Various Artists - Coal Miner's Daughter
Usually when Hollywood makes a biography movie they don't set out to make a great movie.
Frequently, it's just an excuse to make a soundtrack of oldies to sell something on the
strength of the subject's name. But in the case of "Coal Miner's Daughter," they were on to something far more. In this case, the soundtrack is a bonus to a truly superior movie, rather than just residuals.
In most cases, when a singer is portrayed in a movie, the actor doesn't sing their own songs;
the music is dubbed from original tapes, as in Your Cheatin' Heart, and Sweet Dreams. But for Coal Miner's Daughter, Sissy Spacek did her own singing, and she turned in such a credible and believable performance she was given an Academy Award for it. I'm rather surprised she also didn't earn a Grammy.
Kudos go also to Beverly D'Angelo, who played Patsy Cline so well (and sung it so
phenomenally) that I was hugely disappointed in the actress who later played Cline in the
movie Sweet Dreams. In addition to Spacek and D'Angelo, Levon Helms gives a credible
performance as Bill Monroe singing "Blue Moon of Kentucky." But a CD could have
contained all the songs Spacek did for the movie, such as "Your Squaw is on the Warpath," and Loretta Lynn's anthem, "Fist City." Still, it's a CD that waited too long to be made, and it's good to have it around now.
Reviewed by Kathy Coleman.
