Sweet Dreams
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Movie Reviews of Sweet Dreams
Movie Review: sweet dreams dvd
Summary: 5 Stars
I got a good deal for the price I would defintely buy from this person again.Movie Review: BITTERSWEET BIOPIC OF PATSY CLINE
Summary: 4 Stars
Before I saw "Sweet Dreams," I knew that Patsy Cline had a string of country-pop hits like "I Fall To Pieces" and "Crazy"; and I knew that she died in a tragic plane crash in 1963. After I saw this movie, I was hooked-- a Patsy Cline fan for life!
This movie seems rather obviously inspired by the earlier success of Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn in "Coal Miner's Daughter." In "Daughter," Beverly D'Angelo played Patsy Cline and sang her own vocals. As good as D'Angelo was, (she received an Oscar nomination) you won't miss her here. Jessica Lange gives a full-bodied performance. She is not required to sing. What actress, no matter how talented, could hope to match the incomparable emotion and sound of Patsy Cline's singing voice? Instead, Jessica Lange lip-sinc's to Patsy Cline's vocals-- to absolute perfection; in much the same manner as Tammy Blanchard and Judy Davis lip-sinced to Judy Garland's legendary vocals in the superior 2001 TV biopic "Me And My Shadows: Life With Judy Garland."
Karel Reisz's 1985 biopic is very selective about which aspects of Patsy's life are depicted. None of Patsy's friends, such as Loretta Lynn, are portrayed here. Spanning 1956-1963, the movie focuses firmly on Patsy's struggle to the top of the music charts and her tumultuous, violent marriage to Charlie Dick. Ed Harris matches Lange in intensity all the way as heavy drinking, hard partying Charlie. The film depicts Patsy and Charlie as living, loving, and fighting with a passion. Ann Wedgeworth gives a strong supporting performance as Hilda Hensley, Patsy's mother, and John Goodman (from "Roseanne" and Lange's TV version of "A Streetcar Named Desire") appears as one of Charlie's drinking buddies.
I love how Jessica Lange portrays Patsy as a spirited, vulnerable, but extremely vibrant woman who seldom takes "stuff" from anybody. Like Sissy Spacek and Beverly D'Angelo before her, Jessica Lange received a much deserved Oscar nomination; and this is my favorite of Jessica Lange's movies and performances. When Charlie first sees her, he says, "Hey, I want you to get your coat, get in my car so we can get to know each other." Patsy instantly responds, "You want a lot, don't ya. Well, people in hell want ice water. That don't mean they get it!" She describes Charlie to her mother as "some clown with hot britches." Encountering Charlie for the second time at a bar, shrewd Patsy sizes him up perfectly, saying she knows exactly what he wants in the backseat of his car.
Much later, when Charlie lamely tries to explain why their house is a drunken mess, an exhausted Patsy (she has returned home from touring on the road) replies, "Obviouly, you've got me confused with someone who gives a s##%%t."
Patsy says she wants it all, and the film takes the firm position that Patsy definitely deserved to have it all. As we watch the film, we root for Patsy to succeed in her music career, in life, and in love. Reality is, of course, much uglier than that. Patsy may have wished for a house with yellow roses, but her life was definitely not a bed of roses. The worst thing about the script (traveling down an overly-familiar show-business biopic path) is that we see, or already know well, where it is going. The film may soften people and events, but it never completely sanitizes them for audience comfort. Scenes of drunken Charlie beating Patsy up, and the plane crash that killed Patsy and three others, are harrowing to watch. However, our knowledge of the bittersweet facts of Patsy Cline's life gives the intense performances an undercurrent of heartbreaking sadness. You will never forget Patsy Cline's incredible voice or Jessica Lange's incredible performance.
Movie Review: Great Performances Make The Film Work
Summary: 4 Stars
Reality is generally more complicated than any motion picture can possibly convey--and such is the case with SWEET DREAMS, the 1985 bio-pic of singer Patsy Cline, which ran into a firestorm of criticism at the time of its release. For Patsy Cline was not a figure from the remote past. She and her life were extremely well recalled by family, friends, and co-workers, and one and all attacked the film as an extremely inaccurate portrait of her, her husband Charlie, and her life and career.To a certain extent, the validity of these complaints about the film are a matter of opinion. But it does seem likely that the script softened Cline's harder edges and over-emphasized the stormy nature of her marriage in order to cast her in the role of victim. What isn't opinion is the way the film treats her career: it didn't happen like that, and while the film presents her as a great star at the time of her death in truth she had released only a handful of widely distributed records by 1963--and while some of them were big hits, they weren't quite as big as you might think. Even the celebrated "Sweet Dreams" never made it to the top spot on any music chart, and it was not until well after her death that she received full recognition for her remarkable work.
So instead of truth, or even a good approximation of it, SWEET DREAMS gives us the legend, the folk tale of the rough-and-tumble girl with the big, emotional voice who came from no where, married an abusive husband, and leaped into stardom that was cut short by an untimely death. And as legend, the film works very well.
The weak point of the film is the script, which plays largely to a "domestic drama" aspect and tends to smooth out the characters in a "santized for your protection" sort of way. The direction and cinematography are no great shakes either, and ultimately SWEET DREAMS looks very much like a made-for-television movie. But the cast carries it off in fine style. Jessica Lang looks no more like Patsy Cline than I do, and her lip-scynchs to Cline's work is rather hit-and-miss, but she gives a truly memorable performance; Ed Harris equals her in the role of husband Charlie, and together they create a synergy that has tremendous power. The supporting cast is also quite good, with Ann Wedgeworth a standout in the role of Cline's mother Hilda.
And then there is that soundtrack. Even if you've heard all these songs a thousand times, they're still worth hearing again. Patsy Cline was truly an amazing artist. But the film does something odd with them: the bulk of the story is set during the 1950s, but there is not a 1950s-era Cline vocal to be heard in the entire film, everything is taken from her glory years at MCA between 1960 and 1963. And very often it seemed to me that the original scoring of Cline's songs had been replaced with new arrangements.
And that, ultimately, is rather typical of the film as a whole. Just a little change here, just a little inaccuracy there, and while they all seem slight individually, they add up to a fairly significant distortion collectively. The performances make it worth watching, and they bring it in at a solid four stars. But if you're expecting anything more than the glossy legend of Patsy Cline, you won't find it here.
--GFT (Amazon.com Reviewer)--
Movie Review: Sweet Dreams, not so sweet DVD
Summary: 4 Stars
Why haven't I seen or heard of this film before now? I am a big fan of Jessica Lange. Anyway, perhaps i was too young to be interested in the storyline when it was first shown in cinemas in 1985.
Sweet Dreams is the story of Patsy Cline, or should I say about her relationship with husband (Ed Harris) which dominates most of the film. Many have questioned the authenticity of the relationship displayed in the film, claiming it to be one-sided. Who knows for sure. What I can tell you is that Jessica Lange is outstanding in her role (although I did miss her blonde hair).
Jessica lip-synchs during the singing scenes, and does this quite well (except for the odd occassion).
SWEET DREAMS is a very watchable movie that is better than I expected. I thought the reason I hadn't heard of it before was because it might have been a bad film.
DVD SUMMARY: My summary of the DVD is based on the Australian release. While it should gets 5 stars for its anamorphic widescreen transfer, the transfer is not sharp, often quite bland. However, near the end of the film the transfer starts to get sharper. No extras at all on the DVD, not even a trailer. Also noted is that the chapter selection does not work. Aside from these issues, the DVD is worth owning or seeing for Jessica Lange's fine performance alone.
Movie Review: Clang
Summary: 4 Stars
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.