''Coal Miner's Daughter'' is a 1980 American
biographical
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curric ...
musical
Musical is the adjective of music.
Musical may also refer to:
* Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance
* Musical film
Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...
film directed by
Michael Apted
Michael David Apted (10 February 1941 – 7 January 2021) was an English television and film director and producer.
Apted began working in television and directed the ''Up (film series), Up'' documentary series from 1970 to 2019). He later di ...
and written by
Tom Rickman. It follows the story of country music singer
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn (; April 14, 1932 – October 4, 2022) was an American country music singer and songwriter. In a career spanning six decades, Lynn released multiple gold albums. She had numerous hits such as "Hey Loretta", "The Pill (song), The P ...
from her early teen years in a poor family and getting married at 15 to her rise as one of the most influential country musicians. Based on Lynn's 1976 biography of the same name by
, the film stars
Sissy Spacek as Lynn.
Tommy Lee Jones
Tommy Lee Jones (born September 15, 1946) is an American actor. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Tommy Lee Jones, various accolades including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and two Scre ...
,
Beverly D'Angelo and
Levon Helm
Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm (May 26, 1940 – April 19, 2012) was an American musician who achieved fame as the drummer and one of the three lead vocalists for The Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. Hel ...
are featured in supporting roles.
Ernest Tubb,
Roy Acuff, and
Minnie Pearl
Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon (October 25, 1912 – March 4, 1996), known professionally as her stage character Minnie Pearl, was an American comedian and country singer who appeared at the Grand Ole Opry for more than 50 years (1940–1991) ...
make cameo appearances as themselves.
A film on Lynn's life was intended to be made since the release of the biography. Production for the film began in March 1979, and Lynn herself chose Spacek to portray her on screen after seeing a photograph of her, despite being unfamiliar with her films. The film's soundtrack featured all of Lynn's hit singles, which were all sung by Spacek, as well as
Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline (born Virginia Patterson Hensley; September 8, 1932 – March 5, 1963) was an American singer. One of the most influential vocalists of the 20th century, she was known as one of the first country music artists to successfully Cross ...
's "
Sweet Dreams" sung by D'Angelo and Cline's "
Back in Baby's Arms" sung by Spacek and D'Angelo in a duet. The soundtrack reached the top 40 on the ''
Billboard 200
The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists. Sometimes, a rec ...
'' chart and was certified gold by the
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
.
Universal Pictures
Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...
released ''Coal Miner's Daughter'' theatrically on March 7, 1980. The critical consensus on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
calls it "a solidly affecting story". The film grossed $67.18 million in North America against a budget of $15 million, becoming the
seventh highest-grossing film of 1980. The film received seven nominations at the
53rd Academy Awards
The 53rd Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released in 1980 and took place on March 31, 1981, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, beginning at 7:00 p ...
, including for
Best Picture, with Spacek winning
Best Actress. At the
38th Golden Globe Awards, it garnered four nominations and won two;
Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and
Best Actress (for Spacek).
The film is considered "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" by the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
and was selected to be preserved in the United States
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation (library and archival science), preservation, each selected for its cultural, historical, and aestheti ...
in 2019.
Plot
In 1945, 13-year-old Loretta Webb is one of eight children of Ted Webb, a
Van Lear coal miner raising a family with his wife in the midst of grinding poverty in
Butcher Hollow, Kentucky (pronounced by locals as "Butcher Holler").
In 1948, at the age of 15, Loretta marries 22-year-old Oliver "Mooney" (aka Doo, short for Doolittle) Lynn, becoming a mother of four by the time she is 19. The family moves to northern Washington State, where Doo works in the forest industry and Loretta sings occasionally at local honky-tonks on weekends. After some time, Loretta makes an occasional appearance on local radio.
By the time Loretta turns 25,
Norm Burley, the owner of
Zero Records, a small Canadian record label, hears Loretta sing during one of her early radio appearances. Burley gives the couple the money needed to travel to Los Angeles to cut a demo tape from which her first single, "
I'm a Honky Tonk Girl
"I'm a Honky Tonk Girl" is the debut single by American country music artist Loretta Lynn, released in March 1960. The song was among the first to not only be recorded by Lynn, but also to be penned by her. She composed the song while living in Wa ...
