User reviews

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.

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Biopics are always a difficult nut to crack. It's never easy to condense the bigger-than-life story of a legendary celebrity into a two-hour movie and still provide the viewer a complete feeling of satisfaction. What it needs to do is not only highlight the well-known peaks and valleys of their career and personal life, but then, and most importantly, write choice, definitive scenes that will flesh out and humanize the character.

Chronicling the life of a famous country singer is especially tricky. So many things can go wrong. Severe miscasting, a hokey, superficial story line, an overly glossy, sanitary, and/or inaccurate treatment of the source. Many of these gals have had their hard-knock life stories laid out. Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, Dottie West, Tammy Wynette, Barbara Mandrell. The best of the film pickings is assuredly 1980's "Coal Miner's Daughter," Loretta Lynn's backwoods tale. And, fair or not, everything similarly produced since has been up for comparison. Thus, "Sweet Dreams," the retelling of country and pop superstar Patsy Cline (1932-1963), had a lot going against it by the time of its release, which was only five years after "Coal Miner's Daughter." Not only identical in heartache and rags-to-riches narrative, Patsy and Loretta Lynn were actually sisters at heart. They KNEW each other. And so, well, I'm surprised this biography came off as well as it did.

"Sweet Dreams" would be relatively fine on its own but it suffers in comparison to you-know-what. Shorter in scope, detail and focus, it is the star performances that rise above the conventional material here and earns what respect it gets. Patsy the Star is short-shrifted here, electing to concentrate more on Patsy the Woman and her stormy off-stage love life. Not necessarily a wrong decision, it's just that the execution lacks that creative spark. Despite the use of Cline's original soundtrack (superbly lip-synched here by Lange) to a number of her greatest hits ("Crazy," "Walkin' After Midnight" and the title tune), the movie rests on the fact that you already KNOW Patsy Cline became a BIG, BIG star. It doesn't capture the magic and electricity of Patsy that made her the star she was.

Jessica Lange is absolutely luminous as Patsy. She does her proud. Neglecting Kline's entire childhood, the film begins with her in the mid-50s, weighed down by a stalled career and a benign, boring husband. Lange captures the essence and spirit of the feisty, indomitable Cline. Like a restless stallion, she breaks free and shakes up her life, tangling with a reckless, kick-ass cowboy who she hopes will put the twang back in her life. With Charlie Dick (played with macho flair by Ed Harris), Patsy gets much more than she bargained for. With a last name like "Dick," you know this is going to be a fightin' man with a short-trigger. The virile, blue-eyed Harris is the perfect tough-and-tumble co-star. He's so damn good when he's bad, and sexy to boot. He does more than justice to the real Charlie, who had little of Harris' charisma. The two stars show real chemistry here and it ends up being the film's strongest suit.

In support, Ann Wedgeworth as Patsy's careworn mom (remember her from "Three's Company?") finally drops the tawdry, superficial "Mrs. Robinson" stereotype she's done way too much of, and offers us a deeply-felt portrayal of a quiet, strongly spiritual down-home woman who stands behind her girl through thick or thin. Basically a stage actress, this is Wedgeworth's finest film role to date. Meanwhile, John Goodman gives us another broad, healthy dose of comedy relief as Harris' brawling bar buddy, while P.J. Soles offers her cushiony 'other slutty girlfriend' routine.

But, alas, "Sweet Dreams" has been done before...and better Potential female country singing star marries lusty, hard-drinking ne'er-do-well. The wife becomes a big success. The dirty dog slides into his lyin', cheatin' ways. They fight. They make up. And over again. It offers no new or unique approach to the standard female slogan, "Can't live with him, can't live without him."

Fantastic! Jessica Lange and Ed Harris tell the tale of Patsy Cline's tragedies and triumphs. Bonus surprise seeing John Goodman in a few of the scenes. I was spurred on to see the film after viewing a documentary of Patsy Cline's life and wow-wee I knew what was coming and it was still shocking in many of the film's moments. Sadness.

If Loretta Lynn could have a movie made about her life story, and if Kenny Rogers could make several TV movies out of one cheesy album, then it only makes sense that a film about the life and times of country great Patsy Cline should be up there as well. Sweet Dreams is a fitting tribute to this timeless star.

