Sweet Dreams (1985 film)

Sweet Dreams is a 1985 American biographical film which tells the story of country music singer Patsy Cline.

The film was written by Robert Getchell and directed by Karel Reisz. It stars Jessica Lange, Ed Harris, Ann Wedgeworth, David Clennon, James Staley, Gary Basaraba, John Goodman, and P. J. Soles.

The film was nominated for Academy Award for Best Actress (Jessica Lange). For all the musical sequences, Lange lip-synced to the original Patsy Cline recordings. The soundtrack of the same name was released in September 1985. This film has developed a cult following based on Lange’s acclaimed performance.

Plot
Patsy Cline (Jessica Lange) is unhappily married and playing small-time gigs in the tri-state area consisting of Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland when she meets Charlie Dick (Ed Harris), whose charm and aggressive self-confidence catch her attention. Patsy is married but is planning to divorce. After her divorce, Patsy and Charlie marry, and she is free to pursue music, and focus on raising their children. After Charlie gets drafted into the U.S. Army, Patsy focuses on singing more, 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 physically and emotionally abusive as Patsy 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 (inaccuracies)
For the scenes at an Army post, supposedly Fort Bragg, North Carolina, filming took place at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, instead. Other scenes were shot in Nashville, Tennessee, Martinsburg, West Virginia and Hagerstown, Maryland.

Many of the sequences depicted in the film are 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 on June 14, not in the winter.
 * Patsy's husband, Charlie Dick, and their daughter, Julie, have both stated that Charlie had never hit Patsy in front of their daughter. Charlie has said that he had slapped Patsy only once for becoming hysterical Patsy's relatives have said that Patsy is portrayed more as a victim than she really was. "Their fights were always interesting to watch because you always knew Patsy would win", claimed friend Dottie West. However, other family members insist that Patsy was very badly beaten and sent to a hospital on numerous occasions.
 * Patsy's airplane crashed at 6:20 p.m. in a forest—not into a mountain cliff—near Camden, Tennessee. (There is no mountain at all in West Tennessee.)
 * The plane crashed because of pilot disorientation during bad weather, not due to difficulties in restarting the engine after switching from an empty fuel tank to a full one. Randy Hughes (Patsy's manager and the pilot of the aircraft), who was not instrument-rated, became disoriented in the inclement weather and eventually lost control.
 * The aircraft in the crash was a Piper Comanche, not a Cessna 172 Skyhawk, as in the film.
 * Patsy's mother, the late Hilda Hensley, 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 as Patsy Cline
 * Ed Harris as Charlie Dick, Patsy's husband
 * Ann Wedgeworth as Hilda Patterson Hensley, Patsy's mother
 * David Clennon as Randy Hughes, Patsy's manager and pilot of the ill-fated aircraft in which Patsy was killed
 * James Staley as Gerald Cline, Patsy's first husband
 * Gary Basaraba as Woodhouse
 * John Goodman as Otis
 * P. J. Soles as Wanda
 * Jerry Haynes as legendary Nashville producer Owen Bradley
 * Dennis Saylor as an uncredited extra
 * Boxcar Willie as a man in jail with Charlie

Reception
Lange received critical acclaim for her performance. The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
 * 2004: AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs:
 * "Crazy" – Nominated

As of December 2018, the film holds a rating of 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 20 reviews.