#783) Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980)

#783) Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980)

OR “Walk the Lynn”

Directed by Michael Apted

Written by Tom Rickman. Based on the memoir by Loretta Lynn with George Vecsey

Class of 2019

The Plot: Sissy Spacek IS Loretta Lynn: singer, songwriter, and the First Lady of Country Music. In 1948, a young Loretta Webb lives in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky with her family. One day she meets Oliver “Doolittle” Lynn (Tommy Lee Jones), and their whirlwind romance leads to them getting married one month later. Although their marriage is tumultuous from the start, Doolittle encourages Loretta’s singing talents, having her perform at local honky-tonks and recording a demo for radio stations. By 1960, her first single “I’m a Honky Tonk Girl” is a hit, earning Loretta a spot on the Grand Ole Opry radio program, and a tour with country music legend Patsy Cline (Beverly D’Angelo). But all this fame takes it toll on Loretta’s well-being (and her marriage) in this intelligent, straightforward biopic.

Why It Matters: The NFR salutes the film for “help[ing] set the standard for every musical biography that has followed it” and praises Spacek’s “deeply heartfelt and true-to-life performance”.

But Does It Really?: I’m not a fan of country music or musical biopics, but I must admit to enjoying “Coal Miner’s Daughter”. A lot of that is the lead performances of Spacek and Jones, but it’s also because of the very wise decisions made by this movie’s direction and screenplay. “Coal Miner’s Daughter” feels more like a real movie than a musical biopic, largely avoiding the cliches and story beats of many similar movies in the last 45 years, focusing on our two leads and treating them like the real people they are. While “Coal Miner’s Daughter” isn’t the first movie people think of when it comes to iconic biopics, it still works as an engaging retelling of Loretta Lynn’s story, and its NFR inclusion is surprising but welcome.

Everybody Gets One: Born in Buckinghamshire, England, Michael Apted got his start as a researcher at Granada Television. One of his first assignments was assisting director Paul Almond with his documentary “Seven Up!” which chronicled 14 seven-year-olds in their daily lives, and spawned several follow-up films directed by Apted. In addition to documentaries, Apted began directing feature films, and the success of 1979’s “Agatha” got him hired to direct “Coal Miner’s Daughter” following the departure of original director Joseph Sargent (more on this later). Both Loretta Lynn and Sissy Spacek praised Apted for his commitment to portraying Southern culture authentically, devoid of any prejudice towards “hillbillies” an American director might have included.

Title Track: In addition to being the name of the movie and the memoir it’s based on, “Coal Miner’s Daughter” is a song written by Loretta Lynn that appeared on her 1971 album of the same name. The song appears in the movie, but you have to wait for it.

Seriously, Oscars?: A hit upon release, “Coal Miner’s Daughter” received seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. While the film lost in most categories to “Ordinary People” and “Raging Bull”, it won the category that mattered most: Best Actress for Sissy Spacek, which she accepted with a beaming Loretta Lynn in attendance. Spacek also received a Grammy nomination for her performance in the film’s soundtrack album, losing to Anne Murray for “Could I Have This Dance”.

Other notes

Loretta Lynn selected Sissy Spacek to play her after seeing her photo, knowing nothing about her films or acting abilities. Spacek was torn between making this film or the psychological drama “Bad Timing” with Nicolas Roeg, and while she was deliberating, “Coal Miner’s Daughter” started playing in her car radio, which she took as a sign. Original director Joseph Sargent disagreed with Lynn’s choice of Spacek (he wanted Cristina Raines), which led to his dismissal (or resignation, sources vary) and being replaced by Michael Apted.
“Coal Miner’s Daughter” was filmed in several locations across Kentucky and Virginia, making this one of the more Appalachian-y movies on the NFR, and that’s saying something. Local residents were cast in bit parts, especially during the opening scenes set in Butcher Hollow, making it seem like Loretta grew up in a town of Boomhauers.
Loretta’s parents are played by two non-actors with previous NFR documentary appearances. Phyllis Boyens can be heard singing with her father in “Harlan County U.S.A.”, and Levon Helm was the drummer for The Band, featured prominently in “The Last Waltz”.
The thing I most appreciate about this film is its aversion to musical biopic cliches. If you didn’t know anything about Loretta Lynn going in, you would safely assume this movie was solely about Loretta and Doolittle’s relationship, with the country singer plotline coming seemingly out of nowhere. It’s a tribute to this film’s clever storytelling skills: there’s no mythologizing or unsubtle foreshadowing, and everything is treated with authenticity.
I never realized Tommy Lee Jones was ever young. At this point in his career, 33-year-old Jones had a few co-lead roles in “Eyes of Laura Mars” and a couple TV movies, but “Coal Miner’s Daughter” was his breakout performance. Joe Don Baker and Harrison Ford were both early contenders to play Doolittle, but Jones is the right choice. If nothing else, you can tell he’s hungry for the kind of substantial role Dolittle provides him. My only complaint is that Dolittle dominates most of the film’s first half, making Loretta/Sissy seem like a supporting character in her own movie.
It is pointed out several times in this movie that Loretta was 13 when she met and married Doolittle. Lynn states this in her memoir, and this was accepted as fact until 2012 when Loretta Lynn’s birth certificate was unearthed, revealing that she actually got married at age 16 (the legal marrying age in Kentucky at the time). Lynn never commented on this embellishment in her lifetime, but I do wonder why she felt she needed the child bride aspect in her self-mythologizing. It certainly makes for an uncomfortable movie-watching experience.
I know it’s true to life, but Doolittle turns into a major asshole once he and Loretta get married. The wedding night scene in the motel is especially unpleasant. Though given how charming he was in his first few scenes I really should have seen this coming. Why doesn’t Loretta use her telepathic powers and set him on fire or something?
One surprising fact I learned in my research is that one of Loretta Lynn’s younger sisters is Crystal Gayle, who grew up to become a famous country singer in her own right. Gayle wasn’t born until after Loretta got married and left the house, so her absence here is understandable. In a lesser movie Crystal would have made an appearance with at least one passing reference to her hair. Coincidentally, when Spacek was nominated for Best Female Country Vocal Performance at the Grammys for “Coal Miner’s Daughter”, Gayle was one of her fellow nominees.
Several real-life country singers appear as themselves when Loretta makes her debut at the Grand Ole Opry. The most notable of these is Ernest Tubb, singing his hit “Walking the Floor Over You”, introducing Loretta on the show, and dressing more or less like Cal Worthington. Also on hand is Minnie Pearl, singer and “Hee Haw” regular, wearing her trademark straw hat complete with price tag. How-dee!

