COAL MINER'S DAUGHTER (1980) C widescreen 125m dir: Michael Apted

w/Sissy Spacek, Tommy Lee Jones, Beverly D'Angelo, Levon Helm, Phyllis Boyens, Bill Anderson Jr., Foister Dickerson, Malla McCown, Pamela McCown, Kevin Salvilla, William Sanderson, Ernest Tubb

From Variety 's review of the film: "Coal Miner's Daughter is 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.' Thanks in large part to superb performances by Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones, film [based on Lynn's autobiography, with George Vescey] mostly avoids the sudsy atmosphere common to many showbiz tales.

"There is seldom a slow moment in the picture.... Both Spacek and D'Angelo deserve a special nod for doing all of their own singing with style and accuracy."

From The Movie Guide: "The rare expert film bio. COAL MINER'S DAUGHTER features an Oscar-winning performance by Sissy Spacek as country music queen Loretta Lynn. Masterfully directed by Michael Apted, the film traces the famed country singer's life from her beginnings in a tumbledown shack in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky, through her huge success, marital discord, and battle with prescription drugs. The film's early sequences are lyrical, melancholy accounts of mountain life and comprise the film's most poignant, memorable moments. There are outstanding acting jobs by Levon Helm and Phyllis Boyens as Lynn's parents, Tommy Lee Jones as her well-meaning, ne'er-do-well husband, and Beverly D'Angelo in a dazzling turn as the magnificent Patsy Cline. Spacek and D'Angelo do their own warbling quite expertly; after this, it's hard to get worked up over Jessica Lange's lukewarm, lipsynched take on Cline in SWEET DREAMS."

In addition to Spacek's Best Actress Oscar, the film was also nominated for Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay (Tom Rickman), Cinematography (Ralf D. Bode), Editing (Arthur Schmidt), Art Direction (John W. Corso, John M. Dwyer), and Sound (Richard Portman, Roger Heman, Jim Alexander).