Sweet Dreams

Released: 1985
Biography, Drama
Director: Karel Reisz
Starring: Jessica Lange, Ed Harris, Ann Wedgeworth
Running Time: 115 minutes
Rated: PG-13

The breakdown:  The true story of Patsy Cline's rise to stardom, her difficult life, and her untimely tragic death.

I love me some Patsy Cline.  She had such a wonderful talent and I wish she hadn't died so young and when her career was only 5 and half years old.  I just got around to seeing this movie, knowing that a lot of family member's of Patsy's do not agree with a lot of it.
The movie follows Patsy from the time when she was married to a much older man that she just doesn't feel much for.  She complains to her mother that they don't fight, or talk, or much of anything.  She's not sure how to get out of the marriage.  While singing at a school dance (this was way before her career took off) she meets her future husband, Charlie Dick.  At first, she blows him off, but he follows her around to her performances and she ends up leaving her current husband for him.  They quickly court and get married and before long, he's drafted.  He is forced to move away while she moves back in with her mother to save money and starts touring small gigs.  When her career just barely starts, she finds out she's pregnant and kind of puts her career on hold, Charlie is still in the Army in another state after all.  After the baby's born, she picks it up again, and soars to new heights, as she gets more and more well known and respected.
Unfortunately, the film depicts her and Charlie's marriage as abusive where he beats her so badly, she calls the police.  Asked in an interview about the movie, the real Charlie Dick says it's a good story if you like fiction.  Of course, someone would easily be able to see the police reports and see documentation of an arrest, so I think the abusive was true.  Charlie Dick lives up to his name and remarried only 2 years after Patsy's death and continues to live off of her fortune today, so I do think he beat her and cheated on her as well, as depicted in the film.
It's strange that Patsy Cline was so strong professionally constantly standing up for herself and not taking any crap from any man, but at home, she stayed with an abusive, cheating husband until her death and couldn't break free of him.  She was quoted as saying that Charlie was the love of her life.
Anyway, near her death she traveled by personal plane to a benefit for a disc jockey that had passed away in an accident and she gave her last live performance.  She got standing ovations and they had to add additional performances they sold out so fast.  She was at the pinnacle of her career.  Her manager at the time, was flying them back home in a very small four passenger plane.  They couldn't leave right away because the airport had been fogged in so they had to stay overnight.  Patsy called her mother before they left and that was the last anyone ever heard of her.  They left that night around 6:07 and her wristwatch found at the site of the plane crash was stuck at 6:20.  The plane had encountered bad weather and they crashed.  Now in the movie they show them crashing into a mountain, but I think this was not true.  From the research I did, it sounds like they just crashed into the ground, nose first.  Everyone was killed instantly, and the pilot had not been instrument trained which would be a great disadvantage flying in poor weather conditions.  Meaning, he relied purely on sight for navigation which proved to be fatal in this case. 
So we lost a true legend in 1963 at the young age of 30.
No one will ever sound as good as her again, and I cherish every song I can listen to from her.
So, the movie is good.  I'm pretty sure not all of it is true.  There's probably a lot that's been dramatized to make a bigger impact, but I do think a lot of it is what happened.

Jessica Lange was nominated for her performance for an Oscar, but she did not win.  She did a very good job and the movie overall is very well done.
See it, even if you don't like Patsy Cline, you will be a fan by the end of the movie.
I give it 4 and 1/2 out of 5 for strong performances, a clear vision, and fantastic music from original recordings of Patsy Cline.