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A film whose time has come. Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson essentially play themselves as a songwriter and a cock-of-the-walk country god, and do it perfectly. The plot concerns Willie's character, Doc Jenkins, attempting to liberate himself from a contract he committed to when he was younger, drunker and a little less immortal. The supporting players are top of the line aces, including a surly Rip Torn and the always-great Melinda Dillon. Lesley Ann Warren is the new singer who Doc hitches his stars to, and she's convincing enough. The dialogue is fast, funny and, I suspect, captures the inside angle of the Music Business to a tee. One of the most unheralded great, little movies of all time. A better version of all those other syrupy, sentimental inside music movies.

Alan Rudolph always makes interesting films and this little-seen mid-80s effort is no exception. The plot involves a singer/songwriter who discovers that the record company who initially signed him up have screwed him over with a disadvantageous ironclad contract that he is unable to break. Not one to give up though, the music legend attempts to release his own songs using a female singer as a front, but will the record company eventually catch on? While this might sound very slim as far as plot lines go, 'Songwriter' is a film more about its characters than any story, with lots of memorable dialogue as lead actor Willie Nelson interacts with various associates who band together to help him out of the jam. "Everybody has to kill their own snakes," he philosophises at one point and a poolside treatment that one such associate gets from sleeping around leads to possibly the film's most memorable scene. The film takes a while to warm up though, and catchy as Kris Kristofferson's songs for the film may well be, the song performance scenes are never as interesting as the character drama, but generally speaking, this is a worthwhile experience. There is a lot of fun to be had in Nelson using the tricks of the trade that he has acquired over the years to get back at the record company and Lesley Ann Warren's internal dilemmas resonate as the young female singer fronting for Nelson. The title for the movie is really quite astute in this regard; it could apply equally to her and Nelson as the actual and fake songwriters of the film respectively.

In Hollywood vernacular this would be the quintessential sleeper: a small gem straight out of left field forced to look after itself in a market geared more toward largely impersonal blockbusters. It isn't necessary to be a fan of country-western music to enjoy the film: a disarming comic fable about one man's clever attempt to buck the system, represented here by the music industry. The movie works (in part) because of its oblique, slightly skewed narrative style, courtesy of Bud Shrake's elliptical screenplay and director Alan Rudolph's eye for offhand detail. Some of the Southern accents are thick enough to almost require subtitles, but the film is a true original, with a photogenic performance by Willie Nelson as the roguish title character.

"He Lost Everything...Now Its Time To Get Even." Kick back and enjoy Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson as a pair of hard-living Texans in this funny, original and very real look at the country music business. It's Willie and Kris, on the road again, sharing music and raising hell! Melinda Dillon and Rip Torn give a great performance. This movie was pretty good to watch on VHS. I don't know if this movie has come out on DVD or not. The acting wasn't too well performed...but the music was. It's an "ok" movie to enjoy watching. A friend of mine, Tommy McClure, R. I. P., had told me to watch this movie. He was in the "Roarers Band" in this movie.

Songwriter is a rollicking country comedy, not exactly what you'd expect from Alan Rudolph. Willie Nelson is wonderful in this picture, an actor of considerable great subtlety as well as the great singer you already knew he was. Rip Torn is hilariously hammy. If you have any fondness for the country (especially the Texas country) millieu, this is one to check out.