Jessica Lange plays the sharp tongued crooner, in a bio pic that takes us from her upcoming days as a bored housewife, to one of Nashville's biggest sensations. As the film opens Patsy is bored and ready to leave a failed marriage. She meets up with lady-killer Charlie Dick (played by Ed Harris) and their torrid romance begins.

As their love affair takes off, so does Patsy's career. She is a hit on a national talent show, which gives her to platform from which to launch her music career. From there she stops everything to have children and take on life as an army wife.

Still unsatisfied, Patsy goes back to making music and meets up with a producer who feels her true talent lies in making ballads. They hook up and the rest is history.

Sweet Dreams is a slow-moving, but well made little film. Lange carries the story, sinking her acting chops into a loud, showy role, quite different from most of her other work. Ed Harris plays well too as the womanizing husband, jealous of his wife's success.

The film covers all of Patsy's highlights from 1956 right through to the devastating plane crash that took her life in 1962. One disappointment was the fact that the film put Patsy's career in the shadows, referring to it only between commentary about her romance with Charlie Dick. The film rarely takes the opportunity to explore the phenomenon that Patsy Cline became in such a short time.

Fans of Cline might be disappointed with Sweet Dreams, but Lange fans can be rest assured that this is one of her best performances. Brassy, bold and sexy, she is the one to watch!

Jessica Lange doesn't do her own singing as country legend Patsy Cline, however that hardly matters because the cadences of her speaking voice are musical. Lange hits some husky, lusty low-notes as the Virginia-born singer who met second husband Charlie Dick (Ed Harris) in 1956 while performing in a local bar, later staying by him through thin times (her pregnancy forcing her off a tour, his stint in the Army after being drafted) and tentative success (a hit record, "Walkin' After Midnight", which she first performed on a TV talent program). Robert Getchell's script has some crackling dialogue, but the episodes of Cline's hard struggle for country-western success as well as her tempestuous marriage to hellraiser Dick are needlessly stretched out; there's too much struggle and too much temperament, and the film begins to seem like an uphill climb (it's exhausting). For a major production with A-list talent, "Sweet Dreams" also looks a little drab and ordinary, without the location flavor of an earlier bio-pic, "Coal Miner's Daughter". Oscar-nominated Lange matches up well with Ann Wedgeworth as her mama, and her angry love for rascal Harris is well conveyed, but the highlights of Patsy Cline's career are tucked away in the folds of the domestic dramaturgy. **1/2 from ****

"Sweet Dreams" is a fictional biopic of the Country Western and pop singer Patsy Cline. Cline (1932-1963) was born Virginia Hensley in Winchester, Virginia. She had a great influence on Country Western Music in the short span of a little over a decade before she died at age 30 in a plane crash. Her bold contralto voice and emotional depth made her music stand out from the crowd.

This musical biopic and drama covers just the last eight years of Cline's life. It includes several of her best songs, and covers her close relationship with her mother and her rocky but enduring marriage with second husband, Charlie Dick. But the story plays out as though her music was just added onto her life. The film's great attention to the person in her personal relationships is okay except that doesn't portray more accurately how her music and life of performing ruled much of that life and those relationships. Some movie critics and musical promoters of the time thought the film way underplayed how much of a star Cline was.

I have to agree with that impression in my seeing this film for the first time. I can recall several of her songs being played frequently on the juke boxes of the Army EM and NCO clubs while stationed in Germany in the early 1960s.

Besides the imbalance in the musical and personal Patsy Cline, I can't understand why the producers would alter some of the details of these last years of her life. After her father abandoned the family when she was 15, she quit school after her freshman high school year to help her mother make ends meet. She held a couple of different jobs, and when she finally started singing she became popular very fast, from local, then radio and TV, and soon the Grand Ole Opry. It's questionable that she ever played carnivals and circuses as this film depicts. And, it skips some major performance (a 35-day headline program in Las Vegas, the first ever for a female Country Western and pop singer). The film doesn't show a single other performer with whom Cline had close personal friendships - most notably, Loretta Lynn, Dottie West or Jan Howard

Owen Bradley was with her from the start of her recordings, and had a lot to do with her singing changeover in time, and selection of songs that brought out her special talents. Yet, his character is down to almost nothing in this film, played by Jerry Haynes. And the role of Randy Hughes is given more attention here (played by David Clennon). A couple of scenes show Cline singing with a beer in hand, or drinking a beer at home or in a bar. In real life, both she and husband, Charlie Dick, were heavy drinkers (but not alcoholics).

