Time to Sing, A (1968)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Predictable and entertaining drama about a young man (Hank Williams, Jr.) who has the talent to write songs and sing them but his elderly uncle (Ed Begley) refuses to allow it. The uncle is holding back a few secrets but a woman (Shelley Fabares) convinces the young guy to enter a few contests to pay the bills and soon fame comes. I think fans of Williams, Jr. are going to be the ones who will mainly want to check this out but people certainly shouldn't expect the singer most people think of when they think of Williams. This early period of his career certainly has him singing and sounding more like his famous father but that's really not a negative thing as I've always enjoyed this period. Williams gets to sing eight different songs here with four of them written by himself. I doubt most people have heard of these songs but we get some pretty good ones including "It's All Over but the Crying", "Next Time I Say Goodbye I'm Leaving", "Old Before My Time" and the title track. Williams stands solo with his guitar and really delivers on the musical side but I also thought his performance was pretty good. One of the problems with the film is that his character is such a jerk and I must say that Williams really does push that jerkiness extremely well. Williams has a certain edge of toughness that really comes across well and a certain hard head that also jumps right off the screen. Fabares is also extremely good in her role of the love interest and Begley is entertaining, if over the top, as the old fashioned uncle. Character actor Donald Woods is also pretty good in his few scenes. The film's screenplay is pretty poor as it's just way too predictable to be entertaining and the big twist about the uncle's secret is rather lame. With that said, fans of country music or Williams will certainly want to check it out.
