Country Music on Broadway (1965)
A country music show comes to Broadway with the only big screen appearance of the legendary Hank Williams.
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Reviews
Simply A Masterpiece
Pretty Good
It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.
It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film
COUNTRY MUSIC ON Broadway was perhaps the first of almost a dozen motion pictures made during the 1960's that were little more than non-stop music performances of popular c&w stars of the day singing their hits or recent recordings. The first movie of this type was COUNTRY MUSIC HOLIDAY (1958) which was unusual in that it was released by a major studio, Paramount, and had an actual acting storyline with occasional numbers. That movie was also in black and white. COUNTRY MUSIC ON Broadway (which IMDb says was released in 1965 but my own research indicates it premiered in December 1963) however was in color as were all the others that followed it, giving country music fans (many of whom no doubt did not own a color TV at the time) a chance to see their favorites not only in color but on the big screen.This movie presumes to be set during an all-star concert on Broadway in New York (there actually was a big country music concert at Carnegie Hall around this time with several of the acts in the film including Skeeter Davis, Buck Owens, and George Jones) but it's low-budget belies the fact that this was shot on obviously less prestigious grounds.Loaded with superstars of the era (George, Buck, Skeeter, Porter Wagoner, The Wilburn Brothers, Flatt & Scruggs, Bill Anderson, Roy Drusky) and veteran stars like Hank Snow and Wilma Lee & Stoney Cooper, the movie also features teen-aged Hank Williams Jr. in the first stages of his singing career. The movie also brings Hank Williams Sr. into the film via Hank Snow screening some film he has (actually it's a clip from the 1950's Kate Smith Show) for Hank Jr. Songs include "Something Precious", "A Satisfied Mind", "White Lightning", "Act Naturally", "Still", "Big Midnight Special", and "I'm Movin' On". This film was released on videotape during the 1980's by a smaller video company. I discovered The Ernest Tubb Record Shop in Nashville sells it on DVD (see message board for information).