"The Last Ride" opens in Houston August 24
The Last Ride, distributed by Category One, will open in Houston on August 24, exclusively at Sundance Cinemas Houston, 510 Texas Street.
After seeing The Last Ride for the first time, Jett Williams (Hank Williams’ daughter) declared: “Finally, someone got it right!”
She was not only responding to the mostly true account of her father’s final days, she was moved by the unconventional and intimate way it was told. The Last Ride is not a typical, paint-by-the-numbers biopic. The film only concerns itself with the last 72 hours of Hank Williams’ life and the account of his driver - the only person on earth who knows what really happened.
Hank Williams was American music’s original bad boy. He set the bar high for artistry and scandal. After a meteoric rise to radio super-stardom in the late 1940’s, Williams had made a train wreck of his life by the early 50’s. Drugs, alcohol and a hair-trigger temper ended two marriages, ruined a host of friendships and made the tortured genius an untouchable in the music business.
At the end of 1952, Hank Williams gathered what was left of his physical strength to make things right and start the long journey back. Traveling under an alias, he hired an inexperienced kid from the wrong side of the tracks to drive him from Montgomery, AL to a couple of New Year’s shows in West Virginia and Ohio.
Williams never got there. Somewhere on that last highway, the country music legend died in the backseat of his powder blue Cadillac on New Year’s Day 1953. Along with his luggage and guitar there was a notebook full of unfinished songs. He was 29.
Nearly 60 years after his death, Hank Williams remains one of America’s greatest songwriters and most enduring artists. Williams was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 (its second year). He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2010. In 2011, Bob Dylan released an album entitled “The Lost Notebooks” – a collection of songs created from those lyrics found in Williams’ Cadillac.
Inspired by the mysterious final days of Hank Williams, The Last Ride tells the story of that fateful drive from Alabama to West Virginia the last week of 1952.
Director Harry Thomason drew on his experience of the era, region and music to craft a hauntingly beautiful film. Henry Thomas (E.T., Gangs of New York) plays Hank Williams in a performance that is being widely praised. Williams’ driver is played by Jesse James (Pearl Harbor, As Good As it Gets) in a breakout performance by the veteran film actor transitioning to adult roles. Fred Dalton Thompson (Law & Order) and Kaley Cuoco (The Big Bang Theory) deliver meaningful and memorable supporting roles. Howie Klausner (Space Cowboys) and Dub Cornett wrote the screenplay. The film’s soundtrack produced by Benjy Gaither, features Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Clyde Wright, Tony Ramey, Michael English and a host others.
The actors, director Thomason and Jett Williams are available for telephone interviews.
The film’s website is http://TheLastRideFilm.com
The Last Ride press kit, poster, stills, tv clips and trailer are here:
http://www.thelastridefilm.com/press
A high res version of The Last Ride trailer may be viewed here:
http://youtu.be/HYL_ZXWWhRU
The Last Ride SOUNDTRACK is available exclusively on CURB RECORDS and can be streamed here: https://www.facebook.com/TheLastRideFilm/app_309426242410219