Coal Miner’s Daughter

1980

PG

Just yesterday, we lost the First Lady of Country Music and I decided to watch the movie about her life. I have known about this film for quite some time and I have even owned it for quite some time, but I haven’t sat down and watched it until now. I have wanted to see it, but just kept putting it off. Loretta Lynn was huge figure in Country Music history. She paved the way for many female musicians and if you ask any classic country music fan their favorite female artist, Loretta Lynn is at the top of most of those people’s lists. I wanted to honor her is some way and I think this is a good way. She was proud of this film and I wanted to watch it so here we are. Let’s dive in.

This movie’s plot tells itself. It simply tells the life story of Loretta Lynn from basically 1945-80. The film starts when Loretta Webb (Sissy Spacek) is a teenager and she starts to fall in love with Oliver “Doo” Lynn (Tommy Lee Jones). Loretta’s father, Ted (Levon Helm) and mother, Clara (Phyllis Boyens) do not approve of her new romance with Doo. Things move fast between Doo and Loretta and they decide to get married. Loretta is only 15 at the time of her marriage and just a few months into the marriage they leave Butcher Hollow, Kentucky for Washington state. Loretta and Doo have 4 children before Loretta turns 20. While taking care of the kids, Loretta sings to them and Doo recognizes that she has a real talent. He buys her a guitar and she learns how to play it and soon is performing in front of local crowds and clubs although she was really nervous to at the beginning.

Soon, she starts to get a lot of buzz around the western part of the country, but she soon receives news that will shake her entire world. Her father passed away. They go back to Kentucky to go to the funeral, but they also have plans to get Loretta recognized in the eastern part of the country. Doo acts as Loretta’s manager and does a great job to get her recognized. They go on a road trip to visit radio stations around the area to get her new song “I’m a Honky Tonk Girl” some airplay. The road trip was successful, and she quickly gains enough popularity to play the Grand Ole Opry. In the meantime, Ernest Tubb keeps booking her for his shows and she quickly develops a friendship with Patsy Cline (Beverly D’Angelo). Loretta and Patsy start touring together, and things are going great for her career, but her marriage is still not working with Doo. Despite their love for each other, they don’t really mesh. The rest of the film shows their marriage struggles, Loretta’s struggle with her career and busy schedule, and trying to raise a family.

I’ve seen random clips of the movie before, but this was the first time I’ve seen it in its entirety. My first thought was, why did it take so long? This was a fantastic biopic. I would go as far as to say that Sissy Spacek’s performance as Loretta Lynn may be the best performance ever in the history of music biopics. Her speaking voice was as about as close to Loretta as anyone could get. She performed all of Loretta’s songs and did a fantastic job. Beverly D’Angelo did a solid job portraying Patsy Cline and just like Sissy Spacek, D’Angelo performed all of Patsy’s songs on the film. I was blown away how well Sissy Spacek did in this film. She spent basically a full year with Loretta to learn how to talk and sing like her and it shows. Tommy Lee Jones did a great job playing Doo as well and despite wanting to hate him, they somehow still made him somewhat likeable and I believe that was the goal, because Loretta Lynn definitely wouldn’t have become a superstar without him. It was also cool to see Ernest Tubb, Minnie Pearl and Roy Acuff make cameos in the movie. The casting was perfect and I can’t stress enough how well Sissy Spacek did in this film.

Prior to watching this, I already knew quite a bit about Loretta Lynn’s life. The only thing I didn’t really know was that she and Doo moved to Washington state. I knew they left Kentucky, but I didn’t know that they moved across the country. Other than that, I knew what to expect and that was fine. The movie received 7 nominations for the Academy Awards and Sissy Spacek took home the Oscar for Best Actress for her performance in this film. Again, it was well deserved. At the end of the movie, I watched a brief Loretta Lynn interview and it was great to hear her talk about it and how the director and Universal worked with her to make sure the film was done the right way. I have always liked Loretta Lynn, because she is definitely one of the most “real” country music artists ever. There is nothing fake about her. Fame didn’t change her, and she never forgot where she came from. Also, her music is great.

Whether you are a country music fan or not, I still recommend watching this film. This was a fantastic biopic and it is a great indicator of how things were back in the 40’s-60’s, especially in this part of the United States. I can't imagine marrying and having a family at such a young age, but that was pretty common back then. Loretta Lynn’s life must’ve been such a whirlwind. At 15, she is married and living in a poor coal town in Kentucky. And after having 4 kids and with those kids practically grown, she becomes the biggest act in country music, she loses her best friend in the music business and then has another set of twins. She had a very unique story and it played out on film wonderfully. I’m glad I finally watched it and I’ll definitely watch it again.

GRADE: 4.7/5

Yacs

RIP Loretta Lynn.

Movie Review: Coal Miner's Daughter