Dolly Parton's Coat Of Many Colors (NBC) - General Discussion

[Tara Ariano]

The life and career of country-music star Dolly Parton is chronicled.

[Rick Kitchen]

Is it?  I thought this movie only covered Dolly's life for the year she was nine years old.

[Tara Ariano]

Is it?  I thought this movie only covered Dolly's life for the year she was nine years old.

 

 No idea, just copy-pasted the TV Guide blurb.

[babyhouseman]

She was nine years old. It was what I expected, a family film. I've been to Dollywood many times, and I wanted to see what the movie would be like. 

[Rick Kitchen]

I keep snarling, "In this time period, there is no way a teacher would allow these bratty kids to behave like that in school."  Plus, Dolly was a brat, wasn't she?

[Rosieroo]

Well I'm just going to jump right in with both feet and say I loved every cheesy over the top bad accent minute of it.  I'm a sucker for Dolly and those kids were so cute I was on board from the first. the only bad thing... Ricky Schroeder made me feel about 100 years old.  When did he grow so up?  

[alexa]

I was surprised by how much I liked this movie.  Cheesy or not, very well done :-)  Has Jennifer Nettles acted before?  I thought she did a great job.

[Frost]

I liked it for what it was, a feel good family film.  I couldn't help but wish for a version of the story that wasn't executive produced by Dolly and wasn't so targeted for the Christmas season.  A less saccharine movie could have been really good.  I can't help but compare it to the original TV movie about the Waltons.  A lot of the same story components, but I think it had a grittier feel and was therefore more touching.

 

Jennifer Nettles was wonderful!  How good could The Sound of Music have been with her as the lead?  Although I don't know if she has Julie Andrew's vocal range.

 

The actress playing Dolly was adorable and did a great job.  Her scene yelling at God from the baby's grave site was heartbreaking.  I too was shocked that the teacher let the kids get away with being so disrespectful - Dolly most of all!  I know she's known for her "sass" but I would have thought she'd have gotten a lot more whuppin' back in those days.

 

I wish we'd gotten some back story on Judy, as well as the Sanders.  At least we found out that the death of their mother had some bearing on them being bullies ( a little too facile an explanation, but whatever).  Why did Judy become so attached to Dolly?  She looked to be several years older.  Didn't she have any family of her own?  Did she even have a home?  She seemed to live in the woods and judging by her clothes she was poorer than the Partons.

Edited December 11, 2015 by Frost

[Runningwild]

I loved this movie. Cried several times. We need more movies like this that don't mock Christianity but embrace it.

[JAYJAY1979]

According to reports, the movie was viewed by 12.8 million viewers and a decent 18 to 49 demo. Overall, it proves that Dolly parton plus a quality movie during the holidays will bring viewers to the networks.

Maybe this will spur the networks to get back into tv movies..at least during the Christmas season.

[rcc]

It did well in the ratings too. I thought it was a good movie. Sappy yes, but sometimes I like that.

 

http://tvline.com/2015/12/11/nbc-coat-of-many-colors-ratings/

[Rick Kitchen]

Apparently the little girl who played Dolly has been on Young & the Restless for several years.  She has been praised in the past for her work on that show.  But I would guess that the accent was not her natural accent.  She did a good job with that.

[Diana Berry]

I liked it, too.

Jennifer Nettles was impressive. It was also nice seeing Rick Schroeder back on tv. Maybe he will do more movies or find a series that he likes.

[Irlandesa]

I had this one while I surfed the internet because nothing else was on and I like Dolly Parton.  It was cheesy in its overall optimism despite all the problems but it was a strong cheese.  I think casting had a lot to do with it.  The sentimentality was handled well. 

 

And I'm agnostic but the religious aspect worked better for me here than it does in other movies because it was about how characters approached religion and their religious differences.  There was not some miraculous fix.

 

I'm surprised it aired so late, though.  This was the definition of a family film that would have worked earlier.  Anyway, I do think this is going to be a movie that has legs in reruns. 

My only regret is that they didn't have more music. I know this was about Dolly's early life but I think it would have been fitting to have more of her music used as a backdrop to the action.

[methodwriter85]

This was done pretty damn well. Jennifer Neetles was really good, and the younger Lind sister was great. Glad to hear it was a rousing success.

