by Julian Spivey

Jamie Foxx won an Academy Award for his unbelievable turn as Ray Charles in Taylor Hackford’s 2004 film “Ray.” Joaquin Phoenix basically transformed himself into the “Man in Black” Johnny Cash for James Mangold’s “Walk the Line” in 2005. However, over 20 years before Foxx and Phoenix received Oscar nominations for their roles in their respective bio-pics there was Sissy Spacek who for two hours and five minutes in Michael Apted’s 1980 film “Coal Miner Daughter” is country music legend Loretta Lynn.

Not only does Spacek channel Lynn perfectly for the film, but she also puts forth one of the greatest performances by an actress in cinema history. This is why the Academy Awards honored her with the best actress award for her performance. Lynn must have seen something in Spacek as she handpicked the young actress herself to portray her in the film.

The film was written by Tom Rickman and is based on Lynn’s autobiography of the same name that was co-written by George Vecsey. Lynn lived through a hard childhood in the small town of Butcher Hollow, Ky. Her father was a coal miner and farmer who worked his backside off to help feed a large family of 10. Lynn’s father, Ted, was played by Levon Helm in the film. Helm had spent most of career as a member of the rock ‘n’ roll hall of fame band The Band. It is said that the real Lynn fainted upon seeing Helm in makeup as her father; apparently the resemblance was uncanny.

Lynn was married by the time she was 13 to a moonshine runner named “Doolittle” Lynn. The two would remain married for over 50 years despite a rocky relationship that was often borderline abusive. The film show’s Lynn dealing with the abuse put on her by her husband, played by Tommy Lee Jones, on her way up through the ranks of her country music stardom. “Coal Miner’s Daughter” was one of Jones’ first leading roles in film. Spacek had horrified film audiences four years earlier in Brian De Palma’s 1976 horror classic “Carrie.”

The film does a good job at portraying the great friendship between Lynn and another country music songstress Patsy Cline, played by Beverly D’Angelo. D’Angelo and Spacek did all of their own singing in their respective roles. One of the saddest scenes in the film is when Lynn hears the news on the radio that Cline has died in a tragic plane crash. Cline was killed in 1963 when her plane went down. She was only 30-years-old.

“Coal Miner’s Daughter” is a basic story, most bio-pics are. Bio-pics are really hit and miss with audiences as they might not be interesting to audiences who don’t really care or know about the subject of the film. I didn’t know much about Lynn before this film. After seeing Spacek’s life-like performance the first thing that I did was purchase a Loretta Lynn album. Now I consider Lynn the greatest female country singer to ever grace the Grand Ole Opry stage. Film fanatics should give this film a chance, even if they aren’t interested in the topic. “Coal Miner’s Daughter” might change your mind.