Honeysuckle Rose

Buck Bonham (Willie Nelson) is a traveling country singer with his band. His marriage to Viv (Dyan Cannon) has its hurdles. When his longtime guitar player Garland Ramsey (Slim Pickens) retires, he is replaced by his daughter Lily (Amy Irving). To the dismay of most, Buck starts an affair with Lily.

There is nothing that dramatic. It's a romantic melodrama dressed up in country singing robes. I don't know how Amy Irving won the 1st Golden Raspberry for the Worst Supporting Actress. I don't expect much praise but she's not actually bad. That's how I feel about the movie in general. The music is fine country. Willie Nelson lends a reality to his character. There is a general cinema verite feel with the concerts. This is a fine country western song in movie form.

Buck Bonham(Willie Nelson) and Garland Ramsey(Slim Pickens) are two country stars that have been on the road for probably too many years. Garland wants to retire and Buck is too stubborn to. There needs to be a temporary replacement for Garland and it is suggested that Garland's daughter Lily(Amy Irving)go out with Buck and the band for a few weeks.

Lily is living a dream being on the road and even more she acts on her long admiration for Buck. The two singers become an item and soon they don't even try to hide their entanglement.

There is a lot of Willie songs throughout and any Willie fan should feel high on the hog. For the non Willie fan it is still a good film, where your brain kind of slips into neutral.

Dyan Cannon plays Buck's wife and sure looks too hot for the role. Others in the cast are Lane Smith, Diana Scarwid and Mickey Rooney, Jr. Emmylou Harris drops in for a cameo role.

Gas up the tour bus and chase the white line.

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!!!

I liked the movie, although I don't care a thing for Willie or his music. His band members did a good job as actors, and Slim Pickens was great as the booze swilling guitar player. The scene near the end where Pickens tried to kill Nelson was hilarious. The story never got real emotional nor did it drag around too much, so I considered it good enough.

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?