Coal Miner's Daughter (1980)
- Starring:
- Sissy Spacek, Tommy Lee Jones, (more)
- Director(s):
- Michael Apted
- Theatrical MPAA Rating:
- PG
- Category:
- Drama
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Loretta Lynn was one of the first female superstars in country music and remains a defining presence within the genre; with her strong, clear, hard-country voice and tough, no-nonsense songs about husbands who cheat and wives who weren't about to be pushed around, Lynn introduced a feminist mindset to Nashville years before the phrase "women's liberation" became common currency. Coal Miner's Daughter is a screen adaptation of Lynn's autobiography, starring Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn. One of eight children born to Ted Webb (Levon Helm), a coal miner raising a family despite grinding poverty in Butcher's Holler, KY, Loretta married Dolittle "Mooney" Lynn (Tommy Lee Jones) when she was only 13 years old. A mother of four by the time she was 20, Lynn began singing the occasional song at local honky-tonks on weekends, and at 25, she cut (at Mooney's suggestion) a demo tape that earned her a deal with an independent record label. Loretta and Mooney's tireless promotion of the record (including a long road trip through the south in which they stopped at every country radio station they could find) paid off -- Loretta's first single, "Honky Tonk Girl," hit the charts and earned her a spot on the Grand Ole Opry. Stardom called and Loretta never looked back, but success brought with it both joy (a long string of hit records and sold-out concerts and a close friendship with Patsy Cline) and sorrow (a nervous breakdown brought on by overwork and a great deal of stress to a marriage that endured -- but just barely). Sissy Spacek won an Academy award for her vivid, thoroughly natural performance as Loretta (she also did her own singing), and Levon Helm (drummer for the legendary rock group the Band) made an impressive screen debut as her father. Ernest Tubb makes a cameo appearance as himself. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Theatrical Feature Running Time:
- 125 mins
Complete Cast:
- Sissy Spacek - Loretta Lynn
- Beverly D'Angelo - Patsy Cline
- Phyllis Boyens - Clara Webb
- Robert Elkins - Bobby Day
- Bill Anderson, Jr. - Webb Children
- Malla McCown - Webb Child
- Kevin Salvilla - Webb Child
- Brian Warf - Loretta & Mooney's Child
- David Barry Gray - Doc Turner
- Jim Webb - Bus Driver
- Frank Mitchell - Washington Neighbor
- William Sanderson - Lee Dollarhide
- David Thornhill - The Coal Miner's Band
- Michael Baish - Storekeeper
- Charles Kahlenberg - Business Manager
- Pat Patterson - Loretta's Children
- Tommy Lee Jones - Doolittle "Mooney" Lynn
- Levon Helm - Ted Webb
- Ernest Tubb - Himself
- Bob Hannah - Charlie Dick
- Foster Dickerson - Webb Child
- Pamela McCown - Webb Child
- Sissy Lucas - Loretta and Mooney's Child
- Elizabeth Watson - Loretta and Mooney's Child
- Susan Kingsley - Girl at Fairgrounds
- Doug Bledsoe - Cowboy at Grange Hall
- Gary Parker - Radio Station Manager
- Billy West - The Patsy Cline Band
- Merle Kilgore - Cowboy at Tootsie's
- Royce Clark - Hugh Cherry
- Billy Strange - Speedy West
- Director(s):
- Michael Apted
- Writer(s):
- Tom Rickman
- Producer(s):
- Bernard Schwartz
- Theatrical MPAA Rating:
- PG(Adult Situations, Suitable for Children)
- Categories:
- Drama
- Closed Captioning:
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- Subtitles:
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- 1980 - Coal Miner's Daughter - Golden Globe - Best Picture - Musical or Comedy
- 1980 - Coal Miner's Daughter - Hollywood Foreign Press Association - Best Picture - Musical or Comedy
- 1980 - Coal Miner's Daughter - Hollywood Foreign Press Association - Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
- 1980 - Coal Miner's Daughter - Los Angeles Film Critics Association - Best Actress
- 1980 - Coal Miner's Daughter - National Board of Review - Best Actress
- 1980 - Coal Miner's Daughter - National Society of Film Critics - Best Actress
- 1980 - Coal Miner's Daughter - New York Film Critics Circle - Best Actress
