Big Dreams & Broken Hearts: The Dottie West Story

BIG DREAMS AND BROKEN HEARTS: THE DOTTIE WEST STORY is a 1995 TV movie biopic of country music queen Dottie West, a beloved star in the industry who was a major country star for nearly thirty years, racking up 16 Grammy nominations including the first win for a country female vocalist in 1964. Dottie's life was colorful and dramatic and was inevitable that a movie would be made of it, this one coming only four years after her death in 1991.

Michele Lee does a very good job in this highly sympathetic account of this lovely lady's often tragic life behind the beauty, glamour, and 100 watt smile. I like the fact that she is wise enough to sing West's hits "naturally", not with an affected southern accent. Her voice lacks the flavor of Dottie's often brilliant vocals but she's quite good. One thing I didn't like was the bad handling of the "Oui affair", when Dottie posed for the men's nudie magazine. The movie gives the impression is was a nude layout when in fact it was merely sexy cheesecake photos no bluer than the average photo session of Joan Collins, Farrah Fawcett, or other Hollywood glamour girls of the era. I also didn't care for the way they wrote Dottie in this scene bragging about her sex appeal which she would have never done and it's made worse by Michele's curiously husky, brash delivery of the lines that in no way suggest Dottie's actual speaking voice (or even Michele's voice in other scenes in the movie!!).

The cameos by other country stars (most all speaking directly to the camera and breaking the drama with comments about the real life of Dottie West) were expendable and rather badly done; I wouldn't have minded seeing them brought into the story but this is almost like they clipped interviews from a BIOGRAPHY episode and stuck them in the film.

Dottie deserves to be remembered not only for her great catalog of fine country music but her major part along with Joan Collins, Angie Dickinson, and Tina Turner in showing America in the 1980's that a woman can still be sexy and beautiful in her fifties. Today they call such women "cougars" but in the 1980's they had more grace, womanly softness, and were not really predatory, just ageless beauties who fascinated the country.

I was never interested in country music and not familiar with Dottie West's music. I bought this movie because of Michele Lee. She is doing more than well in this movie. Michele proved again that she's a GREAT actress and such a talented singer. Not to forget, she looks fabulous, sexy & totally different from her character in Knots Landing. She was the perfect one for portraying Dottie West. After I watched the movie I had to buy Dottie's music. Michele brought her to me ! Wish I could find the soundtrack in Germany with Michele singing but it was never released here. But I can enjoy the original tracks by Dottie. For anyone who loves Dottie's music and wants to follow her career, just watch this movie and "be" a part of her world. You'll be sad that "Big dreams & broken hearts" is over in 90 minutes. You can sit there forever and keep on watching. It's worth it !

Just received this video today in the mail after ordering it from timelife. It was an awesome excellent movie I read one review on here that said it was a waste of talent. Well they didn't make the movie you mr. whoever you are that didn't like the movie. It was very very good. Didn't even know the movie was for sale until I found this website and the found the movie.

Dottie West led a life that was straight from rags to riches, and back to rags again. She was born very, very poor. She was raped by her father, who later went to prison for it. She had 3 troubled marriages, 4 kids, world-wide fame, fortune, and terrible luck. After an amazing career, she found that she owed the IRS nearly $2 million dollars. She had to sell her home, and auction off everything she owned in order to pay the debt. She died an untimely death in 1991, with injuries that occured in a car accident. This film was amazing. Michele Lee did an outstanding job as Dottie. She looked like Dot, and sanf like her. The ending was a bit strange, because it never showed Dottie going to the hospital, or going through surgery. All in all, is you like biographies, watch this film. I give it a 9 out of 10.

The movie was fairly well done, although it was hardly in the same class with Coal Miner's Daughter or Stand by Your Man. Of course, Dottie West wasn't in the same class with Loretta Lynn or Tammy Wynette, either.

It's incomprehensible that anyone could have made the money she did in her career and thrown it all away, ending up broke and in debt. What an absolute waste!