", is made. After returning home from the sessions, Doo suggests he and Loretta go on a promotional tour to push the record. Doo shoots his own publicity photo for Loretta, and spends many late nights writing letters to show promoters and to radio disc jockeys all over the South. After Loretta receives an emergency phone call from her mother telling her that her father had died, she and Doo hit the road with records, photos, and their children. The two embark on an extensive promotional tour of radio stations across the South.
En route, and unbeknownst to the couple, Loretta's first single, "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl", hits the charts based on radio and jukebox plays, and earns her a spot on the
Grand Ole Opry
The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a regular live country music, country-music Radio broadcasting, radio broadcast originating from Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, on WSM (AM), WSM, held between two and five nights per week, depending on the ...
. In the summer of 1961, after 17 straight weekly performances on the Opry, she is invited to sing at
Ernest Tubb Record Shop
''Ernest Tubb Record Shop'' is an album by United States, American country singer Ernest Tubb, released in 1960 (see 1960 in music). It is named after Tubb's record shop in Nashville.
Reception
In his AllMusic review, Eugene Chadbourne wrote o ...
's
Midnite Jamboree after her performance that night. Country superstar
Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline (born Virginia Patterson Hensley; September 8, 1932 – March 5, 1963) was an American singer. One of the most influential vocalists of the 20th century, she was known as one of the first country music artists to successfully Cross ...
, one of Loretta's idols, who had recently been hospitalized from a near-fatal car wreck, inspires Loretta to dedicate Patsy's newest hit "
I Fall to Pieces
"I Fall to Pieces" is a song written by Hank Cochran and Harlan Howard that was originally recorded by Patsy Cline. Released as a single in 1961 via Decca Records, it topped the country charts, crossed over onto the pop charts and became among ...
" to the singer herself as a musical get-well card. Cline listens to the broadcast that night from her hospital room and sends her husband Charlie Dick to Ernest Tubb Record Shop to fetch Loretta so the two can meet. A close friendship with Cline follows, which is abruptly ended by Cline's death in a
plane crash
An aviation accident is an event during aircraft operation that results serious injury, death, or significant destruction. An aviation incident is any operating event that compromises safety but does not escalate into an aviation accident. Pre ...
on March 5, 1963.
The next few years are a whirlwind. The stress of extensive touring, keeping up her image, overwork, and trying to keep her marriage and family together cause Loretta a nervous breakdown, which she suffers onstage at the beginning of a concert. After a year off at her ranch in
Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, Loretta goes back on the road, returning to establish herself as the "First Lady of Country Music".
The film closes with Loretta recounting the story of her life through her 1970 hit song "
Coal Miner's Daughter" to a sold-out audience.
Cast
Production
Lynn 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 audio 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 the studio from pursuing her for the role. At the time that Lynn prematurely announced on ''
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show was the third installment of ''The Tonight Show''. Hosted by Johnny Carson, it aired from October 1, 1962 to May 22, 1992, replacing ''T ...
'' 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
Nicolas Jack Roeg ( ; 15 August 1928 – 23 November 2018) was an English film director and cinematographer, best known for directing ''Performance (film), Performance'' (1970), ''Walkabout (film), Walkabout'' (1971), ''Don't Look Now'' (1973) ...
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" came from the radio.
[Sissy Spacek and Michael Apted. Feature commentary track, ''Coal Miner's Daughter'' 25th Anniversary/Collector's Edition, 2005.]
In her 2012 memoir ''My Extraordinary Ordinary Life'', Sissy Spacek states that she became fast friends with Loretta Lynn and worked to emulate her unique accent and speech patterns by spending an afternoon tape-recording the singer while she told stories of her life, some of which made it into the script. She then listened to the tapes and repeated the lines until she captured her own version of Lynn. Though Spacek had started out as a singer, the producers considered dubbing Loretta's vocals over her performance. Lynn encouraged them to allow Spacek to do all of her own singing in the film and helped the actress learn to sing and play guitar in her style. The film's soundtrack featured Spacek's singing all of Lynn's hits sung in the movie, including "Coal Miner's Daughter".
