Review of Coal Miner's Daughter (1980) by Tony B — 27 Feb 2007

I really cant stand country music. So, why watch 'Coal Miner's Daughter?,' you may ask. Well, for one, it was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar back in 1980, so that in itself is a legitimate reason. Though its easy to uderstand why it didnt have a chance of winning because it was the year of The Elephant man, raging bull, and redford's Ordinary people. Also, Sissy Spacek won the Best Actress Oscar. Her acting definitely was excellent and it's awesome that she sang all of her own songs. Tommy Lee Jones also acts well and the whole story line is quite interesting indeed.

BUT, this movie has two major flaws. The first flaw is the manner in which the movie is cut. It seems to jump from scene to scene without any decent explanation of whether the scene is six days or six years from the previous one. This adds to a somewhat flawed understanding of how quickly or how slowly Loretta Lynn achieved fame. One moment that really bugged the hell outta me was when Loretta visited Patsy Cline's house, leaves, then the next shot is of Loretta waking up in bed finding out Patsy had died in a plane crash, then the next scene is of Loretta singing.......Bah!

My second major complaint concerns the music. Yes, it is well-performed and fits well with the movie, but after a while, it gets tired. You seem to start hearing the same few guitar chords with only a small change in the lyrics.

Nevertheless, it's definitely worth a watch and it does a god job of portraying her life.