“Patsy & Loretta” Offers Dramatic Take on a Legendary Friendship
If you didn’t get your fill of country music history from the recent Ken Burns PBS documentary on the subject, the dramatic film Patsy & Loretta will premier on the Lifetime channel at 8:00 p.m., 7:00 p.m. Central on Saturday (10-19). Though other films have touched on the careers of Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn as they intertwined in the early 60’s—including the critically-acclaimed Loretta Lynn biopic Coal Miner’s Daughter from 1980—the new film focuses on the friendship between the two stars exclusively.
Megan Hilty, who appeared in the music drama series Smash as well as the theater adaptation of 9 to 5, plays Patsy Cline. Jessie Mueller, who won a Tony Award in 2014 for portraying Carol King in a musical, plays Loretta Lynn. Many familiar names worked on the Patsy & Loretta project, including director Callie Khouri who wrote Thelma & Louise and was a major figure behind the recent Nashville television series. The script was written by Angelina Burnett, and the film was shot on location in Nashville in March of 2019.
Though some may be concerned that the film will carry a made-for-TV feel since it’s being shown on Lifetime, a trailer for the film (see below) shows that the subject matter will not be all rosy, and the story will delve deep into the complicated relationships the two women faced both with their men, and the music business. Lifetime is also calling the film the network’s “Movie Event of the Year,” and have put a lot of time and effort into promoting the film.
Patsy Cline’s daughter Julie Fudge and Loretta Lynn’s daughter Patsy Lynn Russell also worked on the film as co-producers, and have endorsed the film. “We were able to help [the filmmakers] maneuver through this story from the family’s point of view, and I feel like they valued that and respected us as a resources,” Julie Fudge tells Billboard.
But the film does take some dramatic license with the story according to the two daughters. For example, the film portrays Patsy Cline as being alone in the car when she has her traumatic accident in 1961, when in truth her brother was in the car with her. Loretta’s husband, Oliver “Doolittle” Lynn, is cast as one of the villains in the film, when this isn’t exactly historically accurate either. “They’ve got my dad looking like a total asshole, and he wasn’t,” says Patsy Lynn Russell. “It’s OK, I always say, ‘It doesn’t matter in any business you’re in someone has to be the asshole,’ and so they picked my dad.”
Patsy Cline was already an established star when Loretta Lynn showed up to Nashville with a $17 guitar. Instead of Patsy seeing Loretta as a potential competitor or replacement, she took Loretta under her wing, and they soon became close friends, touring partners, and confidants, helping each other through the struggles of fame and familial problems.
The friendship of the two country legends came to a tragic end when Patsy Cline died in 1963 at the age of 30 in a plane crash that also took the lives of Hawkshaw Hawkins and Cowboy Copas. Meanwhile Loretta would go on to be known as the First Lady of Country Music, and is still recording and releasing music today at the age of 87.
‘Patsy & Loretta’ premiers on Lifetime channel at 8:00 p.m., 7:00 p.m. Central Saturday (10-19).
October 19, 2019 @ 11:10 am
Thanks for the reminder! I forgot this was on tonight. Ironically, Loretta’s “Wings Upon Your Horns” has been stuck in my head all day…
October 19, 2019 @ 11:55 am
I thought Tammy was always known as the First Lady of country music?
October 19, 2019 @ 4:59 pm
Definitely, according to “No-Show Jones.”
October 19, 2019 @ 7:18 pm
I think Tammy got the title more because of her union to George than anything else, don’t know he actually perpetuated it. I do believe Loretta had it first, and it’s how they introduce her in Coal Miner’s Daughter (the movie). I’ve always believed LL went with it because really the only other honorary title in Country for a girl singer is Queen, and she loved Kitty so much & knew that belonged to her (publicly heard her condemn being called Queen for that very reason when an interviewer referred to her as such, Class act because I’ve never heard anyone else they’ve so promiscuously introduced as the Queen of Country Music ((& much less unreservedly)) do the same).
October 19, 2019 @ 11:05 pm
Listen to the song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikE6bt_Iblc
October 20, 2019 @ 5:30 am
Lulu belle was the first queen of country music keep going back
October 19, 2019 @ 6:37 pm
We were seriously questioning how much input or influence Julie & Patsy actually had on this going from the glimpse of the horrendously inaccurate portrayal of Mooney in this clip, not to mention the fixed casting of 2 Broadway/Theater actresses who have no background in Country Music or even a basic appreciation or understanding of P&L or the Country Music world in the 50s & 60s….so I’m halfway glad to hear this but also wtf Patsy?!?!?! Every movie has to have a jerk and this time it’s my Dad even though we know it’s not true!?!?!?!?!! A ton of people are gonna see this garbage between the premiere and no doubt 1000 reairings, including a lot of ignorant people who know nothing beforehand and will draw their opinions from this. What a terrible and totally irresponsible move. Shame on them
October 19, 2019 @ 9:52 pm
I respect the idea that to make a movie like this and have it be compelling to general audiences, you have to take some license with the truth, and you probably need a “villain.” I’m glad this movie was made because it keeps the legacies of these two important women top of mind. But the fact that some of the information is not historically accurate is one of the reasons I wanted to post this article. It’s okay to embellish parts of a “based on actual events” story. But it’s also important for the public to know what was embellished.
October 20, 2019 @ 7:25 am
And we are 60 years removed from these events… who knows what’s “the truth.”
