Michael's Movie Grade: A+
A wonderful documentary on country music and comedy icon, Minnie Pearl.
Many of you who read this blog, know that I am huge country music fan. Because of this Minnie Pearl is a major name to me. She may have been a comedian, rather than a musician but few names are respected more in country music circles than Minnie Pearl. With her many years of performing on the Grand Ole Opry and country music variety show, Hee Haw, she became the greatest goodwill ambassador, country music ever had, as well as for many country music fans becoming just as much a country music icon as any musician.
For only having an hour and a half runtime this film not only gives a great overview of the career of Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon, the woman who became Minnie Pearl, but also helps anyone understand why she is so revered. Despite the short runtime, this film never seems to be rushing through things and at times can be quite in depth. What makes this essential viewing for all fans of Minnie Pearl is the wonderful audio recordings of the woman herself talking about her career. Even if you know the facts about her life to hear all this from her own mouth is something special. It gives you a wonderful peak into just who this woman really was. It also helps us see the differences between Sarah and Minnie, and also the ways that they were truly the same person. By listening to her voice and what she says, you can see how truly grateful and blessed she felt to be a part of the Grand Ole Opry and the country music community. It is impossible to describe the value this audio recordings have to us Minnie Pearl fans. Yet this is not the only joy of the film. This movie features some of the biggest names in country music such as Bill Anderson, Tanya Tucker, Jeannie Seely, Barbra Mandrell, Reba McEntire, Dwight Yoakam, K.D. Lang and Garth Brooks as well as Minnie's Hee Haw co-star Brabi Benton, all of whom talk about Minnie with complete and utter reverence. The scenes when they talk about meeting Minnie, are also incredibly valuable to us fans. They are also sometimes, quite emotional. This is especially true of when Dwight Yoakam talks about meeting her. There is no doubt that Dwight is getting quite emotional thinking about Minnie and this makes us have an even greater appreciation for Minnie. Making this movie even better are that there are some truly wonderful clips of Minnie on such TV Shows as Hee Haw, The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show, The Dean Martin Show, This is Your Life and Your Show of Shows. All of these show Minnie to her best advantage and I laugh out loud quite a few times with these clips. This is pure down home unsophisticated country humor at its absolute best. For newcomers, this movie also provides a nice summary of her career, from a young girl dreaming of becoming a serious dramatic actress to her first appearance on the Opry to her friendships with country music legends (especially Roy Acuff) to her rightful place as country music's finest comedian.
If I had watched this movie, never having heard of Minnie Pearl, I would automatically become a huge fan. This to me is the highest compliment you can pay to a documentary like this. Whether you are a fan of Minnie Pearl or not, this is a must watch movie.
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