The locations included
Blackey,
Eolia,
Flatgap, Bottom Fork,
Redfox in
Knott and
Letcher Counties in Kentucky; and
Pardee, a former coal camp on the Virginia side of
Black Mountain. Interiors of Lynn's childhood home were shot in a warehouse in
Norton, Virginia. Scenes were also shot in Loretta Lynn's Madison, Tennessee, home on Barbara Drive.
The replica of Lynn's home in
Butcher Hollow, built at Bottom Fork, Letcher County, Kentucky, was burned by arsonists. It was on the front porch of that house that
Levon Helm
Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm (May 26, 1940 – April 19, 2012) was an American musician who achieved fame as the drummer and one of the three lead vocalists for The Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. Hel ...
, drummer and singer of the rock group
The Band
The Band was a Canadian-American rock music, rock band formed in Toronto, Ontario, in 1957. It consisted of the Canadians Rick Danko (bass, guitar, vocals, fiddle), Garth Hudson (organ, keyboards, accordion, saxophone), Richard Manuel (piano, d ...
, made his acting debut as Lynn's father.
[
In an interview with ]Merv Griffin
Mervyn Edward Griffin Jr. (July 6, 1925 – August 12, 2007) was an American television show host and media mogul. He began his career as a radio and big band singer, later appearing in film and on Broadway theatre, Broadway. From 1962 to 1986, G ...
broadcast on November 7, 1978, Loretta Lynn said that Harrison Ford had been originally cast.
Historical inaccuracies
The film emphasizes Lynn's self-fabricated myth that she got married at the age of 13. The myth went uncontested until May 2012, when the Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
unearthed her Kentucky birth certificate, revealing that Lynn was actually almost 16 at the time of her marriage. When contacted by the AP before the exposé went to publication, Lynn's spokeswoman declined comment.[ The discrepancy is significant as it alters the narrative Lynn spun in books and other public forums. In reality, it would have been illegal for a girl under the age of 15 to marry in Kentucky.
There are other events depicted in the film that are contrary to actual facts:
*Patsy Cline never owned a tour bus, although she had thought about purchasing one shortly before her death.
*Cline's plane crash did not occur early in the morning as the DJ on the radio in Lynn's bedroom stated; it happened shortly after 6:00 in the evening.
*" You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Man)" was not inspired by one of Mooney's cheating episodes, which was caught by Lynn while touring with Cline, as the film suggests. The inspiration came from a fan of Lynn, whom she met backstage. The fan told Lynn how another woman had been trying to steal her husband from her, to which Lynn replied, "Why she ain't woman enough to take your man," instantly giving Lynn an idea for a song title. Also, the film portrayed Lynn singing the song to Cline while writing it; the song was not recorded until late 1965, nearly three years after Cline's death; so it was likely that Lynn didn't write the song (and met the fan who inspired it) until after Cline's death as well.
*In the film, just before Cline's death, Lynn tells her she is pregnant with twins; given this is the last time they see each other, this would have happened February to March 1963. Lynn's twin daughters were in fact born August 6, 1964, roughly 17 months after Cline's death.
]
Soundtrack
''Coal Miner's Daughter: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack'' was released on March 7, 1980, under the MCA Nashville label. It included music by Beverly D'Angelo, Levon Helm, and Sissy Spacek except for the "End Credits Medley" and material by other artists that were not under contract to MCA.
The album was certified Gold by the RIAA
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
on January 11, 1982 and has been released on vinyl, cassette tape, and CD. Levon Helm's "Blue Moon of Kentucky
"Blue Moon of Kentucky" is a waltz written in 1945 by bluegrass musician Bill Monroe and recorded by his band, the Blue Grass Boys. Some think the origins may trace back to "Roll Along, Kentucky Moon", a similar waltz recorded 15 years prior by ...
" was released as a single on 7-inch vinyl, both as a double-A-side and also with Allen Toussaint
Allen Richard Toussaint (; January 14, 1938 – November 10, 2015) was an American musician, songwriter, arranger, and record producer. He was an influential figure in New Orleans rhythm and blues from the 1950s to the end of the century, descr ...
's " Working in the Coal Mine", a non-album track also sung by Helm, on the B-side. The soundtrack would win Country Music Association Award for Album of the Year in 1980, the first of only two soundtracks to do so. ('' O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' would be the other in 2001.)
