Customer Reviews

Sweet Dreams

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"...instead of having sweet dreams about you." Jessica Lange stars as the unforgettable Patsy Cline in this very entertaining, rags-to-riches bio pic. The story opens in the fifties, and Patsy is singing in small-time honky tonks in Virginia. There, she meets charming Charlie Dick (Ed Harris) who woos her and they soon marry. The marriage is rocky and intense, Patsy's career takes off, and her songs go national.

Patsy's original recordings are heard throughout the movie and fans will absolutely love hearing all her hits again. Lange gives a very good performance as the spirited Patsy and was nominated for Best Actress, but for me, Ed Harris steals the show. He plays Charlie as a rough and rowdy, uncouth but lovable man and is totally charismatic. Look closely and spot a thin John Goodman in a small part.

Though the story is equal parts fact and fiction, it is very enjoyable with a fast-paced script and, most of all, Patsy's memorable songs. Highly recommended.

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.

It was a great picture. Nice to see the story and loved Jessic Lang in it. Well worth ording it.

To my mind, this is one of the better biographical movies I have ever seen. Jessica Lange portrays Patsy Cline very well, with her lip-synching to Patsy's wonderful songs. Even the costumes Jessica wears resemble those on Patsy's LPs and still photos. I am totally impressed with this film. I saw it in a theater in its initial release, and a friend copied it off TV - my first movie. I enjoyed it then, and now, with this DVD copy, I can enjoy it even more.

The beauty of this film, accurate or not, lies in the love story at its core and Jessica Lange's unforgettable portrayal of Patsy Cline as an ideal character. Lange's Patsy Cline is a human being who loves so much that she is willing to stay with an abusive husband. Her heart was so big and yet in her lifetime she was hurt so much. The heart of this movie lies in its belief in the ideal, and there are people out there who love much more than others, unconditionally, and sadly many times they pay in heartache for the flaws in those they love.

Whether the character in the film is the real Patsy Cline or not, it is a sincere and unforgettable portrayal by Jessica Lange, and that Patsy was a romantic is something that most of her fans want to believe. Sweet Dreams is a glorious film that will have you thinking back to it and contrasting the themes to those in your life long after it is finished, much like Jessica Lange's Frances. Somehow, Lange always manages to convey true inner beauty, which is what you will find in this film. What we can learn from this film is that if we are ever lucky enough to find someone in our life who can love so fully and unconditionally, we must never take them for granted.

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.

Very good source of Patsy's music, great acting by all actors,
even if this movie is not accurate, it tells a very good story,
besides, you have to love that beautiful voice! Wish you were still with us Patsy.............For a very good source of Patsy Cline material go to Ellis Nassour's..............PatsyClineHTA.com

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)--

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.

Whatever her personal tragedies were, Patsy's real legacy is her music.
(Even if you aren't a fan, I defy you not too be moved by the voice.)
Patsy Cline broke a lot of rules and opened a lot of doors for many female country singers ( Dottie West, Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette to name a few ).
Strong performances by both leads and the supporting cast keep the film flowing well.
If you can forgive the few inaccuries and fabrications (The re-creation of Patsy's last moments and minor details of her personal life) you will enjoy this inspiring rags-to-riches story.