Sweet Dreams

UPC: 026359366628

Studio: HBO Home Video

MPAA Rating: PG13   Contains:[Violence, Adult Situations, Adult Language, Watch With Your Teen]

Summary: Patsy Cline was one of the first great female stars of country music, and her best-known hits (such as "Sweet Dreams" and "Walking After Midnight") not only broadened the audience for country but brought a new sophistication to the Nashville sound. Cline was at the peak of her popularity when she died in a plane crash in 1963, and Sweet Dreams is a biopic which examines her life and career, with a particular focus on her troubled relationship with her second husband, Charlie Dick. Cline (played by Jessica Lange) is unhappily married and playing small-time gigs in West Virginia when she meets Dick (Ed Harris), whose charm and aggressive self-confidence catch her attention. In time, Cline leaves her husband to marry Dick, and she gives up music to focus on raising their children. But after Dick goes into the Army, Cline begins singing again, and after joining forces with manager Randy Hughes (David Clennon), Cline becomes a rising star on the country music scene. However, Cline's success fuels her self-confidence, much to Dick's annoyance, and he becomes increasingly abusive (both physically and emotionally) as she attempts to assert her independence. Rather than attempt to re-create Patsy Cline's vocals, Jessica Lange instead opted to lip-synch with Cline's original recordings. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Best Actress – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Features: Cast bios
Scene selections
Subtitles
Original theatrical trailers

Sweet Dreams

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 06/22/1999

Audio: DDS Dolby Digital Surround

Runtime: 115 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English,French,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1 --
0. Chapters
1. San Antonio Rose [9:34]
2. Rainbow Road [10:47]
3. "Just Feels So Good!" [8:26]
4. Walking After Midnight [8:40]
5. Drafted [5:16]
6. Moving Around 1958 [9:02]
7. It's a Girl! [7:08]
8. Return to Rainbow Road [5:02]
9. Randy Hugh [7:35]
10. Crash! [10:05]
11. Surprise [5:49]
12. Demo Derby [6:56]
13. The World on Their Shoulders [6:59]
14. Sweet Dreams [13:29]

Andrea LeVasseur

Produced by HBO, the 1985 Patsy Cline biopic Sweet Dreams plays like a really good TV movie. Mediocre production values and the narrow focus on her relationship with husband Charlie Dick (Ed Harris) makes a soap opera out of a country music legend. While it's a wise approach to show how her turbulent marriage paralleled her crossover to Countrypolitan ballads, the melodrama tends to overshadow the celebrity story by relegating her rise to stardom to the background. Due to the historically dubious concerts at carnivals and fairgrounds, it appears as though she wasn't as big a star as she actually was. Thankfully Jessica Lange gives it her all by creating a cheerful and spirited Cline who survives hardships with a good-natured Southern attitude. While her career is spotted with factual errors, at least her clothes are accurate: Nudie suit-dresses and cowgirl outfits during the late '50s for her early honky tonk songs, and gold lam? and pointy bras for the Nashville sound of the early '60s. By choosing to lip-sync to the actual recordings, Lange puts on excellent performances to some of Cline's biggest hits. Despite the subtle smoothing over of some major life events, her tragic death is unfortunately handled as blatantly as possible. While it probably won't please serious fans, Sweet Dreams is a pleasant enough picture of the country star until a more personal and touching portrait comes along. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Jerry Haynes  Actor 
Walter Caton  Actor 
Douglas B. Green  Actor 
Gary W. Pigg  Actor 
Timothy N. Tappen  Actor 
Stoney Jackson  Actor 
Robert Rothwell  Actor 
Harry Madsen  Actor 
Holly Filler  Actor 
Odie Palmer  Actor 
Jack Slater  Actor 
Fred K. Young  Actor 
John Walter Davis  Actor 
Richard Kidney  Actor 
Paul W. Crisman  Actor 
Johnnie Ray Jones  Actor 
Missy Proulx  Actor 
Fred Paul Tenley  Actor 
Tony Frank  Actor 
Boxcar Willie  Actor 
John E. Davis  Actor 
Fred LaBour  Actor 
Toni Sawyer  Actor 
Don Warden  Actor 
Robert L. Dasch  Actor 
William D. Byrd  Actor 
Charles Walker  Actor 
Irv Cox  Actor 
Jimmy Mack Hodge, Jr.  Actor 
Aleda Pope  Actor 
William Edward Taylor  Actor 
Michael David Black  Actor 
Peter Robert Grant  Actor 
Courtney Parker  Actor 
John M. Smarr  Actor 
James Bartley Young  Actor 
Patricia Allison  Actor 
Jim Norman  Actor 
Greg Brickman  Actor 
Dennis Donaldson  Actor 
William Landers  Actor 
Herb Schneider  Actor 
Curtis Young  Actor 
Colton Edwards  Actor 
Bruno Kirby  Actor 
Kenneth White  Actor 
Carlton Cuse  Actor 
Frank Knapp, Jr.  Actor 
Jake T. Robinson  Actor 
Jimmy Vann  Actor 
David H. Franzoni  Screenwriter 
Robert Getchell  Screenwriter 
Charles Gross  Composer (Music Score) 
Charles B. Mulvehill  Producer 
Karel Reisz  Director 
Bernard Schwartz  Producer 
Jessica Lange  Actor 
Ed Harris  Actor 
Ann Wedgeworth  Actor 
David Clennon  Actor 
James Staley  Actor 
Gary Basaraba  Actor 
John Goodman  Actor 
P.J. Soles  Actor 
Caitlin Kelch  Actor 
Terri Gardner  Actor 

Country: USA