[Blergh]

I FINALLY watched this on DVR and I have to say I liked this one a great deal. Rick Kitchen, I do think that the Dolly as a child COULD be a brat at times (and definitely tried both her parents' patience to the virtual breaking point) however; for ALL her bragging, she did have a sincere love for her family and a strong passion for music and the beauty that surrounded her. Yes, it may have seemed trite to others her waxing about how the Smokies themselves had inspired her to sing and create songs however, they ARE quite beautiful and awe inspiring and the performer conveyed Miss Parton's genuine love for her homeplace very well. I also have to give kudos to Miss Parton herself for being willing to SHOW some of these flaws in her character as a child and NOT just have her be depicted as a saccharine, angelic, talented Mary Sue moppet. I don't recall her admiting that she HAD gotten angry at God Himself over her baby brother's death as a child, but ,if she had, it's good that she admited that and that she needed to apologize. Also, nice touch that when she DID apologize it was more like an equal friend acknowledging her own flaws to another rather than as a tiny child only doing so because she feared His Wrath if she didn't. Still, as much as I believe her baby brother's death adversely affected her as a child, I couldn't help but wonder how much different her life since then may have been had she had to care for this baby from an early age. 

     As for Jennifer Nettles? It's hard to believe that this was her very first acting job because she did an excellent job as Avie Lee Owens Parton. She was neither a flawless saint nor a doormat merely because she'd had all those children but Miss Nettles showed how she was a passionate, determined person even when she had the heartbreak of losing her youngest child.  Also, nice touch that she didn't have any illusions re her flawed husband Lee but had a great passion for him despite this. I like to think that that argument she'd had with Lee with her determined to 'win' that she did what he said she couldn't helped her as much as putting together the title coat.

   Rick Shroder also did well conveying a complicated flawed but very dedicated father to Dolly and passionate husband to Avie Lee. I'm glad they showed them having a little fun and singing despite all the odds and tragedies they had to endure.

   Ironic that Miss Nettles and Mr. Shroder were actually ten years older than the people they portrayed yet despite, neither of them having to struggle to literally keep their large family alive on a daily basis ,  I think they each did a very good job depicting them.

    Yes, this was by no means a documentary and it's likely Miss Parton's other surviving siblings have different views re these events and their childhoods but I think this was an excellent, moving tribute to their late parents as well as the family and community they grew up in.

[Rick Kitchen]

Dolly's sister Stella was in the movie as the shop keeper, so she probably agreed with the depiction.

[Blergh]

Dolly's sister Stella was in the movie as the shop keeper, so she probably agreed with the depiction.

Thanks for reminding me of that, Rick!

   Yes, I have to give benefit's doubt that Stella herself  did agree but how their numerous other sibs may view Dolly's POV could be another story (or eight).

   As for Stella's performance itself? She seemed to truly enjoy playing this well-meaning but somewhat nosy , gossipy character. It must have been with mixed emotions (perhaps even a bit cathartic) to have her (in character) gossiping about her own parents THEN having said parents (especially her father) blatantly call her (in character) on her gossip even though her character seemed to make up with them by the movie's close.

   I wonder if the bullying family recognized themselves and did they, in fact, stay friends with Dolly and the Partons  after adulthood- as per this account?

   Also, a good touch to have Gerald McRaney depicting her grandfather Reverend Owens who had understandably mixed emotions re Lee Parton but didn't want him (and therefore his adored daughter Avie Lee) to suffer.  Funny bit that ,in one of his serious talks with Lee, as God shepherding as he was-he still couldn't quite get the then- youngest boy Randy who ate dirt and worms.

    Lastly, before I forget. It was somewhat intriguing to have Dolly's well-known lifelong BFF be depicted as a female Boo Radley outcast at the outset (and I have the feeling it wasn't just for dramatic effect that the  script had the character admit having gotten used to split lips). I wonder if Miss Ogle could have possibly imagined the ride she'd hitched herself for when she became friends with Dolly and does she look upon her own childhood in the Smokies with as much affection as Miss Parton does ? In any case, I hope she enjoyed that depiction.

[mittsigirl]

I loved this movie. Cried several times. We need more movies like this that don't mock Christianity but embrace it.

