Ten Best Country Music Movies

One sheet movie poster: Jessica Lange as Patsy Cline in Sweet Dreams (1985) – Heritage Auction Galleries

Country music has been featured in a number of Hollywood movies. Here are ten country music films that no fan should ever miss. “I was country, when country wasn’t cool…” – Barbara Mandrell.

Coal Miner’s Daughter (Universal, 1980)

Sissy Spacek won a Best Actress Oscar playing Loretta Lynn, the vaunted “Queen of Country Music,” in this riveting film biography. Tommy Lee Jones plays Loretta’s hell-raising coal miner husband Oliver “Mooney” Lynn, with Levon Helm (Ted Webb), Phyllis Boyens (“Clary” Webb) and Beverly D’Angelo (Patsy Cline) in stellar support. It’s a tour de force performance by Spacek, who along with D’Angelo, do their own singing. Movie fans will love this rags-to-riches story, with plenty of classic Loretta Lynn tunes dotting the Kentucky (and beyond) landscape.

Director: Michael Apted

Review: “The movie isn’t great art, but it has been made with great taste and style; it’s more intelligent and observant than movie biographies of singing stars used to be. That makes it a treasure to watch, even if we sometimes have the feeling we’ve seen it before.” – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times (1980)

On DVD: Coal Miner’s Daughter – 25th Anniversary Edition (Universal, 2005)

Sweet Dreams (TriStar, 1985)

Jessica Lange excels as the doomed country music siren Patsy Cline (1932-1963), who lost her life in a private plane crash in Tennessee while returning home from a benefit concert. Ed Harris appears as country ladykiller Charley Dick, with Ann Wedgeworth (Hilda Hensley), David Clennon (Randy Hughes) and James Staley (Gerald Cline) also in the cast. Originally titled I Fall to Pieces, Sweet Dreams is loaded with Patsy Cline classics, including “Walkin’ After Midnight,” “Crazy,” “She’s Got You” and of course “Sweet Dreams.”

Director: Karel Reisz

Review: “The real Miss Cline, who died in a plane crash at the age of 30 in 1963, plays a more significant role in ‘Sweet Dreams’ than the subjects of biographical films ordinarily do. Her thrilling voice is heard frequently throughout the film, with Miss Lange expertly lip-synching her way through performance sequences of songs like ‘I Fall to Pieces,’ ‘Crazy,’ ‘Blue Moon of Kentucky’ and ‘Walking After Midnight.’ What elevates these scenes from the usual concert simulations – and what gives the entire film its tremendous immediacy – is the extraordinary way in which Miss Lange has molded herself to fit the music.” Janet Maslin, The New York Times (10/2/85)

On DVD: Sweet Dreams (HBO, 1999)

Nashville (Paramount, 1975)

Music City gets the Hollywood treatment in this black comedy featuring the lives, loves and fears of people involved in the country music/gospel business. Set against the backdrop of a political rally for a populist presidential candidate, Nashville features David Arkin, Barbara Baxley, Ned Beatty, Karen Black, Ronee Blakley, Timothy Brown, Keith Carradine, Geraldine Chaplin, Lily Tomlin, Henry Gibson and Shelley Duvall. Filmed on location in Music City U.S.A., Nashville was a huge hit with the critics and earned five Academy Award nominations. Taking home the movie’s lone Oscar was Keith Carradine for Best Original Song (“I’m Easy”).

Director: Robert Altman

Review: “This is a film about America. It deals with our myths, our hungers, our ambitions, and our sense of self. It knows how we talk and how we behave, and it doesn’t flatter us but it does love us.” – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times (1975)

On DVD: Nashville (Paramount, 2000)

Your Cheatin’ Heart (MGM, 1964)

George Hamilton plays Hank Williams Sr. (1923-1953), the legendary country music singer-songwriter, with Susan Oliver (Audrey Williams), Red Buttons (Shorty Younger), Arthur O’Connell (Fred Rose), Shary Marshall (Ann Younger) and Rex Ingram (Teetot) also along for the Hollywood hayride. Your Cheatin’ Heart chronicles the life of Williams, from his humble beginnings in Alabama to his meteoric rise as the “Hillbilly Shakespeare.” None other than Elvis Presley was considered for the title role, but Hank’s widow Audrey vetoed that idea, believing that Elvis would become the center of attention. A teenage Hank Williams Jr. provided the singing voice for his late father, rustling up such Williams classics as “Hey Good Lookin’,” “Cold Cold Heart,” “I Saw the Light” and of course “Your Cheatin’ Heart.”

