Country music is among the most listened-to music genres. It has its own Hall of Fame, its own national, annual awards ceremony and its own Billboard charts. Some of its biggest stars, like Johnny Cash, are among the best know entertainers in American history.
It is only smart for entertainment companies to mix country movies with films. It is part of the kind of winning combination of contemporary music overall and movie, that helped stars like Elvis to become even bigger stars.
24/7 Tempo has identified the best movie for fans of country music based on critic and user ratings. Each film offers we looked at has something special for music fans, especially those drawn to the narrative qualities of country and western. Many of these films we considered feature well-known country performers in dramatic roles.
To determine the best movies for fans of country music, 24/7 Tempo created an index based on each film’s Rotten Tomatoes average critic rating, Rotten Tomatoes average audience rating and IMDb average user rating. The Internet Movie Database is an online movie database owned by Amazon, while Rotten Tomatoes is an online movie and TV review aggregator. To be considered, each film needed to have some connection to country music, either thematically or with regard to the talent involved.
According to this analysis, “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” made in 1980, is the best movie for country music fans. Directed by Michael Apted, the 124-minute film stars Sissy Spacek, Tommy Lee Jones and Levon Helm. It tells the story of Loretta Lynn, from her youth “in a cabin on a hill in Butcher Holler” through her rise to country superstardom. Anchored by an Oscar-winning lead performance by Spacek (who in 1983 would release her own country music album), the movie is a must-see for fans of Lynn and the country genre. In 2019, the movie was selected by the Library of Congress for inclusion in the National Film Registry.
Click here to see all the best movies for country music fans.