good back-story, and good acting

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Honkeytonk Man (1982)Plot In A Paragraph: Red Stovall (an auburn haired Eastwood) a sick (tuberculosis) country-western musician, has just been invited to audition for the Grand Ole Opry, his chance of a lifetime to become a success. So with his nephew Whitt in tow, he sets off to achieve his dream.Clint Eastwood played his own guitar work and performed his own vocals for this picture. Clearly this is a very personal movie for Eastwood, not least as his son Kylie is acting with him. Honkeytonk Man is one of the most surprising changes of pace in Eastwood's career, partly because Red is an ailing man. He is clearly enjoying himself playing the sly, hard drinking and debaunched Red. For me it's one of his best performances. I actually think he was deserving of an Oscar nomination at least. I'm not saying he should have won, as Ben Gingsly (Ghandi) was a worthy winner in a year that also had Paul Newman (The Verdict) and Dustin Hoffman (Tootsie) nominated.Kyle Eastwood (coached by Sondra Locke) delivers a fine performance that silenced any naysayers that he got the role purely because of his dad. Red and Whitt become partners in crime, a little like what Butch and Philip would be in future Eastwood movie A Perfect World. Both these films equally explore redemption (for the senior character) and rights of passage (for the junior) only this movie makes more of a childs entrance in to adult hood. Of the rest of the cast Alexa Kenin (who tragically died a few years after this movie, in a death that has never been explained) is charming and sweet and John McIntire is great as Grandpa. But I despise Barry Corbin, in his second Eastwood movie, he appeared in several Burt Reynolds movies of this era too, and his voice just irritates me. For such a serious movie, it has some scenes (dim witted cops and jail breaks) that would not look out of place in a movie where Clint is playing Philo Beddo!! Personally, I don't know how any lover of movies, can not be moved by Honkeytonk Man, but it seems to be a movie nobody seen at the time, and nobody remembers now. In a year that saw a new breed of hero, with Sly Stallone bringing Rambo to the screen for the first time in First Blood and Arnold Schwarzenegger play Conan for the first time in Conan The Barbarian. Sadly audiences had no interest in seeing an ailing Eastwood, and Honkeytonk Man failed to draw in audiences of even modest proportions (for an Eastwood movie) and disappointingly it only grossed $4million at the domestic box office to end the year as the 100th highest grossing movie of 1982.

How wonderful to have a decent, hometown movie, pairing a Western film legend with his own son. Eastwood delivers fine presence in this forgotten classic (originally aired on HBO, in my area) .. While Kyle showed definite promise as a young actor. And brilliant of Eastwood to cast so many fine, talented familiar faces in the supportive and featured roles. Loved seeing Verna Bloom again, after High Plains Drifter. And Tracey Walter left me in stitches with his tasty quips.Perhaps it did poorly at the box-office because Eastwood fans got so accustomed to his signature gun-slinging, cuss-fighting, or bare-fisted films - none of which this one included. It was plain hometown family-style goodness, with some good country singing.

"Honkytonk Man" is like a dust sandwich... it's like being sucker-punched by a theme-park cowboy in Pioneer Town and lying on the ground while he pours Luke-warm Dr. Pepper on your face... it's like having to listen to a toothless old man with a guitar ramble on about days gone by, telling bold-faced lies and forgetting the lyrics to popular songs...Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating just a little, but not by much. Clint Eastwood stars in and directs this coma-paced country/western daydream without any sense of plot, or urgency, or tension. Or humor.Clint plays Red Stovall, a country singer stricken with tuberculosis, except as usual, Clint is really just playing Clint, only this time he has a guitar. The movie floats from one vague encounter to another without any highs or lows or emotional significance. Clint plays a bad ass, then a balladeer, then a good ol' boy, then a bandit, without ever connecting any of the dots. The movie looks like it's stitched together from deleted scenes from Clint's other movies. That's not a compliment.The movie is a long, dry, musty road trip through the Depresson-Era dust bowl. And guess what?!? Grandpa's coming along for the ride! (That should liven things up.) I can't remember any movie ever seeming more LONELY... none of the actors elicit any kind of emotional response. Verna Bloom pops up to alert us that she's still lactating in her mid-forties, and Alexa Kenin is the bangable pubescent we'd all love to find in the trunk of our car.Other than that there's nothing going on here. I can't imagine what drove Clint to make this film, or how he could possibly justify its two hour-plus runtime. I'd prefer the sucker punch and Dr. Pepper.GRADE: D+

I have seen this movie many times and i think its the best movie in the world.Every time i watch it i cry, its sad,its funny and its a side of Clint Eastwood i have never seen before.I would like to know if Clint Eastwood sang the songs and i would like to know who wrote the songs and if i can purchase them anywhere.Marty Robbins and Ray Price were just great,i love the sound of Marty Robbins.I want to buy the book by Clancy Carlile if i can find it,i am in the process of looking it up on the internet or if anyone can help me find it i would appreciate it.It was great to see Kyle Eastwood play the part of Red Stovall,has he been in many movies since then? if any which ones? Well thats all for now see you soon Michael M.