Sweet Dreams (film)
Encyclopedia
Sweet Dreams is a 1985 biographical film which tells the life story of country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 singer Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline , born Virginia Patterson Hensley in Gore, Virginia, was an American country music singer who enjoyed pop music crossover success during the era of the Nashville sound in the early 1960s...

.

The film was written by Robert Getchell
Robert Getchell
Robert Getchell is an American screenwriter. He is probably best known for writing Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore and creating the Sitcom Alice.-Filmography:* Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore * Bound for Glory...

 and directed by Karel Reisz
Karel Reisz
Karel Reisz was a Czech-born British filmmaker who was active in post–war Britain, and one of the pioneers of the new realist strain in 1950s and 1960s British cinema.-Early life:...

. It stars Jessica Lange
Jessica Lange
Jessica Phyllis Lange is an American actress who has worked in film, theatre and television. The recipient of several awards, including two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes and one Emmy, Lange is regarded as one of the première female actors of her generation.Lange was discovered by producer...

, Ed Harris
Ed Harris
Edward Allen "Ed" Harris is an American actor, writer, and director, known for his performances in Appaloosa, Radio, The Rock, The Abyss, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, A History of Violence, and The Truman Show. Harris has also narrated commercials for The Home Depot and other companies...

, Ann Wedgeworth
Ann Wedgeworth
Ann Wedgeworth is a Tony award winning American actress, best known for her role as Lahoma Vane Lucas on the daytime dramas Another World and Somerset .-Early life:...

, David Clennon
David Clennon
David Clennon is an American actor perhaps best known for his portrayal of Miles Drentel in the ABC series Thirtysomething, a role he reprised on Once and Again....

, James Staley, Gary Basaraba
Gary Basaraba
Gary Basaraba is a Canadian actor best known for playing American police officers. He appeared as Sergeant Richard Santoro on Steven Bochco's Brooklyn South and Officer Ray Heckler on Boomtown....

 and John Goodman
John Goodman
John Stephen Goodman is an American film, television, and stage actor. He is best known for his role as Dan Conner on the television series Roseanne for which he won a Best Actor Golden Globe Award in 1993, and for appearances in the films of the Coen brothers, with prominent roles in Raising...

.

The film was nominated for Academy Award for Best Actress
Academy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...

 (Jessica Lange
Jessica Lange
Jessica Phyllis Lange is an American actress who has worked in film, theatre and television. The recipient of several awards, including two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes and one Emmy, Lange is regarded as one of the première female actors of her generation.Lange was discovered by producer...

). For all the musical sequences, Lange lip-synced to the original Patsy Cline recordings. The soundtrack of the same name
Sweet Dreams (soundtrack)
Sweet Dreams is the 1985 soundtrack album to the movie of the same name, starring Jessica Lange and Ed Harris about the life of country music star, Patsy Cline. The soundtrack's music conatined all original songs by Patsy Cline....

 was released in September 1985.

Plot

Patsy Cline is unhappily married and playing small-time gigs in the Tri-State area consisting of Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

, West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...

 and Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

 when she meets Charlie Dick, whose charm and aggressive self-confidence catch her attention. In time, Patsy leaves her husband to marry Charlie, and she gives up music to focus on raising their children. But after Charlie goes into the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

, Patsy begins singing again, and after joining forces with manager Randy Hughes, Patsy becomes a rising star on the country music scene.

However, Patsy's success fuels her self-confidence, much to Charlie's annoyance, and he becomes increasingly abusive (both physically and emotionally) as she attempts to assert her independence. Patsy was at the peak of her popularity as one of the first great female stars of country music when she died in a plane crash on March 5, 1963 at the age of 30.

Non-factual differences

In the film, the army base which took place in Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Fort Bragg is a major United States Army installation, in Cumberland and Hoke counties, North Carolina, U.S., mostly in Fayetteville but also partly in the town of Spring Lake. It was also a census-designated place in the 2010 census and had a population of 39,457. The fort is named for Confederate...

 was actually filmed in Fort Campbell, Kentucky
Fort Campbell, Kentucky
Fort Campbell is a United States Army installation located astraddle the Kentucky-Tennessee border between Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and Clarksville, Tennessee...

