The life of country legend Tammy Wynette gets the TV movie treatment, a good but not great film, but very well acted by its leading lady, Annette O'Toole. She's not showy like Sissy Spacek was as Loretta Lynn or Beverly D'Angelo and Jessica Lange as Patsy Cline, but that's the perfect way to present such a humble songstress who presented her music as written with little frills and from the heart.
The movie focuses on her personal life with husband George Jones, and throughout the film, she's referred to as Mrs. Jones, not her famous surname, so in that sense, she did stand by her man. That is until she had to accept the fact that her marriage was not a good one. He's not abusive from the start, just unfaithful and difficult to live with, but it's later on that his problems take a violent turn.
Surprisingly, there's little of Wynette's music to dominate the film, so it's character focused, and celebrates her survival past the obvious decision to move on from her man. O'Toole does a great job in this role (perhaps her best), and it never feels like an imitation. Wynette scored a few years after this with a role on the soap "Capitol", still lovely and still singing, and this film aides in the magic of her legacy.
The movie focuses on her personal life with husband George Jones, and throughout the film, she's referred to as Mrs. Jones, not her famous surname, so in that sense, she did stand by her man. That is until she had to accept the fact that her marriage was not a good one. He's not abusive from the start, just unfaithful and difficult to live with, but it's later on that his problems take a violent turn.
Surprisingly, there's little of Wynette's music to dominate the film, so it's character focused, and celebrates her survival past the obvious decision to move on from her man. O'Toole does a great job in this role (perhaps her best), and it never feels like an imitation. Wynette scored a few years after this with a role on the soap "Capitol", still lovely and still singing, and this film aides in the magic of her legacy.