Review of I Saw the Light (2016) by Chuck R — 18 Jan 2017

First, I'm an occasional musician and life long Hank fan. I play a lot of his music. I once lived in Montgomery and even got to meet a few of the old guys that knew Hank at a barbershop. Their recollections were that he was a drunk and a mess.

Those insights that lead me to think that the portrayal was pretty much spot on. My assessment is that Tom Hiddleston became Hank. His accent, mannerisms, look and attitude match everything I know about Hank Williams.

I won't get into the technical nuances such as script timing and other smart sounding "critic" devices that drove people nuts about this movie. For me, the thing that distracted me was his use of current, northern lingo, which I guess was a product of the script writer.

For example, I can never imagine Hank Williams saying "good to go". Just wouldn't happen with a guy from Mt. Olive, AL. Ever. There are many other examples. And the guy who played Red Foley as a rotund rube: he was a classically trained vocalist and as dapper as anyone in the business.

A bit of an insult to another country icon. One other upside: the instruments appear to be the same Gibson J-45 and Martin D-45's that Hank used. All-in-all, it's easy to pick something apart.

But for me, Hiddleston's performance alone made watching the film worthwhile. No matter what Hank III says.