Director: Gene Nelson

Review: “There have been bigger, better and more expensive screen biographies of musicians, but few more honest and disarming recently than this unpretentious little drama about the hillbilly singer, the late Hank Williams, as portrayed by George Hamilton.” – Howard Thompson, The New York Times (5/20/65)

On DVD: Not commercially available

Tender Mercies (Universal, 1983)

Robert Duvall plays Mac Sledge, a hard-drinking, has-been country music singer-songwriter who begins a romance with young Texas widow Rosa Lee (Tess Harper). Mac vows to beat the bottle, later reconnecting with his embittered ex-wife (Betty Buckley) and his estranged 18-year-old daughter (Ellen Barkin). Filmed on location in Texas, Tender Mercies features Robert Duvall performing his own songs, something the actor insisted on prior to inking a movie contract. Tender Mercies earned five Academy Award nominations, with Duvall winning for Best Actor and Horton Foote for Best Screenplay.

Director: Bruce Beresford

Review: “Duvall’s aging face, a road map of dead ends and dry gulches, can accommodate rage or innocence or any ironic shade in between. As Mac he avoids both melodrama and condescension, finding climaxes in each small step toward rehabilitation, each new responsibility shouldered. With a lot of help from his friends, Duvall makes Tender Mercies the best American movie of the new year.” – Richard Corliss, Time (3/28/83)

On DVD: Tender Mercies (Lions Gate, 2009)

Crazy Heart (Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2009)

Jeff Bridges stars as Bad Blake, a country singer with a lot of mileage on the old Nashville odometer. Bad meets young journalist Jean Craddock (Maggie Gyllehnaal), who helps the aging country crooner overcome his addictions and find salvation. “The harder the life, the sweeter the song,” reads the movie’s tagline. Both Jeff Bridges and Colin Farrell as Tommy Sweet performed their own singing, with an actual Toby Keith concert in Albuquerque serving as the backdrop in one scene. Crazy Heart earned three Oscar nominations, with Jeff Bridges winning for Best Actor and Ryan Bingham and T-Bone Burnett for Best Song (“The Weary Kind”). “It’s good to be here, at my age it’s good to be anywhere,” the rundown Bad greets his audience at a bowling alley bar called The Spare Room.

Director: Scott Cooper

Review: “There’s a powerful symmetry at work in “Crazy Heart” that’s impossible to resist. It’s a parallel between protagonist Bad Blake, a country singer whose entire life has led him to a nadir of disintegration, and star Jeff Bridges, whose exceptional film choices have put him at the height of his powers just in time to make Mr. Blake the capstone role of his career.” – Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times (12/16/09)

On DVD: Crazy Heart (20th Century-Fox, 2010)

Living Proof: The Hank Williams, Jr. Story (NBC-TV, 1983)

Richard Thomas plays Hank Williams Jr., the son of the legendary country music star who tries to find his own way in Nashville. Competing with the ghost of his famous father and the machinations of an overbearing mother, Hank Jr.’s road is a rocky one, punctuated by a 1975 mountain climbing accident that nearly took his life, a suicide attempt and rampant drug and alcohol abuse. Hank Jr.’s manager Merle Kilgore plays himself, with Lenora May, Liane Langland, Ann Gillespie and Clu Gulager also in the cast. Hank Jr. wasn’t too happy when told that Richard Thomas – John-Boy on TV’s The Waltons (1972-81) – would play him on the small screen, but later warmed to the idea.

