source: Coal Miner's Daughter

Trailer—Coal Miner's Daughter

Coal Miner's Daughter

Sissy Spacek perfectly embodies Loretta Lynn and she won an Oscar that year as Best Actress. To be honest, I never understood why Tommy Lee Jones, Levon Helm and Beverly D'Angelo were not nominated as well. D'Angelo is especially memorable as the late great Patsy Kline. The director of this movie is not even American, but he sure did a great job in unfamiliar territory. Even if you are not a country music fan, which I am not, this movie will hold your interest. SPOILER ALERT!!!! When Loretta reacts to Patsy's sudden death, and asks Mooney, "Who am I gonna talk to now"? , you get a pretty good idea about what their friendship meant to Loretta. The moment is very touching and real. Not many movies delve into womens' friendships as well, unless one of them has a terminal disease or a grudge against men.

Loretta Lynn (Sissy Spacek) is born to the poor Webbs in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky. She is 13 when she catches the eye of Doolittle Lynn (Tommy Lee Jones) when he returns from the war as a dashing soldier. Soon they're married and she's a mother of 4 by the time she's 19. He buys her a secondhand guitar for their anniversary as she goes on a long journey to country music fame. This is a tour de force performance from Sissy Spacek. She is asked to take on quite a long length of her life. Of course, she's never going to look 13 but Sissy gives as much of that perception as possible. Loretta Lynn comes from a poverty stricken life that is Dickensian. Her rise is the stuff of legends. Through it all, Sissy Spacek gives an Oscar worthy performance. She is believable as a love sick 13 year old as well as a suffering middle age woman. It is as much about her acting than any makeup or lack thereof.

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.

Biographical story of Loretta Lynn, a legendary country singer that came from poverty to worldwide fame. She rose from humble beginnings in Kentucky to super-stardom and changing the sound and style of country music forever. For me, if I think Sissy Spacek, I only think of "Carrie". I know she has done other things, but that is, in my opinion, her defining role. Now, that being said, Loretta Lynn probably takes a close second. I am not sure that anyone else would have been right for the part. It seems that we need more country music biopics. When they succeed, they succeed in a big way. Both this and "Walk the Line" are excellent, and I suspect there are a lot more great stories of country music pioneers. Not the polished, fake country stars we have today... but the real ones. George Jones, Hank Williams and countless others.

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 true-life story of Loretta Lynn (dominant Oscar-winner Sissy Spacek) from her youth where she married at the tender age of 13 all the way to country music stardom. Along for the ride is her husband (Tommy Lee Jones' first legitimate role), an amazingly complex individual who has anger management and jealousy issues. Beverly D'Angelo (in arguably her finest career performance) is also a solid scene-stealer playing doomed singer Patsy Cline. Spacek and D'Angelo actually did all the singing themselves and that just elevates an already high level of performances. The direction by Michael Apted is adequate and so is the Oscar-nominated adaptation, but the excellent work by the three leads makes "Coal Miner's Daughter" one of the finest pictures of the early-1980s. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

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.