Country music biopics that'll have you crying in your beer
Whether or not ''Walk the Line" outperforms last year's ''Ray," it's guaranteed a prominent place among biopics with country music roots. Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon may be gussied-up versions of Johnny Cash and June Carter, but they don't have to try very hard to be miles above Chad Lowe in ''Take Me Home: The John Denver Story."
In fact, many of the better film and television biopics are so hard to find -- John Carpenter's ''Elvis," for example -- that we're inclined to pad the genre with whatever fiction comes close to fact, including ''Nashville," ''Payday," ''Songwriter," ''Pure Country," and ''Honeysuckle Rose."
Yeah, we know that's cheating. But if ''Walk the Line" puts you in a mood for two-stepping, here are five country biopics worth revisiting, and one faux biopic that needs to be part of any serious movie fan's viewing resume.
''COAL MINER'S DAUGHTER" (1980)
Directed by Michael Apted, this mother of all country music biopics stars Sissy Spacek as the lady in high-collared lace, Loretta Lynn, who rose from Kentucky pauper to Nashville royalty. Tommy Lee Jones nearly steals the show as the singer's impresario/husband, and Beverly D'Angelo makes a voluptuous, near-perfect Patsy Cline.
Pure country ingredient: Music supervision is by legendary producer Owen Bradley, who guided Lynn and Cline's best works.
Song pick: ''I'm a Honky Tonk Girl," reminding us of a time when all it took to conquer radio was talent, gumption, and gas in the car.
Hats off to: The Band drummer Levon Helm, showing a flair for the dramatic as Loretta's coal-mining dad.
Lip service: Who knew Carrie could sing? Not only did Spacek win an Oscar for this role, she was nominated for a Grammy, too.
''SWEET DREAMS" (1985)
Jessica Lange has her hands full playing fiery Patsy Cline, the late great queen of country ballads, but she manages to make this an entertaining ride, especially with Ed Harris along to play her abusive husband and soul mate. The soundtrack is the best, of course, even when it's not-so-seamlessly bumping up against Lange's put-on deep Southern accent.
Pure country ingredient: Want to know why all those songs about lyin' and cheatin' ring so true? Watch.
Song pick: Has to be Cline's enduring rendition of ''Crazy," maybe the sweetest sound that heartache has ever made.
Hats off to: Screenwriter Robert Getchell, who has Cline respond to her manager's assumption that she wants to be Kitty Wells: ''Hell no! I want to be Hank Williams!"
Lip service: Since Jessica Lange is no k.d. lang, it's probably best that the filmmakers stuck with Cline's original recordings.
''BOUND FOR GLORY" (1976)
This superbly photographed film (with cinematography by Haskell Wexler, who pioneers feature-film use of the Steadicam) stars David Carradine as Woody Guthrie, the labor-friendly folk singer who raised America's consciousness. Hal Ashby directs, mapping Guthrie's vagabond trek from the Texas Dust Bowl to California's orchards and airwaves. It's quiet but effective, and Carradine's way more credible as a singing cowboy than he was as a Shaolin monk.
Pure country ingredient: Often compared with ''The Grapes of Wrath," which coincidentally featured John Carradine, David's dad.
Song pick: Guthrie's ''This Land Is Your Land" introduces a free-for-all fistfight in a crowded boxcar. Nice.
Hats off to: Whoever cast Randy Quaid as a disgruntled fruit picker.
Lip service: Carradine does his own very capable singing. He even yodels.
''THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY" (1978)
This chapter of musical history is about a bespectacled boy from Lubbock, Texas, who became a rock 'n' roll star by fusing country with bebop and R&B. It's most notable for Gary Busey's career-making performance, even if that career hasn't sparkled much since.
Pure country ingredient: Crickets. There are only two backing up Holly on film -- rather than the three who rounded out the band in real life -- but they sound pretty authentic.
Song pick: ''That'll Be the Day." It didn't work when toned down for the suits, and neither did the rest of Holly's Nashville experience.
Hats off to: The Cricket who had a girlfriend named Peggy Sue. Otherwise we'd be singing ''Cindy Lou," which just ain't right.
Lip service: Busey did all his own singing, incredibly recorded live. Yet the Oscar still went to Jon Voight in ''Coming Home."
''YOUR CHEATIN' HEART" (1964)
George Hamilton (yes, the man with the permanent tan) stars as Hank Williams, whose brief life yielded some of the most influential country songs of all time. Catch this hard-to-find tribute on Turner Classic Movies tonight at 8.
Pure country ingredient: Liquor, and lots of it.
Song pick: From the title track to ''I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," they're all gems.
Hats off to: Director Gene Nelson, whose many contributions to the Hillbilly Hollywood genre include ''Hootenanny Hoot" (starring Johnny Cash) and ''Kissin' Cousins" (Elvis).
Lip service: Hamilton wanted to do his own singing, but cooler heads prevailed to let 15-year-old Hank Williams Jr. re-create his father's vocals for the soundtrack. See what happened next in 1983's ''Living Proof: The Hank Williams Jr. Story" starring (no joke) Richard Thomas.
''A FACE IN THE CROWD" (1957)
Andy Griffith has never been farther from Mayberry than when he made his startling big-screen debut playing Lonesome Rhodes, a fictional Arkansas country singer with real familiar demons and ambitions. Not only does Griffith bring a chilling combination of good-old-boy charm and megalomania, but the sharp social commentary is written by Budd Schulberg and directed by Elia Kazan, who also teamed for ''On the Waterfront." Patricia Neal and Walter Matthau costar.
Pure country ingredient: Lonesome calls his guitar ''Mama." Why, he even sings about it.
Song pick: Any tune that gets a fella out of jail is a keeper. In this movie, that's ''Free Man in the Morning."
Hats off to: Lee Remick, making her motion picture debut as a home-wrecking baton twirler.
Lip service: Lonesome doesn't actually sing all that much, but when he does, Griffith lays it on nice and thick.
Janice Page can be reached at jpage22@hotmail.com. 