I’m 42 and when I’m with old friends and retelling stories I always quantify the story with “who knows how much of this is really happened, because this story has been retold a million times.”
October 20, 2019 @ 1:32 pm
I swear I saw a clip where RW Hubbard was on stage telling the story behind “Up Against the Wall…”. Another guy on stage said “I’ve heard this story” and RWH says “listen up I made it way better”.
October 21, 2019 @ 3:07 pm
Lol, well, he us portrayed as a rapust in coal miners daughter.
And he was a chronic no good cheater.
By Loretta’s own words, he would smack her around.
I hate to break it to Patsy Lynn, bjt Mooney was an asshole.
And lol, ain’t nothing wrong with being in the theatre.
October 20, 2019 @ 1:41 am
If you have to slander people to make a compelling movie, I’d say you don’t have a compelling enough story in the first place, and maybe you should rethink doing it at all.
October 20, 2019 @ 6:44 am
Anyone watch this? Just curious on opinions. I would like to check it out but we don’t have cable. Hopefully amazon or Netflix will pick this up.
October 20, 2019 @ 6:54 am
I just thoroughly enjoyed this movie and figured they were taking a few liberties with the truth as Hollywood usually does. I was pleasantly surprised at how much music was presented and it’s high quality sound wise, kind of like the first season of “Nashville”.
I was a big fan of the major network TV series “Smash” a few years back and the competition between Megan Hilti’s character as an established Broadway star versus small town girl newcomer Katherine McPhee. The music presented in that series was excellent and I’m not even a fan of Broadway musicals.
Finally, I’d just like to say if a biographical musical about Loretta Lynn is in the works with a title of say “Always Loretta Lynn”, then Jessie Mueller gets my vote to star in the lead role.
October 20, 2019 @ 7:19 am
I watched it; it was ok. It probably would have been better as a mini series.
My favorite part was Cline trying to singalong with Willie’s demo of crazy.
October 20, 2019 @ 7:38 am
It’s no ‘Coal Miner’s Daughter,’ but all dramatic license aside, I thought it was one of the more enjoyable musical biopics / docudramas I’ve seen in recent years. 🙂 By limiting its scope in such a way, it didn’t try to cram in too much info at the expense of developing the characters, giving each scene more of a chance to breathe.
As for the leading ladies, Hilty was my favorite on ‘Smash’ and I loved her as Patsy in this; Mueller did a very nice job too, though it took me longer to get used to seeing her as Loretta.
October 21, 2019 @ 1:10 am
After watching the film, it seemed that both actresses played their roles in a very understated manner, almost playing down the various traits that both legends are known for – Patsy’s famous vulgarities and Loretta’s lovable hillbilly ignorance especially seem to have been played down, here. My guess is that all involved realized that the prior films about the ladies’ lives (Coal Miner’s Daughter / Sweet Dreams) starred much more accomplished and skilled actresses (Spacek and Lange) in the roles and neither could actually bring more to the project, than those Oscar-winning actresses, so the decision was made to scale back on the personalities, etc. That said, it’s not a bad film, just much less of a quality depiction of those legendary lives than what came before it.
October 22, 2019 @ 4:43 pm
I thought the movie was great, especially for a TV movie. I enjoyed watching with my husband who wasn’t super familiar with each of their stories. Next up on his to-do list is watch Coal Miner’s Daughter. I think folks who have scarce knowledge about their friendship will really enjoy it and I thought the actresses did a great job. Especially Jessie Mueller as Loretta – she nailed that accent!
Finally, as far as creative liberties go, I’m reminded of this quote from Loretta herself:
“If he smacked me or anything, I’d stand up and be fightin’ him just like I’d be fightin’ the other woman,” Lynn says of the man who was notorious for his drinking and womanizing. “He’d smack me, I’d smack him; he’d pull my hair, I pulled his hair. That’s the way it was.” Lynn describes one such fight that started when he came home drunk. She threw a punch and was shocked when she made contact with his mouth. “I heard teeth hittin’ the floor and thought, ‘Ooh, I’m dead. He not gonna put up with this.’ But he laughed.” Doolittle lost two front teeth in the dust-up, and only had them replaced after Loretta started making money singing. “He was kind of proud of it,” she notes. “He’d tell ’em the old lady knocked ’em out.” Lynn also once emptied an entire bowl of beans over Doo’s head when he passed out drunk at the dinner table.
The movie shows Doo being sweet at times, especially after Loretta is at Patsy’s house after the crash. From my understanding, the depiction of Doo is what I imagined him to be like – a mess at times and downright an asshole, but also loved Loretta. She loved him. She has admitted many times it wasn’t always rainbows and sunshine. The movie shows that.
October 22, 2019 @ 11:02 pm
I watched it, thought it was classy for a cable movie… had a lot of heart… and some real laugh out loud moments… of course we all know how it ends, sad like a country song.
I was pleasantly surprised by it.
August 7, 2022 @ 10:03 am
I love Patsy and Loretta.I also love Willie Nelson,Hank Williams Sr..I love Country music and I am French Creole, African American and some more.Music is universal.That’s why WH was able to sing Dolly’s song I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU like that and Aretha sang Simon and Garfunkel’s BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATERS and took it to Church.I can’t wait to see Patsy and Loretta.Thank you so much.I love you all.Sincerely, Casey Grimes-Finley, Chicago,Illinois