Director: Dick Lowry

Review: “Living Proof: The Hank Williams Jr. Story also features Williams’ long-time manager and friend Merle Kilgore as himself; country star Naomi Judd also makes a cameo appearance as one of Hank’s many one-night romances on the road, and a 14-year-old Christian Slater plays Hank’s son.” – Mark Deming, All Movie Guide (2010)

On DVD: Not commercially available

Payday (Cinerama, 1973)

Rip Torn stars as Maury Dann, a ruthless, predatory country singer whose manipulative behavior threatens everyone around him. Ahna Capri, Elayne Heilveil, Michael C. Gwynne and Jeff Morris also appear. Filmed in Selma, Alabama, Payday ably captures the wild road life (drugs, sex, booze, groupies) of an outlaw country musician in the 1970s. For some reason – improper marketing has been cited by some – Payday never attained the kind of recognition it deserves. Rip Torn performs his own singing in the film, a precursor to both Robert Duvall in Tender Mercies (1983) and Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart (2009). Among the songs featured are “She’s Only a Country Girl,” “Road to Nashville,” “Baby Here’s a Dime” and “Payday.”

Director: Daryl Duke

Review: “The pursuit of that ultimate all-American pop-culture artifact, the road movie, continues. And it is not likely to be delayed for long by the emergence of Payday, an account of two nights and a day in the life of one Maury Dann, a country-and-Western singer journeying not too successfully up from Alabama to Nashville…Rip Torn seals off the character of Maury Dann—a compound of meanness, gentleness, opportunism, enthusiasm, and desperation—as if covering an inner complexity that he never quite persuades us he possesses.” – Roger Greenspun, The New York Times (2/23/73)

On DVD: Payday (Warner, 2008)

Walk the Line (20th Century-Fox, 2005)

Joaquin Phoenix delivers a bravura performance as Johnny Cash (1932-2003) in this million biopic of the legendary singer-songwriter. Walk the Line charts Cash’s rise to country music fame, from his humble beginnings in Arkansas to his famous 1968 concert at Folsom Prison. Also featured is Cash’s personal life, his courtship of June Carter (Reese Witherspoon), his tense relationship with his father Ray Cash (Robert Patrick) and his struggle with alcohol and drugs. Both Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon performed their own songs, with T-Bone Burnett providing the six-month vocal training sessions. Walk the Line garnered five Academy Award nominations, with Reese Witherspoon earning the film’s lone Oscar for Best Actress.

Director: James Mangold

Review: “When Joaquin Phoenix opens his mouth to sing for the first time in ‘Walk the Line,’ director James Mangold’s film about the first half of Johnny Cash’s life, it’s as disappointing as seeing a brunette cast as Marilyn Monroe. Phoenix has neither Cash’s voice nor a compelling one of his own. He’s not as tall as Cash; his face isn’t worn, and he doesn’t have that look in his eyes. We all know the one: sad and wise but unpredictable, part Abe Lincoln and part honky-tonk wild man. There was only one Johnny Cash. That’s all we’re ever going to get.” – Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle (11/18/05)

On DVD: Walk the Line (20th Century-Fox, 2007)

Grand Ole Opry (Republic, 1940)

The corny plot is pure pre-Farm Aid/Hee Haw, with small-town Ozarks mayor Abner Weaver (Leon Weaver) using performers from WSM’s Grand Ole Opry to help out the local yokels by running for governor, turning the tables on the crooked politicos and passing needed farm legislation. The real attraction in this movie is the music, performed by such Opry stars as the Weaver Brothers and Elviry, Uncle Dave Macon and Roy Acuff and his Smoky Mountain Boys. Look for George D. Hay, “The Solemn Old Judge,” of Grand Ole Opry fame.

Director: Frank McDonald

Review: “Though they may seem as corny as Kansas in August when seen today, the Weaver Brothers and Elviry was one of the most popular music-and-comedy aggregations on the Country-Western circuit in the early 1940s…Like most of the Weavers’ Republic movie vehicles, Grand Ole Opry benefits from a stellar supporting cast, including Henry Kolker as the crooked publisher who sets the plot in motion and Claire Carleton as a brassy femme fatale. And per the film’s title, Grand Ole Opry is chock full of talent gleaned from the same-named WSM radio series…” – Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide (2010)

On DVD: Not commercially available

Video Rating: 4 / 5

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