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One of the greatest tragedies to ever hit the US music scene was when the plane carrying one of the biggest rock acts ever – Lynyrd Skynyrd – crashed outside of Gillsburg, Mississippi claiming the lives of six members of the entourage including band members Ronnie Van Zandt and Steve and Cassie Gaines. Twenty people survived the horrific crash – including drummer Artimus Pyle, and it is from his point of view that this story is told.
The story of the ill-fated 1977 plane crash that rocked the world of music forever is depicted through the eyes of one of its survivors…and to think, we almost never got to see this very film.
Imagine you’re watching one guy give a testimony about how he survived a plane crash, one that happened to be one of the biggest tragedies in rock ’n’ roll history. The details are incredible: they were the one who talked sense to the bumbling pilots; they held the hand of singer Ronnie Van Zandt right before the crash; they pulled themselves out of the wreckage and ran for help. While watching this account, some historical reenactments are thrown in, in case you needed visual emphasis on what a rock ‘n’ roll gig looks like, or a reminder on ’70s hairstyles.
Street Survivors: The True Story of the Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash, the new biopic about the tragic 1977 accident that killed Lynyrd Skynyrd frontman Ronnie Van Zant and several other people, gets released today as a DVD/Blu-ray/CD set, DVD and digital download, and via video-on-demand.
Sometimes, the sound of impending doom is quiet. And sometimes it is loud. Less often, it is both. That’s how Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer Artimus Pyle recalls what he and 25 other band members, crew, associates, and pilots heard inside their Convair CV-240 plane over the swamps near Gillsburg, Mississippi on October 20, 1977.
Former Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer, Artimus Pyle, has predicted that the movie about his experiences surrounding the band’s devastating plane crash in 1977 (Street Survivors: The True Story of the Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash) will eventually become a “cult classic”.
Despite the fact the film was made without his former bandmates’ approval, co-founding member Pyle said he was proud of the production. The film premiered at the Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival in Los Angeles on February 16.