Thanks for loving it and crying, just like I did! I loved that little girl that played Dolly, such a cutie, was hard to get mad at her, she was a sassy one! Wish there more movies like this to watch, couldn't have loved it anymore.

[2deadcows]

I finally watched this tonight and...I don't know why, but I was hoping and expecting this movie to be Dolly's "Coal Miner's Daughter" and it just wasn't. Granted, CMD was a motion picture and made in a different time, but COAT had none of the gravitas of CMD and I doubt it'll have any fraction of its staying power.

The younger sister, Stella, did get some of the best lines...or rather, the little actress made them sing despite their hokines. And Jennifer Nettles was a revelation.

Edited December 17, 2015 by 2deadcows

[BW Manilowe]

NBC is apparently repeating this on Christmas night at 9:00PM Eastern.

[kassa]

I too was shocked that the teacher let the kids get away with being so disrespectful

 

 

Well, she was a college girl!

 

I found the depiction of the town somewhat confusing (but that may be my ignorance, not an error on the show's part).  The children who attend the school appear to be pretty dirt poor, but the town folk seemed wealthier - they dressed like my grandmothers in the 1960s, Mrs. Parton did appear to have married "down," and to have been treated as a charity case on a fairly regular basis.  

 

A previous poster said the girl who plays Dolly is a soap actress.  So was the girl who played the Boo Radley girl -- she was on General Hospital for a while, and gave off such a creepy vibe that online snarkers dubbed her a child of the corn, to the point that the show writers started playing on that joke within the show, dressing her up as an ear of corn on the Halloween episode, etc.  Beautiful, haunting face, but the kid needs to not be typecast for her own mental health!

 

Nettles really impressed me.  She definitely has a future in acting.  

[methodwriter85]

Beautiful, haunting face, but the kid needs to not be typecast for her own mental health.

My mom thought she was Reese Witherspoon and this was an old movie. I do think if Reese ever wants a younger version of herself not played by her daughter, she should look this girl up.

 

It's kind of funny that Dolly's coat is basically going to become pretty chic by the mid-1960's when color blocks and the folk aesthetic is "in".

[Quof]

 

Nettles really impressed me.  She definitely has a future in acting.

She has already appeared on Broadway, starring in Chicago earlier this year to pretty good reviews.

[pandora spocks]

Judy Ogle was a head taller than Dolly with longer arms to match. When Dolly offered to give her store bought coat to Judy, I thought o-kay, how's this gonna work out? 

[TVFan17]

Good news for those who enjoyed this movie.  It looks as though there is going to be a Part 2, according to the website, Production Weekly.  There is no info on it on this site, but you will see the Coat of Many Colors 2 title buried in the first paragraph (in the dizzying array of titles) -- http://www.productionweekly.com/

[ennui]

On the CMA awards last night, Dolly mentioned "Christmas of Many Colors."

[ennui]

"Christmas of Many Colors," November 30 on NBC.

[Irlandesa]

I wonder how this movie will be.  I enjoyed the first one but it really walked a fine line between sentimental and cheesy.  I think they pulled it off but it may be tough to do again.

[Drapers4thWife]

So did anyone watch the sequel? I went in low expectations and this movie managed to not even clear that bar.

