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Sweet Dreams

Sweet Dreams

List Price: $9.97
Your Price: $5.99
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Real Favorite Movie
Review: Do yourself a favor and rent or buy this movie. It has wonderful performances and good music (and I'm not even a country music fan).

The story is a love story, and Jessica Lange, as always, is brilliant. The language is salty, though, so for those of you who don't like realistic dialogue, pass this by. For every one else, though, do yourself a favor and see this movie.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: "Sweet Dreams" = Cline's life Hollywoodized
Review: Hollywood made it: embellished, out of context and sometimes very inaccurate. Ask anyone who knew Patsy Cline or read Ellis Nassour's 1993 bestseller, "Honky Tonk Angel: The Intimate Story of Patsy Cline" and you'll see a much more beloved, complex Patsy Cline than what director Karel Reisz offers here. Filmed in 1985 in Virginia and Nashville, the main focus of the film is on Cline's second marriage to the love of her life, Charlie Dick, the father of her beloved children. It begins with their meeting and takes you on a short journey of how her career mixed with their marriage. All in all, the film, based on the extensive research I've done, is probably 40% accurate and her family and friends seem all but supportive of the film's story. Instead of showing the triumphant side of Cline - the woman who fought from an early age to leave her humble beginnings and realize her dream as a singer (and would become one of the best voices of all time) - it focuses on all of the tragedy of her life. But you know, trash sells. "Sweet Dreams" wasn't the box office smash it could have been. Jessica Lange's performance was well deserving of the Academy Award nomination that she recieved (she claims that the role of Patsy Cline was her favorite ever), although NOBODY could imitate someone as gifted and complex as Patsy Cline. It's worth a watch if you're a true Patsy Cline fan, but do yourself a favor and read Ellis Nassour's book, "Honky Tonk Angel: The Intimate Story of Patsy Cline" or buy the DVD documentary "Remembering Patsy". "Sweet Dreams" only scrapes the surface of the woman she was. In Nassour's book and the DVD documentary, you'll see a side to Patsy Cline that even Hollywood could never portray. They tried. And failed.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: THE ONLY GOOD PART OF THE FILM WAS THE MUSIC
Review: I am not an expert on Patsy Cline, but I am a big fan. And from all the interviews I've heard and the books and magazine articles I read, this film was very inaccurate. I don't know anything about the personal life of Patsy and Charlie when they were at home, away from the public, but how did the scriptwriters know, either? They weren't there.

The plane crash, from what I heard, was portrayed inaccurately. I had read there was no fire at all; yet the movie showed the plane bursting into flames. This is just one thing that I noticed which didn't fit the real Patsy Cline story. I did not care for this movie at all. I am hoping that in the near future, Hollywood will decide to produce a more accurate, and better, film on the life of the great Patsy Cline.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Movie! Great Performances!!
Review: I didn't know much about Patsy kline or her music before seeing this movie, but when I first saw it about 10 years ago, I was blown away. The performances of the actors, Both Jessica Lange and Ed Harris, were incredible, and although it was a typical hollywood biography (as someone else stated in their posting)it was still a great movie. I have recently purchased the DVD after seeing it on cable the other night. I highly recommend it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Clang
Review: I just saw this and was impressed with Jessica Lange's controlled performance as Patsy Cline. Her work here is one of the best I've seen from her in a long while, but the weak supporting cast do nothing to help her out. Ed Harris is thoroughly wasted in a role that is both badly written and executed.

Jessica Lange seems to do well in biographical roles, and as Cline she is thoroughly convincing. The only sore points in the film are the climax (the scene where Lange boards a plane and plunges to her death came too quickly and got over too fast) and the fact that Lange's doesn't lip-sync very well. I couldn't believe that it was she who was singing those songs, even if it wasn't really her, of course. On the other hand, the dialogue is good and the direction is great. Certainly worth watching. I am told that Jessica Lange was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for this film in 1986. She didn't win.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Sweet? No, but Interesting to watch
Review: I never knew much about Patsy Cline before i saw this. It happened to be on HBO one rainy afternooon and I was passing through the room. A couple hours later, I am still sitting there watching. She was a pistol, that's for sure. She had issues that I'm not sure anyone fully understands even to this day. It was curious to me that her friendship with Loretta Lynn was conspicously absent from this film--esp considering it was a big part of Loretta's life story.

