Blu-ray Review:
The Blu-ray release of The Last Ride comes in a pretty basic package. The video and audio are bright and clean enough to more than do justice to the film’s composition and soundtrack. There’s also a single, six-minute behind-the-scenes featurette included, but it doesn’t add much to the experience.