Charts and certifications
Weekly charts
Year-end Charts
Certifications
Reception
Box office
In its opening weekend in the United States and Canada, ''Coal Miner's Daughter'' was number 1 at the box office, grossing $3.6 million in 796 theaters. The film grossed a total of $67.1 million in the United States and Canada, becoming the seventh highest-grossing film of 1980 in North America.
Critical response
On review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, ''Coal Miner's Daughter'' holds an approval rating of 84% based on 63 reviews, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Like a classic traditional country song, ''Coal Miner's Daughter'' draws on time-tested formula -- and undeniable talent -- to tell a solidly affecting story." On Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, which assigns a rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 87 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
'' Variety'' called it "a thoughtful, endearing film charting the life of singer Loretta Lynn from the depths of poverty in rural Kentucky to her eventual rise to the title of 'queen of country music.'" Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
from ''The Chicago Times
The ''Chicago Times'' was a newspaper in Chicago from 1854 to 1895, when it merged with the ''Chicago Herald'', to become the ''Chicago Times-Herald''. The ''Times-Herald'' effectively disappeared in 1901 when it merged with the ''Chicago Recor ...
'' stated that the film "has been made with great taste and style; it's more intelligent and observant than movie biographies of singing stars used to be."
Awards and nominations
The film is recognized by American Film Institute
The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...
in these lists:
* 2006: AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers – #70
Home media
* This film 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 film was released in the VHS format in the 1980s by MCA Home Video and on March 1, 1992, by MCA/Universal Home Video.
* On September 13, 2005, Universal released a 25th Anniversary Edition on DVD in widescreen (1.85:1) format and featuring the music tracks remixed to 5.1 Dolby Digital stereo, leaving the dialogue and effects tracks as they were on the original mono soundtrack from 1980.
* That same DVD was included in a four-pack DVD set that also included ''Smokey and the Bandit
''Smokey and the Bandit'' is a 1977 American action comedy road film starring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jackie Gleason, Jerry Reed, Pat McCormick, Paul Williams, and Mike Henry. The film marks the directorial debut of stuntman Hal Needham ...
'', ''The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
''The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas'' is a musical with a book by Texas author Larry L. King and Peter Masterson and music and lyrics by Carol Hall. It is based on a story by King that was inspired by the real-life Chicken Ranch in La Grang ...
'', and ''Fried Green Tomatoes
''Fried Green Tomatoes'' is a 1991 American comedy-drama film directed by Jon Avnet and based on Fannie Flagg's 1987 novel '' Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe''. Written by Flagg and Carol Sobieski, and starring Kathy Bates, J ...
''.
* On January 7, 2014, Universal Pictures
Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...
released the film on Blu-ray.
Broadway adaptation
On May 10, 2012, at the Grand Ole Opry
The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a regular live country music, country-music Radio broadcasting, radio broadcast originating from Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, on WSM (AM), WSM, held between two and five nights per week, depending on the ...
, Lynn announced that Zooey Deschanel
Zooey Claire Deschanel ( ; born January 17, 1980) is an American actress and musician. She made her film debut in ''Mumford (film), Mumford'' (1999) and had a supporting role in Cameron Crowe's film ''Almost Famous'' (2000). Deschanel is known f ...
was to portray her in a Broadway musical adaptation.
One episode of ''The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...
'', titled " Colonel Homer", is based partly on this film. The episode also stars Beverly D'Angelo as cocktail waitress Lurleen Lumpkin.
References
External links
*
''Coal Miner's Daughter'' at AllMovie
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Coal Miner's Daughter
1980 films
1980 drama films
1980s American films
1980s biographical drama films
1980s English-language films
1980s musical drama films
American biographical drama films
American musical drama films
Best Musical or Comedy Picture Golden Globe winners
Biographical films about musicians
Biographical films about singers
Country music films
Cultural depictions of American people
Cultural depictions of Patsy Cline
Cultural depictions of country musicians
Films about father–daughter relationships
Films about alcoholism
Films based on biographies
Films directed by Michael Apted
Films featuring a Best Actress Academy Award–winning performance
Films featuring a Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe winning performance
Films set in Kentucky
Films set in mining communities
Films shot in Kentucky
Films shot in Virginia
Loretta Lynn
United States National Film Registry films
Universal Pictures films
English-language biographical drama films
English-language musical drama films
1980 musical films