Songwriter

Songwriter (1984)

He got mad when they took his money and his business. But when they tried to take his songs... Nobody ever had a better time getting even.

Doc Jenkins may be one of country music's most beloved stars, but his private life is a wreck. He's split up with his longtime partner, Blackie Buck, a country outlaw with a heart of gold. Doc's singer-wife, Honey Carder, has thrown him out of the house. And now he's gotten involved with a sleazy music manager, Rodeo Rocky, who's out to steal his material. Teaming up with Blackie, Doc takes drastic measures to win back his family and reclaim his songs.

Date of release
1984-10-14
TMDB
5.5 / 10 (19)
Runtime
1h 34m
Genres
Drama, Music
Director
Alan Rudolph

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Awards: 0 · Nominations: 1

Songwriter is a 1984 American satirical comedy-drama film directed by Alan Rudolph. At the 57th Academy Awards, it received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Adaptation Score for Kris Kristofferson.

Production

The film came out of conversations the writer Bud Shrake had with Willie Nelson. A script was written which Shrake said "it’s been described as a surreal version of the Willie’s life story, which it sorta is, but it’s sorta like my life story too, and everybody else’s who’s tried to make a living in show business.” It was originally envisioned the film would star Nelson and Waylon Jennings.

The project was set up at Warner Bros but then Nelson decided to make Honeysuckle Rose (1980) which was a box office disappointment. This delayed filming. The project was reactivated when Kris Kristofferson agreed to co-star, and Sydney Pollack came on board as producer.

The film was originally directed by Steve Rash, best known for The Buddy Holly Story. Filming started on 18 October 1983 in Austin Texas. Two weeks into the shoot Rash was fired after conflicts with Pollack.

The movie was offered to Alan Rudolph who called it "a directing job that everyone was turning down, the kind of situation Kristofferson might say was ‘enough to kill a normal man.’" However he did it in order to pay for the rights to use some songs he wanted for Choose Me. Filming resumed four days later, with the delay causing a reported $1.5 million to be added to the budget.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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