The film shows the vehicle accident in which she was badly hurt as something completely different than what actually happened. Here she is riding with brother, John, when a truck crashes into the passenger side at an intersection. John and a bystander carry her unconscious body to the nearby lawn. In reality, the accident was a head-on collision with another car. Two of the people from that vehicle died, but Patsy was conscious and told people to tend to those in the other car first.

Finally, the plane crash. Of course, all the dialog in the plane would be unknown and fictional. But why the big change in the actual plane crash? The movie shows the plane exploding on impact with a rock outcropping of a hill or mountain. In reality, the plane made a nose-dive crash into a remote forest. That site has a memorial marker to this day. It's located about 80 miles (90 plus by driving) West of Nashville. In my travels in the late 1990s, I stopped at the site just off Mt. Carmel Road west of the town of Camden, Tennessee. There's no sign of a mountain or rock-faced cliff in the vicinity.

The six stars that I give this film are for the two reasons to watch it. The first is for the actual singing by Patsy Cline - her real recordings are played over the scenes of actress Jessica Lange who portrays Cline. And, the second is for Lange's superb portrayal of Patsy Cline. Especially in her ebullience and scenes that show Cline's emotional singing persona, Lange gives a very good picture of a very talented person. She deserved her Academy Award nomination for best actress n 1985. Ed Harris was okay as Charlie Dick.

For a number of aspects, this isn't a family film. They include Dick hitting and beating Cline, infidelity, drinking, crass language and profanity, and frequent disrespect. But anyone might listen to and enjoy the soundtrack of songs sung by Patsy Cline.

The only other case of actor and singer becoming as one to deliver a performance like Jessica Lange does in Sweet Dream are The Jolson Story and Jolson Sings Again. It's good to note that Larry Parks also got an Oscar nomination for The Jolson Story in the Best Actor category.

With a treasure trove of records to use some of Patsy Cline's best tracks are lipsynched by Jessica Lange as the story of the country girl from Virginia who rose to the very top of the country music world and stays forever there. Lange does a fabulous job in stepping into the character of Patsy Cline. You really do think that voice is coming out of her.

Sadly not recognized in the Oscar sweepstakes is Ed Harris who plays her second husband. The first is barely given a mention and the only thing he left to Virginia Patterson Henley is the name of Cline. Ed who recognizes that his name of Charlie Dick is good for a few laughs is your average blue collar working stiff from the red states. No better or no worse than many of the folks who hang out in the country bars that he does. Harris never loses his blue collar roots, yet it bothers him that the duds he wears and the cars he drives are because of his wife's money. He's an alpha male through and through and while Lange is singing at a state fair, Harris is busy entered in a demolition derby at the same fair. He's not a simple redneck by any means though and no matter how he transgresses, Lange forgives him.

Other portrayals of note are that of David Clemons as her manager Randy Harris and Ann Wedgworth as Lange's mother. Lange got the only Oscar recognition that Sweet Dreams received. She lost to Geraldine Page for The Trip To Bountiful. Perhaps without Page in the running Jessica Lange might have won that year.

I'm sure Patsy was grateful to Jessica Lange for putting her career and life on permanent record. Charlie Dick who was still alive said he was misrepresented, but I have my doubts. Wherever Patsy Cline is now. For us on earth Patsy Cline left a wonderful legacy of music and song that will be appreciated for centuries.

As will Sweet Dreams.

As a big fan of both Patsy Cline and Jessica Lange. I have seen this movie about twenty times. I think you have to be really a fan of Patsy Cline to really understand this movie. Jessica Lange got an Oscar nomination for this film and deservingly so. Ed Harris and Ann Wedgeworth should have too.

I give this movie: 4 stars.