This is not a sweet story, but it's a compelling look at a woman with an amazing voice, ambition, drive, and a hole in her that nothing could fill.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Worth 10 Stars
Review: I was fortunate enough to obtain this video over the summer and just watched it again. Jessica Lange is perfect as Patsy Cline, Ed Harris accurately portrays her abusive husband, Charlie Dick and Ann Wentworth is sublime as Patsy's mom, Helda. Whether or not you are a fan of Patsy's music, this is an excellent film bio that keeps you interested throughout. How tragic that she was just beginning to really become a big star when she was instantly killed in a plane crash. I've a feeling had she lived, she'd still be singing and a force to be reckoned with. Highly recommended!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Patsy Would've Loved Lange
Review: I've had a copy of this movie since the late 80's and it continues to be one of my favorites, which is saying something since I own over 300 movies. I bought the 1998 edition too, as my old copy was getting rather ragged. I'll be sure to snatch up a copy of the DVD title, and be able to share over and over, the event that is this movie. Whoever stole the Oscar from Lange that year needs to hand it over. Jessica, as always, you're amazing!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Jessica Lange as Patsy Cline = Disappointment!
Review: I've owned a VHS copy of "Sweet Dreams" for about fifteen years. As a Patsy Cline fan since 1956, I was disappointed with the movie overall. Although I enjoyed Jessica Lange's performances in movies such as "Tootsie" and "How To Beat The High Cost Of Living", she just wasn't Patsy. Beverly D'Angelo played a much more convincing Patsy in "Coal Miner's Daughter". She even did her own singing. I think Beverly should have been Patsy.

Singer George Hamilton IV once toured with Patsy. He tells me that Patsy was more likely to start a fight with Charlie than vice versa. Ed Harris didn't impress me much as Charlie. Ann Wedgeworth gave the best performance in the movie as Patsy's mother.

Despite it's shortcomings, "Sweet Dreams" is a movie all Patsy Cline fans should own. I intend to purchase the DVD in the near future. It's a shame that most Country stations have turned their backs on Patsy. Without Patsy we wouldn't be hearing Faith Hill, Shania Twain or the other Country divas of today. Thankfully, I work for a radio station that hasn't forgotten Patsy. We play her hits as well as her recordings of standards like "True Love","Always" and "Someday You'll Want Me To Want You". Even the posthumous duet with Jim Reeves: "Have You Ever Been Lonely" is on our playlist. Maybe Country music has forgotten her, but not all of us have.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Jessica Lange as Patsy Cline = Disappointment!
Review: I've owned a VHS copy of "Sweet Dreams" for about fifteen years. As a Patsy Cline fan since 1956, I was disappointed with the movie overall. Although I enjoyed Jessica Lange's performances in movies such as "Tootsie" and "How To Beat The High Cost Of Living", she just wasn't Patsy. Beverly D'Angelo played a much more convincing Patsy in "Coal Miner's Daughter". She even did her own singing. I think Beverly should have been Patsy.

Singer George Hamilton IV once toured with Patsy. He tells me that Patsy was more likely to start a fight with Charlie than vice versa. Ed Harris didn't impress me much as Charlie. Ann Wedgeworth gave the best performance in the movie as Patsy's mother.

Despite it's shortcomings, "Sweet Dreams" is a movie all Patsy Cline fans should own. I intend to purchase the DVD in the near future. It's a shame that most Country stations have turned their backs on Patsy. Without Patsy we wouldn't be hearing Faith Hill, Shania Twain or the other Country divas of today. Thankfully, I work for a radio station that hasn't forgotten Patsy. We play her hits as well as her recordings of standards like "True Love","Always" and "Someday You'll Want Me To Want You". Even the posthumous duet with Jim Reeves: "Have You Ever Been Lonely" is on our playlist. Maybe Country music has forgotten her, but not all of us have.


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