The “Free Bird” climax from “The Devil’s Rejects” (2005) dir. Rob Zombie

This is the climax from Rob Zombie’s best film, “The Devil’s Rejects.”  “Rejects” is a throwback to the nasty, gritty, and extremely political indie horror classics from the 1970s (“Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” “Dawn of the Dead”) and like its 70s horror film brethren, Zombie’s film directly comments on the political state of America and its foreign policy circa the mid-2000s.  The family of killers on display in “Rejects” may be vile, but the law enforcement sent to hunt them down are arguably equally as vile.  This is the film’s climax set to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” and it’s a brilliant use of this song as the gang  goes up against the equally morally compromised police.  I can’t imagine a more 70s ending for a film.  In other words, f–king great!

“Was I Right or Wrong?” – Lynyrd Skynyrd

Video

No disrespect to “Free Bird” or “Sweet Home Alabama,” but THIS is the song Lynyrd Skynyrd should be most famous for. The premise is not original: artistic misfit not respected by his father leaves home, makes it big, returns home to get respect from his father only to discover his father is now dead. But it doesn’t mean it still doesn’t cut very deep. This is a demo version of the song that’s rawer and arguably more powerful:

“When I went home to show ’em they was wrong
All that I found was two tombstones
Somebody tell me please was I right or wrong
Oh, such a sad song
First I got lost, then I got found
But the ones that I love are in the ground
Somebody tell me please was I right or wrong.”