Review of Coal Miner's Daughter (1980) by Josh N Tosh I — 28 Oct 2013

Deanna Caudill.

ENC 091.

Ariel Dingus.

October, 28, 2013.

"Coal Miner's Daughter".

While reading through the critiques of the movie, "Coal Miner's Daughter", this particular review caught my eye. "This uplifting drama based on Loretta Lynn's autobiography shows her marriage kept changing to accommodate her career as the (First Lady of Country Music)".

In my opinion this film did an excellent job of portraying the life of an icon in country music and explains the adversity that Loretta Lynn (Sissy Spacek) had to overcome to become the queen of country music. I do agree that her marriage had its ups and downs in this film; as her career progressed, so did her marriage.

Loretta Lynn lived in the Appalachian Mountains; she was from a small coal producing community near Van Lear, Kentucky. Her family lived in an old house, in the head of Butcher Holler. Her father (Levon Helm) worked his heart out in the coal mines to provide for Loretta Lynn, her mother, and six siblings. As a teen-ager, she got married to Doolittle (Tommy Lee Jones) who liked to live a little on the wild side. He often had a habit of coming home late, running in and out of bars, and having other women on the side.

Loretta started having kids at a very young age. Her husband stayed by her side while she was traveling the road and trying to pursue her dreams. Doolittle would stray away and get lost at bars at times. In the beginning, Doolittle was pushing Loretta to travel and visit all of the radio stations and get her name out there. He wanted her to be heard by the world. It was as if Doolittle wanted to have a sense of power and control over Loretta.

After everyone started hearing Loretta Lynn and her music, they liked it very well. She had a large following of fans despite the fact that she was still relatively new to the music industry. A vast majority of women could relate to her songs. As Loretta's career progressed, Doolittle didn't think she needed him on the road with her anymore. He knew that this was something that Loretta enjoyed doing, and was very good at it. So he was going to support her in the only way that he knew that he could. He stayed at home and took care of their home and their children.

During her travels on the road Loretta experienced low points. After losing her dear friend Patsy Cline (Beverly D'Angelo) in a tragic car accident Doolittle decided that he would accompany her on the road to be able to support her not only physically, but emotionally as well.

At this point, Loretta was experiencing bad migraines and depression. She was at the point that her music and talent was starting to decline. Doolittle was standing behind her pushing her to keep singing for her fans. The love and devotion of her fans and their support was the main thing that helped Loretta to a quick recovery; she loved to sing for her fans.

Even though their marriage was sometimes on the verge of destruction the couple would not let the demons of this world pull them down. Loretta was thriving to succeed in the music business. The desire of a small town country woman wanting to achieve her dreams of becoming a singer, mother, and a wife led her to being known as the "First Lady of Country Music".