Songwriter

A film whose time has come. Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson essentially play themselves as a songwriter and a cock-of-the-walk country god, and do it perfectly. The plot concerns Willie's character, Doc Jenkins, attempting to liberate himself from a contract he committed to when he was younger, drunker and a little less immortal. The supporting players are top of the line aces, including a surly Rip Torn and the always-great Melinda Dillon. Lesley Ann Warren is the new singer who Doc hitches his stars to, and she's convincing enough. The dialogue is fast, funny and, I suspect, captures the inside angle of the Music Business to a tee. One of the most unheralded great, little movies of all time. A better version of all those other syrupy, sentimental inside music movies.

Willie Nelson is a songwriter in the country/western genre and a very successful one -- artistically, anyway. Most of the money is taken by the producers, including Rip Torn. Eventually Wilson gets together with his old performing partner, Kris Kristofferson, Lesley Ann Warren, and Melinda Dillon to right old wrongs and get the rights to his song back.

Most of the pleasure in this movie is, of course, in the music; Kristofferson was nominated for the Best Score Oscar. There's fun, too, in watching the suits get worked over in their never-ending greed, and the Austin location shooting is excellent.

Doc Jenkins (Willie Nelson) is a broke songwriter and session musician. He had a hit song but all the money goes to his unscrupulous producer who owns all the rights. He still loves his ex-wife and former music star Honey Carder (Melinda Dillon). He only has managing his old singing partner Blackie Buck (Kris Kristofferson) who introduces him to new singer Gilda (Lesley Ann Warren). Dino McLeish (Rip Torn) is her money-grubbing manager who agrees to go 50-50.

The story is a little messy and meandering. It's scruffy like Willie Nelson himself. This almost feels like an Altman film if there is a few more crowded dialogue scenes. It did get an Oscar nomination for music. It also has the undeniable easy charms of Willie Nelson. That goes a long way.

"Songwriter" never fails to hit the spot. This may sound weird but watching this movie feels like hanging out with old friends. There's a lot of great dialogue and a lot of laughs. There's a lot of good music, too. "Songwriter" is filled with great characters and has a terrific villain. Everybody in the cast delivers a solid performance. "Honeysuckle Rose" may be a better movie but "Songwriter" is more fun to watch. Honorable mention: Rip Torn.

In Hollywood vernacular this would be the quintessential sleeper: a small gem straight out of left field forced to look after itself in a market geared more toward largely impersonal blockbusters. It isn't necessary to be a fan of country-western music to enjoy the film: a disarming comic fable about one man's clever attempt to buck the system, represented here by the music industry. The movie works (in part) because of its oblique, slightly skewed narrative style, courtesy of Bud Shrake's elliptical screenplay and director Alan Rudolph's eye for offhand detail. Some of the Southern accents are thick enough to almost require subtitles, but the film is a true original, with a photogenic performance by Willie Nelson as the roguish title character.