People are voting emotionally.

Gripping story with well-crafted characters

Fantastic!

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

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.

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.

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.

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.