• I know this is a low budget TV production, but the sets were so clearly backlot fakes it was cringeworthy. Their mountain cabin looked like it was just built and decorated for a high school play. Made me appreciate the production design of one of my favorite films, Coal Miner's Daughter, even more for managing to capture the grittiness of Appalachian poverty. 
• The guy who played Uncle Billy acted like the closest he'd ever been to Tennessee was flying over it on his way to Miami. His blinding white veneers were distracting. 
• The children all had the grating commercial/Disney forced acting style going on. If you ever want to know what a bunch of California kids think Southerners sound and act like, this was your movie. 
• I amused myself by imagining Gerald McRaney's character was the same as his one from House of Cards. 
• This movie seemed to have no sense of place. How close were they to that town again, and how big is it? Is poverty the norm in the area or what? Because it's hard to imagine that a general store in a tiny Appalachian town, where most of the folk are dirt poor, would stock $70 dollar rings. The school had about 10 kids in winter, half of them Parton siblings, and all were at about the same economic level of poor (and the one kid mentions most in the area are farmers). So who the hell bought all those preserves? I could believe selling a few jars of some specialty that Avie Lee was particularly known for, but selling off what looked like a couple of hundred jars in a few days? Who could afford that, farm people who would have their own winter stock?  How, in a tiny town, did word of the Partons selling off their entire food storage not get around? How did word of Dolly singing for money not get around and back to Avie Lee? 
• Speaking of, how stupid was Lee to let the kids sell the family's entire stock of winter food? How did Avie Lee never go down to the cellar to get food in however many days? I know I'm thinking too much about this, but damnit, this crap bugs me. 
• That ending though, man was that stupid. So we get 90 minutes of filler drama about Christmas presents and the church play, then they rush through a mine collapse and Lee's rescue in what, five minutes? And I know this is a Christian film, but even by those standards the Jesus ex machina was too much. Lee is trapped! No never mind, a magic hand from a ball of light pulls him to safety and he's fine now. The family is actively dying (over how many days, even?) and their entire cabin is buried under 20 feet of snow! Oh, never mind, God turned the sun on and melted about 19 feet of that snow in a few hours - also He shoveled their porch and left a gift basket to boot! Praise be!

[babyhouseman]

1 hour ago, Drapers4thWife said:

So did anyone watch the sequel? I went in low expectations and this movie managed to not even clear that bar.

• I know this is a low budget TV production, but the sets were so clearly backlot fakes it was cringeworthy. Their mountain cabin looked like it was just built and decorated for a high school play. Made me appreciate the production design of one of my favorite films, Coal Miner's Daughter, even more for managing to capture the grittiness of Appalachian poverty. 
• The guy who played Uncle Billy acted like the closest he'd ever been to Tennessee was flying over it on his way to Miami. His blinding white veneers were distracting. 
• The children all had the grating commercial/Disney forced acting style going on. If you ever want to know what a bunch of California kids think Southerners sound and act like, this was your movie. 
• I amused myself by imagining Gerald McRaney's character was the same as his one from House of Cards. 
• This movie seemed to have no sense of place. How close were they to that town again, and how big is it? Is poverty the norm in the area or what? Because it's hard to imagine that a general store in a tiny Appalachian town, where most of the folk are dirt poor, would stock $70 dollar rings. The school had about 10 kids in winter, half of them Parton siblings, and all were at about the same economic level of poor (and the one kid mentions most in the area are farmers). So who the hell bought all those preserves? I could believe selling a few jars of some specialty that Avie Lee was particularly known for, but selling off what looked like a couple of hundred jars in a few days? Who could afford that, farm people who would have their own winter stock?  How, in a tiny town, did word of the Partons selling off their entire food storage not get around? How did word of Dolly singing for money not get around and back to Avie Lee? 
• Speaking of, how stupid was Lee to let the kids sell the family's entire stock of winter food? How did Avie Lee never go down to the cellar to get food in however many days? I know I'm thinking too much about this, but damnit, this crap bugs me. 
• That ending though, man was that stupid. So we get 90 minutes of filler drama about Christmas presents and the church play, then they rush through a mine collapse and Lee's rescue in what, five minutes? And I know this is a Christian film, but even by those standards the Jesus ex machina was too much. Lee is trapped! No never mind, a magic hand from a ball of light pulls him to safety and he's fine now. The family is actively dying (over how many days, even?) and their entire cabin is buried under 20 feet of snow! Oh, never mind, God turned the sun on and melted about 19 feet of that snow in a few hours - also He shoveled their porch and left a gift basket to boot! Praise be!

Yeah, some of this movie was a stretch. From reading articles, the only things that really happened in Dolly's life was the wedding ring and blizzard. I imagine a lot was made up or exaggerated. I have been to the area Dolly is from. There are three towns, Pigeon Forge, Sevierville, and Gatlinburg. Dolly has turned this place into a tourist attraction with her own businesses. This movie was set in the 1950's, I think, and I don't know how big these towns were then. 

[Good Queen Jane]

What made it worse is the real-life destruction from the fires going on in the area now. I expected to see at least an end card asking for help for all those people there who have lost everything.