Bernie Schwartz managed to take a relatively thin story (Patsy Cline had a relatively short career) into a totally engrossing, satisfying movie, country music fan or not. The acting is superb, and the work of the crew should not be overlooked. Costumes by Ann Roth were so spot on you don't even notice them, which is as it should be unless it's a major period piece. These are extraordinary actors and the film holds up for viewing after viewing after viewing. Ann Wedgeworth, purported to be extremely difficult to work with, was perfect as Patsy's mother. The surprise casting of Bruce Kirby as Arthur Godfrey took me three viewings to catch. Note that James Staley, boring first husband, Gerald Cline, played the boring husband Kevin Palmer in American Dreamer with JoBeth Williams. I recommend this movie to anyone who likes a good film, regardless of genre.

I don't think I ever heard of Patsy Cline before this movie was made. Although I had heard her name somewhat since, I did'nt really get to hear her songs and appreciate what she meant to country music until a couple of years ago when I first started hearing her music. No idea why I'm telling you this for, but anyways, the life of Patsy Cline, as told in this film, is quite interesting. Not as drawn out as Cola Miner's Daughter, and Jessica Lange, despite wearing a godawful wig and having the end credit which somewhat ruins her performance of saying that we heard Patsy Cline's singing, pulls off a good performance. Sam Neill pulls off his usual amazing performance work. So, while I'm not really a big fan of the genre, this had me entertained.

This movie was great. Iam a big Patsy Cline fan. She was wonderful. Even though she died 12 years before I was born, shes still the best singer I ever heard. & my all time favorite country singer. At the end where they showed the plane crash. I thought that was to sad. & maybe they should have left that part out, but I guess they had to show it, so they can show us what happened to Patsy. I have this movie on DVD. I've always been a patsy Cline fan. & always will be. Its one of my favorite movies. I always wonder what Charlie & there 2 children are doing now. & if Charlie really did hit her like it shows in the movie. Someday I want to go to winchester Va, See her hometown & see where shes buried, & also to the country music hall of fame in Nashville & see her things that are there. Thats my dream.

Maybe 'cause they were made at around the same time and because their subjects were friends but this film and "Coal Miner's Daughter" are always paired together. "Coal Miner" is usually thought to be the superior work and I agree but, employing the desert island scale, I'd rather have Patsy than Loretta by a country mile. B minus.

This unremarkable screen biography of singer Patsy Cline is short on imagination, but it features a natural performance by Jessica Lange and some colorful country-western atmosphere. Perhaps the film's biggest problem is that Cline's turbulent life could only have been adapted to the screen as a conventional show-biz melodrama, and the result here is a more or less typical Hollywood romance, easy on the eyes even when not particularly interesting. The rags-to-troubled-riches scenario is hardly novel, but that doesn't diminish the incidental pleasures of seeing more or less the same story told for the umpteenth time.

The film's soundtrack includes many of the singer's original recordings, expertly lip-synched by the cast.

I will say at the onset that I thought Beverly D"Angelo was a slightly better Patsy Cline ..at least, she looked more like Patsy, who was fairly Rubenesque in real life. Still, Jessica Lange captures the sassy, spunky, bawdy spirit of the great Cline. Ed Harris ( always superb) is wonderful, capturing Charlie Dicks tender side, as well as the time when he acted like, like , well, a dick.Anne Wedgeworth, a fine under-used actress was good as Patsy's mother. In short, one of the few good "Country" movies ever made.

While most will say that Beverly D'Angelo gave a better performance, Jessica Lange did a wonderful job in the sad story of ill-fated Patsy Cline. I enjoyed it even though the lip syncing was obvious at times.

If you have an interest in Patsy, you should check it out. I felt her story was well told albeit sad. Totally worth the watch.

Patsy Cline, was in the hearts of every person who ever loved another during the height of her career. This movie makes you look behind the face to the life of a public figure. It made me wonder about the people we idolize now. Ed harris was great as a bad little boy with a heart like a marshmellow. I find this type of movie is inspirational to anyone who has to struggle to get ahead.

