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Coal Miner's Daughter

Play trailer Poster for Coal Miner's Daughter PG Released Mar 7, 1980 2h 5m Biography Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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85% Tomatometer 62 Reviews 86% Popcornmeter 25,000+ Ratings
Raised in rural Kentucky poverty and married at the age of 13, Loretta Lynn (Sissy Spacek) begins writing and singing her own country songs in her early 20s. With the tireless help of her husband Oliver "Mooney" Lynn (Tommy Lee Jones), Loretta rises from local honky-tonks and small-time record deals to national tours and hit singles, befriending her idol Patsy Cline (Beverly D'Angelo) and becoming a country music icon despite the toll stardom takes on her family and her marriage.
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Coal Miner's Daughter

Coal Miner's Daughter

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Critics Consensus

Like a classic traditional country song, Coal Miner's Daughter draws on time-tested formula -- and undeniable talent -- to tell a solidly affecting story.

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Critics Reviews

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Gene Siskel Chicago Tribune We don't so much root for Spacek as sit back and watch her tell us what happened. She's as much in control of this film as is her director. Apr 7, 2022 Full Review Kathleen Carroll New York Daily News Fortunately, Spacek and Jones are able to make up for the superficiality of the script. Spacek, who does all her own singing in a clear voice that is, at times, more affecting than that of Lynn herself, does one of her magical character transformations. Rated: 3.5/4 Apr 7, 2022 Full Review Lynn Van Matre Chicago Tribune The first part of the film is by far the most moving, and is almost continually captivating in terms of scenarios and backwoods settings. Rated: 3/4 Apr 7, 2022 Full Review James Berardinelli ReelViews Coal Miner’s Daughter sugarcoats nothing, proffering a warts-and-all behind-the-scenes look at a union that was romanticized by the media. Rated: 3/4 May 11, 2023 Full Review Eve Tushnet Patheos Unfortunately the back half of the film is rushed and overstuffed. Oct 21, 2022 Full Review Leslie Kossoff Gay Community News (Boston) A true original. Sep 14, 2022 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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KB B This was such an enjoyable film with great acting and storyline. Sissy Spacek was exceptional partly because she did her own singing and guitar playing. It's definitely worth the watch. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 06/14/24 Full Review Kensi B This was one of my favorite movies as a kid. I recently rewatched it and it still holds up very well. Spacek's performance is amazing, so is Tommy Lee Jones' and Beverly D'Angelo's and Levon Helm's- but as an adult I can now also see how there isn't much complexity here. Jones' character is a "wild boy" but essentially harmless (he smacks the teenage Loretta once and basically r@pes her on their wedding night, but after that calms down and becomes a house-husband) not like the violent, chronically cheating alcoholic that Loretta says he was in real life. Of course, real life is always darker and more complex, and probably most people wouldn't want to watch an abusing alcoholic on the screen for 2 hours. And while D'Angelo received raves for her performance, she's definitely no Patsy Cline in the vocal department. So I hack off one star but all in all definitely worth another viewing. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 06/08/24 Full Review Alec B An above average biopic aided by the performances and the honest realism of the first half of the movie. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/22/24 Full Review Jeff M The biopic of Loretta Lynn comes so close to dipping its feet in the sea of greatness so many times that it's easy to not only forgive its faults but even forget they exist. In spite of a barrage of musical biographies that have come and gone over the last few decades, this still feels like one of the granddaddies of the genre and it uniformly transcends what have become cliches. Spacek is a wonder of an actress, and she is faultless and transcendent here. In virtually any other year, I would have agreed with her Best Actress win, but I still think Mary Tyler Moore in ORDINARY PEOPLE is an all-time great performance that deserved the award that year. But I don't begrudge her win in the slightest. I personally would have also nominated Jones, D'Angelo and Levon Helm as her father. D'Angelo, in particular, is such a dynamic supporting performance - had she a couple more scenes, I think she could have swept the awards season. Unfortunately, I think the film loses a lot of steam at the end. It addresses Lynn's substance abuse and breakdown but doesn't fully confront her battle, and it almost becomes an afterthought before the requisite happy ending as she belts the titular song. That being said, there is SO much good here and SO much goodwill and respect for its subject that one leaves the movie on a definite high. It was really, really close to an all-time great, but I can't in good conscience penalize it for what it could have been. Instead I choose to celebrate it for what it is. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/22/24 Full Review Bob P Fabulous performance by Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn. She deserved all the awards she got. Great script and well acted. Loved this movie. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 04/14/23 Full Review Audience Member a young Tommy Lee Jones and a young Sissy Spacek based on the real-life story of Loretta Lynn from Kentucky who married very young, had kids, almost had no one genuinely care for her it wasn't until one day when she was handed a guitar she began to discover the talent of music from then on she became a singing sensation this is one of Michael Apted's better films focusing on a woman's journey from poverty to fame and success the pacing is brisk, the two leads are fantastic, and I really like a lot of the tunes Sissy Spacek has quite the vocalization of course there's always rough patches during this whole adventure; Dolittle starts to feel secondary and Loretta still feels she has to earn his trust and her independence she even encounters Patsy Klein played by a young Beverly D' Angelo another country artist taking the charts by storm, they make a remarkable team but Dolittle may not like the influence she's making on Loretta getting there is one thing, being there is another, for the spouse is their job done once they've gained all the notoriety and made it to the top?, we're told to run our own lives yet at times our lives may be running us this is another one of those films showing how much being famous can be so overwhelming and how fast it moves at us from every direction this is Sissy Spacek's movie playing one of the finest country artists around and Michael Apted directs with such precision Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/07/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Coal Miner's Daughter