The movie picks up steam when Beverly D’Angelo shows up as Patsy Cline. As presented here, Patsy is Loretta’s fairy godmother, helping her gain more confidence and take more control of her career and image. D’Angelo is giving a very self-assured, fun performance, and she could have easily gotten a Supporting Actress Oscar nod if Patsy had stuck around longer. Spoiler: How many more NFR movies do I have to watch in which a real-life figure dies in a plane crash?

The film’s second half follows the “What goes up must come down” law of musical biopics, but again it’s all done subtly enough that you don’t mind. Loretta’s Valium addiction is touched upon, and the jury’s still out over whether or not she had a nervous breakdown during one of her concerts as depicted here. This may be the only time I wish people had their phones out during a concert.

It takes almost two hours, but we finally get the title song! Holding off until the end for “Coal Miner’s Daughter” is a smart choice, with the lyrics receiving extra emotional weight after we experience Loretta’s highs and lows alongside her. That being said, these are some of the slantiest slant rhymes I’ve ever heard, with Loretta rhyming “daughter” with “holler” and “yard” with “tired”. If you keep stretching like that you’re going to hurt something.
Another thing I appreciated about this movie: no epilogue text telling you what happened to everyone. If you want to learn about Loretta Lynn following the events of this movie, look it up yourself. Or just read the “Legacy” section below.
During the end credits, we get the interesting note “All songs sung by Sissy Spacek & Beverly D’Angelo”. Both actresses were singers before their acting careers, and more than up to the challenges of this film, with Spacek spending time with Loretta Lynn to study her cadence and guitar playing skills. The rest of the end credits play over a semi-hasty medley of Spacek’s songs from the movie. It plays almost like a victory lap now that you know she did her own singing.

Legacy

“Coal Miner’s Daughter” was released in March 1980, and would go on to be one of the highest grossing films of the year. The film spawned a number of country-themed films (some also starring Sissy Spacek), and got the ball rolling on the modern musical biopic.
Michael Apted’s subsequent filmography includes “Gorillas in the Mist”, “Nell”, “The World Is Not Enough”, and eight installments in the “Up” series. Apted died in 2021, shortly after completing “63 Up”, though it has been confirmed that the series will continue with “70 Up” in 2026.

“Coal Miner’s” producer Bernard Schwartz followed up with “Sweet Dreams”, a 1985 Patsy Cline biopic starring Jessica Lange. Although Lange received an Oscar nomination for her performance, she was criticized for lip-synching to Cline’s original recordings rather than doing her own singing. Adding insult to injury: Loretta Lynn does not appear as a character in “Sweet Dreams”. Ouch.

In the years following “Coal Miner’s Daughter”, Loretta Lynn continued recording albums and receiving every lifetime achievement award a country singer can get. She also wrote her second autobiography, 2002’s “Still Woman Enough”, which sadly was never turned into a sequel to this film. Despite the marital difficulties depicted in the film, Loretta and Dolittle stayed together until his death in 1996. Loretta Lynn died in 2022 at age 90, a year and a half after the release of her 46th and final album.

Listen to This: Both Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline were inducted into the National Recording Registry within its first decade: Cline’s “Crazy” in 2003, and Lynn’s “Coal Miner’s Daughter” in 2009. NRR stalwart Cary O’Dell wrote an essay on “Coal Miner’s Daughter”, while special guest essayist Douglas Gomery penned this one about “Crazy”.