Just because a film is well made does not mean I would recommend it or watch it again. Such is the case with "Sweet Dreams", a warts and all biopic about Patsy Cline. So why do I say this? After all, the acting was very good as was nearly everything else about the film. Well, it's because although Patsy Cline was a great singer with the voice of an angel, her home life was a dysfunctional mess...and is about as enjoyable to watch as a bucket filled with vomit! It very much illustrates the saying "Smart women, foolish choices".

So, if you don't mind watching Cline (Jessica Lange) being beaten up by her husband, Mr. Dick (Ed Harris), then by all means watch it. But I just found it all quite hard to take...and you might be happier just reading about her on Wikipedia.

Patsy Cline never had an affair with her manager, Randy Hughes, as this movie implies. Nor was she separated from her husband, Charlie Dick, at the time of her death. I am somewhat surprised that these allegations were made in this film. Also, no mention of her friendship with Loretta Lynn at all.

A good film overall, but could've been more detailed and more truthful. Jessica Lange OK, but I would have cast Beverly D'Angelo again (who played Patsy in Coal Miner's Daughter) with Ed Harris.

This is not a bad semi documentary feature. Ed Harris is particularly effective as Patsy's husband Charlie Dick. Ann Wedgeworth again plays the quirky character with which she has become so identified. Be sure and catch a rare major film appearance by Dallas' own Jerry Haynes (Mr. Peppermint) as Patsy's manager Owen Bradley. I wish they'd spent a little more time on the professional side of Patsy's rise to fame and her career rather than focus so much on the relationship with her husband which could have been virtually any John and Jane Doe story about the trials and tribulations of married life.

Jessica Lange is a little stiff and over the top on her hillbilly accent and I don't believe this was a performance worthy of the Oscar nomination she received. Jessica has crafted much better characters and performances than this.

Most importantly, close your eyes and you can almost imagine it's really Patsy Cline singing, which it (unfortunately) is. I don't see why the producers couldn't have found an actress who can really sing rather than lip-sync. Sissy Spacek was fantastic singing as Loretta Lynn in Coal Miner's Daughter so there was no reason to close one's eyes. Mary Steenburgen exhibited her surprising vocal skills and sang like a pro with great pizazz and sexuality in Butcher's Wife and who'd want to close their eyes with Mary Steenburgen on screen. Meryl Streep kicked butt with I'm Checkin' Out Of This Heartbreak Hotel in Post Cards From the Edge. No closed eyes for this performance as everyone in the audience were probably dancing in the isles! And last but not least, why not Beverly D'Angelo who WAS Patsy Cline in Coal Miner's Daughter and did her own singing, quite admiribly I might add. With that kind of talent available, why would they mess with the editing hassles of lip-syncing and why not an actress with talents rounded enough they can perform all aspects of the character? I suppose it's called "Box office". Another another example of Hollywood's departure from art to dollars.

I just watching Sweet Dreams again and am still happy to see good acting. God knows that in today's market good acting - in the caliber of Jessica Lange - and good scripts and high production values are sorely missing so it's always a treat when all one has to do is pull out the DVD, sit back, and enjoy. I've read other posts about this film and can only say that the producer's approach to the singer was what the picture needed. Perhaps Miss Clines early singing and rise in country music was just too mundane or had been done too much before to make this story work. I liked his approach which dealt only with her close relationship with her husband, Charlie Dick. Needless to say but both Jessica Lange and the always dependable Ed Harris did an excellent job with their roles and we got carried away with their love affair. Sure, he was an abusive husband and probably a woman chaser but then Patsy Cline was no saint herself and as she pointed out in the film she and Charlie deserved each other. She thought they made an excellent pair. Naturally Hollywood glamorized their relationship as this was a romantic film. Some posters have pointed out that they found fault with Miss Lange having to lip-sync Patsy Clines original recordings but I found that refreshing as, after all, the story was about Patsy Cline and not about some talented amateur actress. And as for lip-sync, one of the biggest Hollywood stars of the 40's did just that. Rita Hayworth's actual voice was never used in her musicals, and she and her studio built her reputation on musicals, but she pulled in huge audiences who loved to look at this glamorous woman (not)singing in Tonight and Every Night, Down to Earth and the 20th Century Fox musical My Gal Sal. No one cared that she didn't sing. Ann Blyth who was an excellent soprano was engaged by MGM for their version of The Helen Morgan Story but used Gogi Grant's voice, why? because at that moment in time Miss Grant was a popular recording artist. What made that experiment misfire was that Helen Morgan was closer to Ann Blyth's voice. Ava Gardner made quite a few musicals where her voice was dubbed, she didn't like the process and refused to do anymore musicals where she couldn't use her own voice; she refused The Helen Morgan Story. It's nice that some screen actresses think that their voices are professional enough to get by in films but after looking at these films one has to concede that a true professional voice was the way to go. an good example of this is I'll Cry Tomorrow starring Susan Hayward, Miss Hayward insisted on using her own voice in the MGM film and although her acting was top notch, which was expected, she still sounded like the amateur she was. That film could have used a good professional voice. Anyway, I thought that Jessica Lange did an outstanding job as an actress in Sweet Dreams but was glad to hear Patsy Cline's voice. This technique was used to advantage in Piaf: The Early Years, you got to see a good story with a good actress but you also got to hear the glorious singing from the world renowned singer. It's like getting two for one. Sweet Dreams deserved more than it got by reviewers and audiences. A film that did exactly what it set out to do. Worth watching again, and again.

