Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Coal Miner's Daughter (1980)


Academy Awards, USA 1981

Winner
Oscar
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Sissy Spacek
Nominee
Oscar
Best Picture
Bernard Schwartz
Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium
Thomas Rickman
Best Cinematography
Ralf D. Bode
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
John W. Corso
John M. Dwyer
Best Sound
Richard Portman
Roger Heman Jr.
James R. Alexander
Best Film Editing
Arthur Schmidt

Universal Pictures
Directed by Michael Apted
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Universal)

Sissy Spacek channels her inner country singer to perfection, singing her own songs in an uncanny imitation of Loretta Lynn, which I guess is acting. Tommy Lee Jones is her husband/manager. Their rocky relationship begins in the backwoods of Kentucky where he manages to convince her father that he should marry a 13-year-old. They move to Washington state where he becomes a logger and decides to push her into a singing career. He has a knack for promotion and they tour the southern radio network with her first record. It becomes an unexpected hit and he manages to get her on stage at the Grand Ole Opry. She becomes a sensation and soon is best friends with none other than Patsy Cline, her idol. They tour the country together, but her husband, now relegated to the background, becomes dissatisfied and turns to alcohol and women. Cline dies in an airplane crash and Lynn becomes despondent about the whole situation, leading to a nervous breakdown on stage. She takes some time off only to reemerge more successful than ever. Briskly paced, if entirely predictable, Hollywood biopic that brings nothing new to a tired genre. 

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