. Other scenes were filmed in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

, Hagerstown, Maryland
Hagerstown, Maryland
Hagerstown is a city in northwestern Maryland, United States. It is the county seat of Washington County, and, by many definitions, the largest city in a region known as Western Maryland. The population of Hagerstown city proper at the 2010 census was 39,662, and the population of the...

 and Martinsburg, West Virginia
Martinsburg, West Virginia
Martinsburg is a city in the Eastern Panhandle region of West Virginia, United States. The city's population was 14,972 at the 2000 census; according to a 2009 Census Bureau estimate, Martinsburg's population was 17,117, making it the largest city in the Eastern Panhandle and the eighth largest...

.

Many of the sequences depicted in the film were inaccurate:
  • Patsy and her brother were not on their way to pick up beer when she nearly lost her life in a 1961 car crash. They were on their way to pick up material for her mother, a seamstress, to make her new stage clothes. The car crash happened in mid-June, not in the winter.
  • Patsy's husband, Charlie Dick, and their daughter, Julie, have both stated that Charlie never hit Patsy in front of their daughter. In fact, Charlie states that he only slapped Patsy once for becoming hysterical Those related to Patsy state that, in the scenes, Patsy was portrayed more as a victim than she actually was. "Their fights were always interesting to watch because you always knew Patsy would win" claimed friend Dottie West
    Dottie West
    Dottie West was an American country music singer and songwriter. Along with her friends and co-recording artists Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, she is considered one of the genre's most influential and groundbreaking female artists...

    . However, other family members insist that Patsy was very badly beaten and sent to the hospital on numerous occasions.
  • Patsy's plane crashed in the early evening hours in a forest--not into a mountain cliff--in Camden, Tennessee
    Camden, Tennessee
    Camden is a city in Benton County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 3,828 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Benton County.-Geography:Camden is positioned at...

    . (In fact, there are no mountains at all in that part of Tennessee.)
  • The plane crashed due to bad weather, not due to restarting difficulties after switching from an empty fuel tank to a full tank. Randy Hughes (Patsy's manager and pilot of the aircraft) was not instrument-rated and therefore became disoriented in the inclement weather and eventually lost control. Also, the plane crashed on the way to Nashville from Kansas City
    Kansas City, Missouri
    Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

    , not vice versa.
  • The aircraft in which Patsy crashed was a Piper Comanche, not a Cessna 172 Skyhawk as was portrayed in the film.
  • Patsy's mother, the late Hilda Hensely, once stated: "They (the producers) told me that they were going to make a love story. I saw the film once. That was enough."

Cast

  • Jessica Lange
    Jessica Lange
    Jessica Phyllis Lange is an American actress who has worked in film, theatre and television. The recipient of several awards, including two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes and one Emmy, Lange is regarded as one of the première female actors of her generation.Lange was discovered by producer...

     as Patsy Cline
    Patsy Cline
    Patsy Cline , born Virginia Patterson Hensley in Gore, Virginia, was an American country music singer who enjoyed pop music crossover success during the era of the Nashville sound in the early 1960s...

  • Ed Harris
    Ed Harris
    Edward Allen "Ed" Harris is an American actor, writer, and director, known for his performances in Appaloosa, Radio, The Rock, The Abyss, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, A History of Violence, and The Truman Show. Harris has also narrated commercials for The Home Depot and other companies...

     as Charlie Dick
  • Ann Wedgeworth
    Ann Wedgeworth
    Ann Wedgeworth is a Tony award winning American actress, best known for her role as Lahoma Vane Lucas on the daytime dramas Another World and Somerset .-Early life:...

     as Hilda Hensley
  • David Clennon
    David Clennon
    David Clennon is an American actor perhaps best known for his portrayal of Miles Drentel in the ABC series Thirtysomething, a role he reprised on Once and Again....

     as Randy Hughes
  • James Staley as Gerald Cline
  • Gary Basaraba
    Gary Basaraba
    Gary Basaraba is a Canadian actor best known for playing American police officers. He appeared as Sergeant Richard Santoro on Steven Bochco's Brooklyn South and Officer Ray Heckler on Boomtown....

     as Woodhouse
  • John Goodman
    John Goodman
    John Stephen Goodman is an American film, television, and stage actor. He is best known for his role as Dan Conner on the television series Roseanne for which he won a Best Actor Golden Globe Award in 1993, and for appearances in the films of the Coen brothers, with prominent roles in Raising...

     as Otis
  • P. J. Soles
    P. J. Soles
    P. J. Soles is an American film and television actress, known for her roles as Lynda van der Klok in Halloween, Norma Watson in Carrie and Bill Murray's military girlfriend Stella in Stripes....

    as Wanda
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