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Cast & Crew

Coal Miner's Daughter

Coal Miner's Daughter: Official Clip - I'm a Honky Tonk Girl... and a Bar Fight Coal Miner's Daughter: Official Clip - I'm a Honky Tonk Girl... and a Bar Fight 2:58 Coal Miner's Daughter: Official Clip - Loretta Lynne Records Honky Tonk Girl Coal Miner's Daughter: Official Clip - Loretta Lynne Records Honky Tonk Girl 2:36 Coal Miner's Daughter: Official Clip - Beverly D'Angelo Sings "Sweet Dreams" Coal Miner's Daughter: Official Clip - Beverly D'Angelo Sings "Sweet Dreams" 1:22 Coal Miner's Daughter: Official Clip - Loretta Lynn Meets Patsy Cline Coal Miner's Daughter: Official Clip - Loretta Lynn Meets Patsy Cline 3:26 Coal Miner's Daughter: Official Clip - Sissy Spacek Sings "Sweet Dreams of You" Coal Miner's Daughter: Official Clip - Sissy Spacek Sings "Sweet Dreams of You" 2:54 Coal Miner's Daughter: Official Clip - Coal Miner's Daughter Coal Miner's Daughter: Official Clip - Coal Miner's Daughter 2:28 Coal Miner's Daughter: Official Clip - You Ain't Woman Enough to Take My Man Coal Miner's Daughter: Official Clip - You Ain't Woman Enough to Take My Man 3:15 Coal Miner's Daughter: Official Clip - Angry at the Radio Station Coal Miner's Daughter: Official Clip - Angry at the Radio Station 3:49 Coal Miner's Daughter: Official Clip - Loretta Lynn Faints on Stage Coal Miner's Daughter: Official Clip - Loretta Lynn Faints on Stage 3:06 Coal Miner's Daughter: Official Clip - Sissy Spacek Sings "There He Goes" Coal Miner's Daughter: Official Clip - Sissy Spacek Sings "There He Goes" 3:01 View more videos
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Movie Info

Synopsis Raised in rural Kentucky poverty and married at the age of 13, Loretta Lynn (Sissy Spacek) begins writing and singing her own country songs in her early 20s. With the tireless help of her husband Oliver "Mooney" Lynn (Tommy Lee Jones), Loretta rises from local honky-tonks and small-time record deals to national tours and hit singles, befriending her idol Patsy Cline (Beverly D'Angelo) and becoming a country music icon despite the toll stardom takes on her family and her marriage.
Director
Michael Apted
Producer
Bernard Schwartz
Screenwriter
Thomas Rickman
Distributor
Universal Pictures
Production Co
Universal/Universal Int
Rating
PG
Genre
Biography, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Mar 7, 1980, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Sep 11, 2015
Runtime
2h 5m
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