Everyone loves Dolly. What's not to love? She's sort of overabundant in every way--talent, ambition, work ethic, hair, boobs, humor, intelligence, personality, and from what we see, at least, in kindness. The movie shows us how staunch she is about boundaries and keeping herself to herself. Despite the splashy look and persona, Dolly is very much in control of her career and life. Her skill at evading questions she does not want to answer is astounding. She reveals exactly what she wants to and nothing else.
Which makes it all the more puzzling why a major highlight of her career was not even alluded to: her collaboration with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris, which was hugely successful and brought her a whole new audience, since Linda especially was a major star, far bigger than Dolly at the time. It is how I myself became aware of how good Dolly was, since I did not listen to country music. I was turned on to Dolly because of Linda Ronstadt.
At one point in the film, a great deal of made of Dolly's crossover from country to pop, and basically the entire credit is given to Mac Davis and his--and later Dolly's--managers. But in fact, it owed much more to her association with Linda Ronstadt, who was the best selling female artist of the 70s and another powerhouse talent. I have no idea what legal or other spats have taken place, but the omission is quite glaring. As I was watching the movie, I was looking forward to it, and then suddenly we leap from from the 70s to the late 1990s. Not a peep about possibly the most successful phase of her career. It was a popular, critical, and artistic triumph. But it is not even mentioned in passing in the movie.
I'm sure Dolly had a firm grip on this movie, so one can only assume that she did not want or was not allowed to include it. It's too bad, because the story is incomplete without it.
