A new biopic detailing Lynyrd Skynyrd’s 1977 plane crash will be released on DVD, Blu-ray and video on demand on June 30.
Directed by Jared Cohn (“Devil’s Revenge”, “Devil’s Domain”), “Street Survivors: The True Story of the Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash” is based on the life of former Skynyrd drummer Artimus Pyle, who left the group in 1991.
Pyle – who narrates the film – was one of 20 survivors of the incident, which took place just three days after the release of the band’s fifth album, “Street Survivors.”
Following a performance in Greenville, SC, the Florida outfit were on their way to Baton Rouge, LA when their chartered plane ran out of fuel and crashed outside of Gillsburg, MS when the pilots attempted an emergency landing.
The October 20, 1977 incident claimed the lives of Lynyrd Skynyrd founder and lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, backup singer Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot William Gray; Pyle physically pulled the remaining survivors out of the plane wreckage before staggering towards the nearest farmhouse to seek help.
“This film’s story – MY story – is not just about the plane crash,” Pyle explains, “but also about my personal relationship with the genius that was Ronnie Van Zant – whom I loved like a brother and still miss to this day.”
The biopic – which premiered in theaters in February – has been a contentious issue within the Skynyrd family: production was shut down in 2017 when guitarist Gary Rossington, singer Johnny Van Zant and estates for the Van Zant and Gaines families filed and won an injunction to block the project after a New York judge determined the film violated a consent order that Pyle signed with his bandmates in 1988; the ruling was overturned by a New York federal appeals court in the fall of 2018.
Lynyrd Skynyrd – who launched a multi-year farewell tour in the spring of 2018 – recently rescheduled a number of spring shows to later in the year due to the pandemic, which sees restrictions on public gatherings in many locations around the world.
See also:
Lynyrd Skynyrd stream new song Last Of The Street Survivors
Lynyrd Skynyrd reschedule more spring US shows
Lynyrd Skynyrd postpone farewell US tour dates
Lynyrd Skynyrd reschedule spring US shows
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