Nashville Lady

Loretta Lynn's life has been to say the least,interesting.A wife at 13, mother at 14,and walking a long path to her throne as the "Queen of Country Music".Triumphs and tragedies have virtually filled her life, and it was expertly brought to life in this film.Sissy Spacek gives a dead on performance as Lynn,right down to her voice,and even does her own singing for the film.This is without a doubt one of the best acting performances of a non fictional character I have ever seen,and let us not forget the Oscar worthy performance of Tommy Lee Jones as Doolittle Lynn,Loretta's husband.He is always excellent,but he was never better than he was here.This is an excellent true story of Loretta's long journey from the Kentucky backwoods to the Grand Ole Opry stage.A must see and must own movie.

I found that this film is divided into two parts. The part before Loretta Lynn's career as a country western singer and the part after she had become a singer. I'd have to say the first portion was better. However overall this is certainly a must see motion picture. Sissy Spacek, Tommy Lee Jones, Beverly D'Angelo and Levon Helm turn in performances that literally make the movie what it is.

Coal Miner's Daughter spans the decades from 1948 Kentucky to the 1970's, when Loretta Lynn had a nervous breakdown and collapsed on stage. First off, the scenes in rural Kentucky are very familiar to anyone who grew up in the mountains at that time. My own grandmother had seven brothers and sisters, lived in a cabin, and married at age 15. So I've heard the stories of her growing up, and it's VERY close to what is depicted in this film. The Butcher Holler scenes are so realistic, they make you feel like you're right there. It wasn't like the Waltons, folks. This shows how it really was back then. I will always love Loretta for her honesty and I'm sure that many women can relate to her wedding night innocence. In fact she didn't know where the babies were coming from until the first four were born. By that time she was 18 years old. It was only after Loretta's father died in 1959 that she started singing in honky tonk bars. For anybody who loved the book as much as I did, I wish they would have shown how Loretta's career affected her children. By the time her twins were born she was on the road so much that she simply didn't have time to be an attentive mother. Success didn't bring lasting happiness. Loretta's busy career caused stress which led to her pill addiction and breakdown. The scenes of Nashville in the 1960's are very accurate and Loretta's friendship with Patsy Cline is fun to watch. Patsy was like a big sister and a mother figure to Loretta. She was brilliantly depicted by Beverly D' Angelo. Sissy Spacek became Loretta Lynn for this film and seeing is believing. She was very convincing as a 13-year-old. What an amazing performance. Tommy Lee Jones redeems the character of Doo for his bad behavior and in the end he is a supportive father and husband. Loretta's parents are portrayed very accurately by Levon Helm and Phyllis Boyens. I especially liked the mother's "squaw dance". Coal Miner's Daughter is a masterpiece as a song, a book, and especially a movie.

There is no doubt in my mind that this film is one of the best biopics brought to the screen. From beginning to end, you are so fully immersed in the life of Loretta Lynn, that you forget you are watching Sissy Spacek, who hands down deservedly won the Oscar and 1980 was an excellent year for the Academy awards with stiff competition.

From the opening sequences, you get sucked right in. The life of Appalachia and the struggles of Loretta growing up. The devotion of Doolittle, Tommy Lee Jones best role, to make Loretta the star that she should be is selfless, despite some tempestuous struggles.

Beverly D'Angelo, who is underrated and versatile, portrays Patsy Cline with such bravado, it just clicks with the cast and the credibility of the audience. The fact that both her and Spacek sang on their own just enhances the credibility of the film.

In summary, a must see for anyone who is a fan of Loretta Lynn and for how a biography should be filmed.

The reason this film works (arguably the greatest bio-pic ever produced) is that it is ABOUT Loretta Lynn's life, not about country music. From the opening shots of a young Loretta riding a mule to the mines with her brother, you know this will be a film about extraordinary characters. It is over an hour before we hear one song from Loretta Lynn; director Michael Apted and writer Thom Rickman spend time to develop Loretta, Doolittle and her family. When her father dies, the audience cries with Loretta because we know her family, her father, we understand where this girl came from and why it is such a unique transition from backwoods girl to international star.

It's been said that Ms. Lynn was named after movie star Loretta Young. When approached by executives to make a movie about her life (based on her best-selling autobiography), she was savvy enough to realize that a film would end up on television anyway, and opted to have film made. I can imagine (most likely to the chagrin of studio execs) that Apted fought to develop a script that showcased the characters over the music. The result is a film that EVERYONE enjoys. When the film was released in 1980, I remember people going who were definitely not country music fans, and I remember their raves after the movie.

America is about the Horatio Alger storyline: everyone can achieve greatness. This film highlights that dream. While it does fall into some cliche trappings once Loretta Lynn is a huge success (the on-the-road montage, the drugs, the nervous breakdown), there are such cliches because the pressure performers feel is one in the same. Overall, it ages beautifully because it captures a time when the American hills spawned such unique talent (Lynn's contemporaries are either showcased or mentioned to great effect).

Of special note: If Oscars could be given for past work, Beverly D'Angelo should be voted the "Best Supporting Actress" of 1980 for this film. Unfortunately, she was not even nominated. You will be hard-pressed to find such a complete performance in film. Similar in screen time and impact as Dame Judi Dench's performance in "Shakespeare In Love", D'Angelo gives a Master Class in screen acting for her portrayal of the late Patsy Cline. Most likely, this flash of brilliance is what inspired the film "Sweet Dreams", the bio-pic of Cline, a film that pales in comparison to "Coal Miner's Daughter."

This is Spacek's only Oscar win thus far out of six nominations. She's a national treasure and this performance is outstanding. However, you should see this film for all its elements, working to create an outstanding picture. Highly recommended.