Honeysuckle Rose

Willie is one of our National treasures in my opinion. I suppose some people would disagree, and that's o.k., you have every right to be wrong.

The best part of this film, I felt, was the fairly much realistic portrayal of what life is like on the road for entertainers. Or, more accurately what is was like back when this film was made. Who better to play the lead than one who's probably logged a million or so miles out there between the ditches? I also loved Slim Pickens performance, and the camaraderie between Willie and Slim was hilarious and heartwarming.

I can't imagine anyone in the world who hasn't seen this film. It should be required viewing for any new converts to Country Music. I gave this film a rating of 9 - shaving off one point for the aggrandizement of boozing/pill popping and womanizing. But you gotta love Willie et al in spite of it. Maybe because of it, who knows?

The rest of us, on the other hand.... we might think it's okay. Perhaps if I hadn't seen Tender Mercies so recently, then Honeysuckle Rose might have seemed better. Where as Mercies had a real actor trying to play a country singer, this one has a real country singer trying to act. The results just aren't as good, but Willie is the last person I'd blame. This is more of a showcase for Nelson's music than it is a regular film with a well-developed story line. Nelson's acting is really pretty good, when they let him act.

The plot centers around a successful, yet not quite hugely popular country singer going out on the road and having an affair with a young member of his band. Nelson is perfectly suited for the role of Buck Bonham who needs a fill-in guitar player after his long time ax player (Slim Pickens) retires from the band. As luck would have it, his plucky young daughter (Amy Irving) can also play a mean guitar and eagerly accepts the position meant to only last a few weeks. But of course this leads to all kinds of hurt feelings and conflict as the young woman admits a long time crush on the old crooner and the two quickly begin sleeping together. Bonham's band mates can only do their best to look in the other direction as it is an awkward situation for them, too. They are close with the girls father of course, and also quite friendly with Bonham's long suffering wife played very well by Dyan Cannon. Obviously, it is only a matter of time before those left at home find out, and things will most certainly come crashing down.

The film runs for quite a long time considering how little plotting there is. Much of the film takes place on stage with Willie and the band belting out a lot of slow, emotional country songs to a doting fan base. The director of this film, who I've never heard of, seems to struggle with the material when scenes are taking place off stage. He seems to put the camera too far away from the actors, taking some of the edge off their more dramatic scenes. The film is also under-lit, even for a film taking place mostly on a gloomy tour bus and darkened venues. Exterior shots of the bus traveling down the road look pretty good, though. The acting by all is quite good. Cannon has the most memorable lines, most of which coming when she announces their divorce in front of a packed house after catching Nelson and Irving slobbering over each other during a duet. Pickens is as watchable as ever, and likely didn't make many more films after this. Irving is quite good, as well. So is the fellow who plays Nelson's manager.

Only fans of Willie Nelson are bound to get a real kick from this film, and I'm sure many of them did. He has such a wonderful and distinct style that he deserves a feature film of this type. As a film buff I just wanted more focus on the story and to learn more about these characters. Again I would recommend the film Tender Mercies which basically takes the Buck Bonham kind of character a few years later into his life. To a place where he has finally hit rock bottom and lost most of those around him who ever cared about him. It's highly likely that Buck Bonham would have eventually landed on the same motel room floor somewhere and not have a clue how he got there. 6 of 10 stars.

The Hound.

Despite what I wrote above in my summary line, I did not hate or dislike "Honeysuckle Rose". There were some things about it that I genuinely enjoyed. With Willie Nelson headlining the movie, there is of course a lot of opportunity for him to sing, which I found very enjoyable despite the fact that country music in normally not my thing. Nelson isn't a great actor - he's only adequate here - but in his defence he doesn't try to be something he's not, and his relaxed and easygoing manner is palatable. Speaking of relaxed and easygoing, director Jerry Schatzberg films the movie in that style, in a way that gives many of the scenes an almost documentary feel, making them surprisingly realistic. However, eventually this slow and steady attitude starts to backfire. The movie is extremely drawn out; there's not a heck of a lot of story here, and what there is could have been told at a length much shorter than the 119 minutes this movie takes. All the same, the movie does have its charms, and I can see some people really enjoying it despite its shortcomings.

Great news!!! After years of waiting, this is finally on DVD, but for some strange reason only as the B-side of "Pure Country"! Don't know why they did this, but the picture and sound quality are both great.

Either way, it's a movie worth watching again and again: decent story line and fine acting (especially Willie and Slim Pickens!), but the musical performances are the real stars. Unlike many other music related films, there are dozens of songs, in full-length live performances (eg: unlike The Buddy Holly Story, which has dozens of lip-synced snippets of the same song) Also, the band members are authentic and likable characters, remarkably natural actors. The soundtrack album is also excellent, and available on-line as a three-for-price-of-one with two other Willie records. Enjoy!!!

Whoever write this movie must have been a big fan of Willie Nelson and Texas Country music. The plot is right out of a Willie Nelson song, he wrote many tear-jerkers, and you see many cameos of Willie's musician friends and fellow Texas musicians like Emmylou Harris, Jeanne Sealey, the Gimbles and on and on. Willie basically plays himself, his look is the same and he sings his own hits and travels with his own tour band. Hearing him called "Buck Bonham" will seem a little jarring to his fans, but just go with it. Dyan Cannon is beautiful as his long-suffering wife, Slim Pickens (one of the strangest stage names in Hollywood..) is great as the father of the love interest and an old musician friend of "Buck". Amy Irving is the love interest and one can imagine an old tired out country singr falling for this sweet young girl. If you like Willie you have probaby seen this movie and don't need my two cents, if you don't care for Willie or country music, you might want to steer clear. This is a country music lovers movie. I would imagine this is why it didn't do better in the box office at first run but seems to have done better on cable.