Dolly Parton: Here I Am

I recently became more informed about Dolly Parton's impressive career, both in her early years and in her more recent projects. While I was grateful to find out more about her, I was disappointed to find that there was no mention of her friendship with Kenny Rogers. This was a significant part of her life that was left out, and it is strange that it was not included.

Kenny Rogers has since passed away, so I'm even more puzzled as to why Dolly Parton would not mention her friendship with him. It is a mystery that I hope I can get to the bottom of one day. Although I may never know why Dolly Parton chose to not include her relationship with Kenny Rogers in her story, I will always remember the impact he had on her life and career.

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.

Really great older footage of Dolly and a timeline of her career. Cant figure out what Kylie M was doing there, added nothing and would have preferred more older footage.Jane Fonda was insightful

Was it odd that Kenny Rogers and her movies with Burt Reynolds and Sylvester Stallone were left out? I learned a lot more about Dolly Parton in this.show. I loved her movie Coats of Many Colors.

Fills in a lot of gaps for an old rock and roll fan who's grown to respect her songwriting immensely over the years. Great mix of interviews, performances and clips. However, I was confused about the overuse of interviews with Linda Perry and Kylie Minogue. Granted, Perry collaborated with Dolly for one hit single in 2018, but from her time on-screen, you might think that she had produced Dolly for decades. I also can't find any connection between Minogue and Dolly in my research. What would have pushed my rating higher would have been to include the glaring omission of her musical collaborations with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris. Their memories would have been much more revealing. The absence of her significant contributions to the movie Steel Magnolias is puzzling as well. She easily held her own in a movie that was bursting with talented actors. All in all, though, this one is worth a look.