What makes this biopic so good is the excelent perfomances of both ed harris and jessica lange . Their chemistry together lifts this movie to a higher level I had to think abouth that other country story , walk the line . This one is not that good but it comes close and that is ment as a compliment .

I won't go into great detail but have to say I was personally involved with this movie as I had a small part in it and while it's not a "home run" hit it was a pleasure working with Jessica Lange, Ed Harris, and John Goodman, as well as Anne Wedgeworth. Everyone was kind and approachable and very professional. I was allowed to attend the private premiere in Nashville Tn where it opened to many stars and family members who were in attendance. Personally, I'd rate the film a 7 out of 10 stars. The music was great and the story although did not cover all aspects of Patsy Cline's life, as an abbreviated version it told a beautiful but troubled account of her life. The love portrayed between Pasty and Charlie along with heart tugging music at times was touching and what sells the movie I think.

As an avid Patsy Cline fan, I've done quite a bit of research on her life since seeing this film in 1985. The film, while good and very dramatic, doesn't portray the Cline that her family and friends seemed to know. In fact her own mother said of the film in a1 985 People Magazine article "The producers told me they were going to make a love story. I saw the film once. That was enough." While Jessica Lange fabulously captures Cline's mannerisms on stage and off, Cline is portrayed in this film as a victim of domestic violence, when, in real life those who knew her describe her as an outspoken, strong willed fighter who didn't take anything off of anybody. The film focuses more on the tragedy in her life rather than the triumph of her career, often making it very depressing and dark. The inaccuracies throughout the film are numerous, most significantly with the plane crash that takes her life as being depicted as crashing into a mountain, when in fact it crashed into a forest. While the film served as a wonderful vehicle to promote Cline's legacy and introduce her music to newer generations, Sweet Dreams failed to capture the many facets of Cline's life and personality, including her giving spirit to countless friends and her hilarious sense of humor. Sweet Dreams is worth viewing, but don't take it as 100% factual. Hollywood took her story and made it their own.

As a cinematic biography of country/western singer Patsy Cline, "Sweet Dreams" is fairly good. The story takes place mostly in the 50s and 60s during which time she had already begun singing in local honky-tonks. The film's plot is straightforward and easy to follow. Production design is excellent. Overall acting quality is credible, with good performances from Jessica Lange as Patsy Cline; reliable Ed Harris as Patsy's redneck husband, Charlie Dick; and wonderful Ann Wedgeworth as Patsy's mother. Profuse country/western music helps make the film even more enjoyable, though I wish they could have found a spot in the film for "Faded Love", one of Cline's most popular songs.

Patsy was talented, ambitious, frustrated, determined, and outgoing. Charlie Dick comes across in the film as a jerk. And my main complaint about this film is that too much time is spent on him, rather than on Patsy and her career. The film's climax is not entirely consistent with known facts; but it is very dramatic.

"Sweet Dreams" will appeal to older viewers, as well as to those who like country/western music. And, of course, being a biography, the film will appeal to viewers who like real life stories.