Today it looks much better, and contains one of Eastwood's most openhearted performances.
Honkytonk Man (1982)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 14
Fresh: 13
Rotten:1
Average Rating: 7/10
Runtime: 2 hrs 3 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Clint Eastwood's HONKYTONK MAN is certainly one of the actor-director's gentler works. The low-key period film takes place during the depression, with Eastwood starring as Red Stovall, a struggling... Clint Eastwood's HONKYTONK MAN is certainly one of the actor-director's gentler works. The low-key period film takes place during the depression, with Eastwood starring as Red Stovall, a struggling country singer on the verge of his big break. Red's been invited to audition for the Grand Ole Opry, but as the film opens, he's a long way from success. He shows up at his sister's Oklahoma home drunk, in a stolen car, and suffering from tuberculosis. His sister ends up sending her son, Whit (Kyle Eastwood), along with Red to Nashville to make sure he gets to his audition in one piece. The interaction between Red and his 14-year-old nephew is the focus of the film. Eastwood again plays a rather unreliable type. Red is a bit of a scoundrel, and he and Whit get into quite a bit of trouble on their way to Tennessee, as Red's health deteriorates. At one point, they pick up a teenage prostitute (Alexa Kenin) who begs them to take her along to Nashville so she can pursue a singing career. Eastwood's film captures the period and the desperate straits of his characters perfectly while maintaining a light and humorous tone. [More]
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Kyle Eastwood, Alexa Kenin, John McIntire
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Kyle Eastwood, Alexa Kenin, John McIntire
Director: Clint Eastwood
Director: Clint Eastwood
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Reviews for Honkytonk Man
It is a guileless tribute not only to plain values of plain people in Depression America, but also to the sweet spirit of country-and-western music before it got all duded up for the urban cowboys.
More of a curiosity piece for followers of Eastwood than a truly compelling story.
Eastwood took great pains in telling this story of an aging, struggling country singer...
The whole thing veers wildly in quality, and no Eastwood-hater should go within a mile of it; but few lovers of American cinema could fail to be moved by a venture conceived so recklessly against the spirit of its times.
This is a sweet, whimsical, low-key movie, a movie that makes you feel good without pressing you too hard.
The film comes across sympathetically but unconvincingly, as an attempt by a well-established movie tough guy to reveal his tender side.
Clint Eastwood’s dust bowl drama Honkytonk Man is a sensitive road picture about a mostly luckless aspiring country music singer.
Uneven, indulgent and overlong, but, perversely, it still has a few good moments: the appearance of the some country greats, Eastwood's character trying to sing through his illness, the picturesque scenery.
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