Themes: Musician's Life, Rags To Riches, Crumbling Marriages
Main Cast: Sissy Spacek, Tommy Lee Jones, Beverly D'Angelo, Levon Helm, Phyllis Boyens
Release Year: 1980
Country: US
Run Time: 125 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Loretta Lynn was one of the first female superstars in country music and remains a defining presence within the genre; with her strong, clear, hard-country voice and tough, no-nonsense songs about husbands who cheat and wives who weren't about to be pushed around, Lynn introduced a feminist mindset to Nashville years before the phrase "women's liberation" became common currency. Coal Miner's Daughter is a screen adaptation of Lynn's autobiography, starring Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn. One of eight children born to Ted Webb (Levon Helm), a coal miner raising a family despite grinding poverty in Butcher's Holler, KY, Loretta married Dolittle "Mooney" Lynn (Tommy Lee Jones) when she was only 13 years old. A mother of four by the time she was 20, Lynn began singing the occasional song at local honky-tonks on weekends, and at 25, she cut (at Mooney's suggestion) a demo tape that earned her a deal with an independent record label. Loretta and Mooney's tireless promotion of the record (including a long road trip through the south in which they stopped at every country radio station they could find) paid off -- Loretta's first single, "Honky Tonk Girl," hit the charts and earned her a spot on the Grand Ole Opry. Stardom called and Loretta never looked back, but success brought with it both joy (a long string of hit records and sold-out concerts and a close friendship with Patsy Cline) and sorrow (a nervous breakdown brought on by overwork and a great deal of stress to a marriage that endured -- but just barely). Sissy Spacek won an Academy award for her vivid, thoroughly natural performance as Loretta (she also did her own singing), and Levon Helm (drummer for the legendary rock group the Band) made an impressive screen debut as her father. Ernest Tubb makes a cameo appearance as himself. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
One of the best music biopics ever made, this 1980 portrait of country singer Loretta Lynn features strong social commentary about Appalachian poverty and the hypocrisy of show business. Director Michael Apted seems to sneak these themes between the seams of a finely crafted melodrama that hews to the standard path of a star's rise, fall, and comeback. The intelligent, rangy actress Sissy Spacek gives it her all, demonstrating surprisingly strong musical skills. Spacek won several awards, including an Oscar, for her performance. The cinematography of Ralf Bode and Apted's piercing direction provide even those who aren't fans of country music with an unforgettable portrait of backwoods Kentucky. Coal Miner's Daughter received 7 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
Ernest Tubb - Himself; Robert Elkins - Bobby Day; Bob Hannah - Charlie Dick; Bill Anderson, Jr. - Webb Children; Foster Dickerson - Webb Child; Malla McCown - Webb Child; Pamela McCown - Webb Child; Kevin Salvilla - Webb Child; Sissy Lucas - Loretta and Mooney's Child; Brian Warf - Loretta & Mooney's Child; Elizabeth Watson - Loretta and Mooney's Child; David Barry Gray - Doc Turner; Michael Baish - Storekeeper; Charles Kahlenberg - Business Manager; Merle Kilgore - Cowboy at Tootsie's; Susan Kingsley - Girl at Fairgrounds; Gary Parker - Radio Station Manager; William Sanderson - Lee Dollarhide; David Thornhill - The Coal Miner's Band; Frank Mitchell - Washington Neighbor; Billy Strange - Speedy West; Jim Webb - Bus Driver; Doug Bledsoe - Cowboy at Grange Hall; Royce Clark - Hugh Cherry; Allison Caine; Billy West - The Patsy Cline Band; Pat Patterson - Loretta's Children
Credit
Zelda Barron - Associate Producer, Joe Tompkins - Costume Designer, Dan Kolsrud - First Assistant Director, Michael Apted - Director, Arthur Schmidt - Editor, Bob Larson - Executive Producer, Owen Bradley - Composer (Music Score), Shel Silverstein - Songwriter, Bob Montgomery - Songwriter, John W. Corso - Production Designer, Ralf Bode - Cinematographer, Bernard Schwartz - Producer, John M. Dwyer - Set Designer, James R. Alexander - Sound/Sound Designer, Tom Rickman - Screenwriter, Loretta Lynn - Book Author, George Vescey - Book Author, George Vecsey - Book Author
Sissy Spacek did a more than credible job of singing like Loretta Lynn in the movie, and this soundtrack proves it. From the "early" sides ("I'm a Honky Tonk Girl," "There He Goes") to the hits at the end (the title track, "You're Lookin' at Country"), Spacek sings her heart out and actually varies her singing approach to sound more assured and professional on the "later" ones. The Patsy Cline tracks in the movie were handled by Beverly D'Angelo, who turns in solid versions of "Walkin' After Midnight" and "Sweet Dreams." Not the original recordings, but damn good. ~ Cub Koda, All Music Guide
The movie was adapted from Lynn's biography written with George Vecsey. Loretta Lynn was one of the first female superstars in country music and remains a defining presence within the genre; with her strong, clear, hard-country voice and tough, no-nonsense songs about husbands who cheat and abuse, and about wives who weren't about to be pushed around, Lynn introduced a feminist mindset to Nashville years before the phrase "women's liberation" became common currency. One of eight children born to Ted Webb (Levon Helm), a coal miner raising a family despite grinding poverty in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky, Loretta married Doolittle "Mooney" Lynn (Tommy Lee Jones) when she was only 13 years old.
Spacek as country singer Loretta Lynn
A mother of four by the time she was 17 (and a grandmother by age 29), Lynn began singing the occasional song at local honky-tonks on weekends, and at 25, she cut (at Mooney's suggestion) a demo tape that earned her a deal with an independent record label. Loretta and Mooney's tireless promotion of the record (including a long road trip through the south in which they stopped at every country radio station they could find) paid off — Loretta's first single, "Honky Tonk Girl", hit the charts and earned her a spot on the Grand Ole Opry. Stardom called and Lynn never looked back, but success brought with it both joy (a long string of hit records and sold-out concerts and a close friendship with Patsy Cline) and sorrow (a nervous breakdown brought on by overwork and a great deal of stress to a marriage that endured — but just barely).
Lynn personally chose Spacek to portray her, making the decision based on a photograph of the actress despite being unfamiliar with her films, a story Spacek recounts in a DVD commentary for the Collector's Edition of the film. Initially, Spacek was reluctant to participate, and asked to do her own singing in the film in hopes of scaring off the studio from pursuing her for the role. At the time that Lynn prematurely announced on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson that "Sissy Spacek is going to play me," the actress was torn between friends who advised her to do Lynn's film and those who advised her to choose instead a Nicolas Roeg project due to start filming at the same time. Talking it over with her mother-in-law that evening, Spacek was advised to pray for a sign, which she did. She and her husband subsequently went for a drive in his mother's car, where the radio was tuned to a classical music station that changed formats at sunset every evening. As the couple pulled out of the parking garage, the title line of the song "Coal Miner's Daughter" issued from the radio.[2]
This movie was released on LaserDisc on two separate releases. The first release was in May 1980, and the extended play version was released in July 1981. These releases were both made by MCA DiscoVision.
The movie was released in the VHS format on March 1, 1992 by MCA Universal.
On September 13, 2005, Universal Pictures released a 25th Anniversary Edition of this film on DVD, in widescreen (1.85:1) format. and 5.1 Dolby Digital stereo spread from the original mono soundtrack.