I agree with all the problems pointed out by Drapers4thWife and would add a WTF over Dolly playing the town's hooker or whatever she was supposed to be. At first I thought she was a vision of the grown Dolly that little Dolly was having. Instead, she was the Tennessee version of Belle Watling and the inspiration for Dolly's "look." . 

I was very disappointed in this production.

Edited December 1, 2016 by Good Queen Jane
subjects need verbs

[Drapers4thWife]

There was a Red Cross number across the bottom of the screen to donate to Tennessee during one scene. 

Dolly has told the story about taking her look from the town whore about a million times in her career, so I knew right away that's who she was supposed to be. Again though, it's confusing about the size and economy of the town. That hooker was pretty wealthy with her brand new Cadillac and handing out twenty dollar bills in 1950's money. I'm not naive about small town life, but how can a town of poor mountain farmers and coal miners (where social life seems to revolve around the church) sustain a hooker to that wealth (who also flaunts it openly)? Fried Green Tomatoes, for example, did it more realistically, where there was a "riverhouse" where the hookers, town miscreants, off-duty sheriff etc. hung out, drank booze, gambled, etc. The town preacher and everyone else knew about it but turned the other cheek.  

Note they bothered to explain why the teacher was able to live alone in a small but pretty nice house with a small collection of jewelry because she inherited everything from her parents. I guess you can fanwank that Dolly the Hooker was a big city hooker visiting her kin for Christmas or something. 

After a day, the canned food thing still bugs me! Storm or not, how are they going to eat for the rest of the winter?? There's no garden in winter they can restock from. They don't have the money to buy food in town. Hunting, even for sustenance, is a rare thing. It takes time, ammo and you're not likely to get much of anything in deep winter. These poor mountain kids would surely know that and of course their FATHER would have. It's a family of eleven and they have one thing of biscuits and a Christmas basket! 

Look, Stars Hollow is also completely unrealistic, but at least Gilmore Girls bothers to create aa self-contained world where you can forgive those inconsistencies and lose yourselves in it. These Dolly movies want to tell a tale of gritty hardscrabble poverty saved by Christian love, but put it in a completely fake, contradictory environment and the danger goalposts keep changing within that world. 

[tribeca]

Loved the first one.  The second one not that much.   What happened to dollys uncle ?   The story just forgot about him.  

[babyhouseman]

1 hour ago, tribeca said:

Loved the first one.  The second one not that much.   What happened to dollys uncle ?   The story just forgot about him.  

My guess is he may come back for another movie if there is one. He helped little Dolly launch her career, and another movie may focus on that. I've been to Dollywood, and she gives him a lot of credit in her museum. I've actually seen him sing there. He was older with long brown hair and a cowboy hat. There was also a show with Dolly's brother, Randy, and Dolly's nieces. Big as the family is, she has to employ some of them. lol

[JAYJAY1979]

I liked the movie....and overlooked the unrealistic parts...because one has to do so sometimes.

[mamadrama]

I might be able to answer a few questions...I live close to the area and one summer I was actually a singer at a Dollywood show and lived in Sevier County. I have been going down there 2-3 times a year for the past 25 years and know it as well as anywhere I guess. 

The Partons didn't live in the town proper of Sevierville. There were other country schools spread around the area, until they consolidated a few years later. That is how the Parton kids were able to take up half the school, yet the town of Sevierville looks sizable and like it held more people than that. 

Dolly got her look not necessarily from a hooker, like they portrayed, but from the women who hung around the local pool hall. I guess they were "whores" from a small town, conservative viewpoint but I don't know that they were actual prostitutes. They seem to have taken the pool hall women and condensed them down into a Hollywood version of reality. 

The one thing that DOES bother me is the food stuff. The kids might have been selling the canned food to people in town (because not everyone in the area farmed) but someone had to be driving them into Sevierville to do it. They lived way too far out to walk. They are from a holler close to present day Pigeon Forge; it wasn't really walkable to any place where people would want to buy food like that. 

 

@babyhouseman

*Made me appreciate the production design of one of my favorite films, Coal Miner's Daughter, even more for managing to capture the grittiness of Appalachian poverty. 

--Thank you for this. I am from Appalachia and continue to live in a tiny town in the mountains. Hollywood rarely gets any of it right. COAL MINER'S DAUGHTER is one of the few films we from this area actually respect. They either seem to want to make them Disney Appalachia, like this one, or Hatfields and McCoys. 

* This movie seemed to have no sense of place. How close were they to that town again, and how big is it? Is poverty the norm in the area or what? Because it's hard to imagine that a general store in a tiny Appalachian town, where most of the folk are dirt poor, would stock $70 dollar rings.

--Sevierville, at that time, was a good-sized town. It would have been the biggest town in the area outside of Knoxville, which by interstate is around 15-20 minutes away today. Although Sevier County has been a traditionally poor area, as the county seat there would have been people with actual money living there. I am from Eastern Kentucky and even in our poorest counties (Harlan, Owsely, Letcher, etc.) you can still find mansions, Cadillacs, and diamonds-mostly due to the coal mines and those who made money off them (NOT the coal miners, unfortunately). While there aren't any coal mines in Sevier County, there were some other industries at the time. Douglas Dam had just been built, for instance, and that would have brought in some people. There was a big lumber company that provided most of the jobs. The national park system started in the 1930s and as the gateway to the Smokies, Severiville had a lot of tourists even back then. 

* The school had about 10 kids in winter, half of them Parton siblings, and all were at about the same economic level of poor (and the one kid mentions most in the area are farmers). So who the hell bought all those preserves?

-- Beats the hell out of me!

 

*How, in a tiny town, did word of the Partons selling off their entire food storage not get around? How did word of Dolly singing for money not get around and back to Avie Lee? 

--Who, exactly, was driving the kids back and forth to town? It wasn't walkable and Dolly was down there on the corner, singing in the middle of the night!

* How did Avie Lee never go down to the cellar to get food in however many days? I know I'm thinking too much about this, but damnit, this crap bugs me. 

--Me too!

*The family is actively dying (over how many days, even?) and their entire cabin is buried under 20 feet of snow! Oh, never mind, God turned the sun on and melted about 19 feet of that snow in a few hours - also He shoveled their porch and left a gift basket to boot! Praise be!

-- And WHY were they dying? WHY were they freezing? I know they couldn't get to the wood but they had beds, dressers, paper, etc. Why weren't they burning those? And didn't anyone in their life come and check on Avie Lee and the kids?

 

When I was a singer at Dollywood, Avie Lee was the hostess of the Dolly museum. She stood there at the door and greeted everyone as they came in. She wore a nametag with a fake name and none of the tourists ever really knew who she was. She was wonderful. She continued to do it almost up to her death. Dolly's dad worked with the blacksmith there in the park as well. 

[zoey1996]

On 12/14/2016 at 5:32 AM, mamadrama said:

-- And WHY were they dying? WHY were they freezing? I know they couldn't get to the wood but they had beds, dressers, paper, etc. Why weren't they burning those? And didn't anyone in their life come and check on Avie Lee and the kids?

I watched this last night.  As I recall, there was a voice-over that said they burned what furniture they could, but it didn't last that long.  If the blizzard was that bad, probably no one could get to them to check on them.  Grandpa had driven to where Lee was working, so he couldn't come either.  I grew up in the country on a farm in Kansas, and I remember some storms where the road maintainer (snow plow) didn't make it out our way for at least a couple of days.  Dad had a tractor with a snow plow and did our long drive way (1/4 of a mile) but couldn't really do the five miles into town.  No cab on the tractor, either, so plenty cold!

Parts of the show were pretty hokey/cheesy, but overall I enjoyed the story.

[mamadrama]

7 hours ago, zoey1996 said:

 I grew up in the country on a farm in Kansas, and I remember some storms where the road maintainer (snow plow) didn't make it out our way for at least a couple of days.  Dad had a tractor with a snow plow and did our long drive way (1/4 of a mile) but couldn't really do the five miles into town.  No cab on the tractor, either, so plenty cold!

 

I still live like that. 50 acres, half a mile long driveway, no neighbors, and 30 (15 miles) minutes to town. We heat our home with 3 wood stoves and drink well water. I understand about not being able to get out of the house. The county doesn't plow our road or driveway at all; when it snows, we're stuck until it melts. 

Perhaps they DID burn what they could, but you couldn't tell anything was missing. 

Edited February 7, 2017 by mamadrama