For other uses, see Honky Tonk Man

Honky Tonk Man

Honky Tonk Man may refer to:*The Honky Tonk Man, ring name of professional wrestler Roy Wayne Farris*Honkytonk Man, 1982 American film starring Clint Eastwood*Honky Tonk Man , 1975 album by country singer Steve Young...

.

Honkytonk Man is a 1982

1982 in film

-Events:* March 26 = I Ought to Be in Pictures, starring Walter Matthau, Ann-Margret and Dinah Manoff is released. Manoff would not appear in another movie until 1987's Backfire.* June = PG-rated film E.T...

 American drama film

Drama film

A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

 set in the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

. Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood

Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...

, who produced and directed, stars with his son, Kyle Eastwood

Kyle Eastwood

Kyle Eastwood is an American jazz musician. He studied film at the University of Southern California for two years before embarking on a music career. After becoming a session player in the early '90s and leading his own quartet, he released his first solo album, From There to Here, in 1998...

. Clancy Carlile

Clancy Carlile

Clancy Carlile was an American novelist and screenwriter of Cherokee descent. He is perhaps best known for his 1980 novel Honkytonk Man, made into a film by Clint Eastwood.-Early years:...

's screenplay is based on his novel of the same name. This was Marty Robbins

Marty Robbins

Martin David Robinson , known professionally as Marty Robbins, was an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist...

' last appearance before he died.

Plot

Would-be western singer Red Stovall (Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood

Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...

), suffers from tuberculosis

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

 and has finally been given an opportunity to make it big at the Grand Ole Opry

Grand Ole Opry

The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...

. He is accompanied by his young nephew Whit (Kyle Eastwood

Kyle Eastwood

Kyle Eastwood is an American jazz musician. He studied film at the University of Southern California for two years before embarking on a music career. After becoming a session player in the early '90s and leading his own quartet, he released his first solo album, From There to Here, in 1998...

), to Nashville

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

, Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

 where he is supposed to record a song.

After a series of adventures which include the nephew's "coming of age" in a house of ill repute, he and uncle Red finally arrive at Nashville, only to have the tuberculosis reach a critical stage in the middle of the recording session, where Red's lines are filled in by a side guitarist. Red finally succumbs while his nephew vows to tell the story of his uncle. Red's vintage touring auto, prevalent throughout the movie, finally 'dies' at the cemetery where Red is laid to rest.

Production

Filming took place over five weeks on location. The first part of the movie was filmed in Bird's Landing, California. However, the majority of this feature was filmed in and around Calaveras County

Calaveras County, California

Calaveras County is a county located in the Gold Country of the U.S. state of California. Calaveras is the Spanish word for skulls; the county was reportedly named for the remains of Native Americans discovered by the Spanish explorer Captain Gabriel Moraga. As of the 2010 census, the county had a...

, east of Stockton, California

Stockton, California

Stockton, California, the seat of San Joaquin County, is the fourth-largest city in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. With a population of 291,707 at the 2010 census, Stockton ranks as this state's 13th largest city...

. Exterior scenes include Main Street, Mountain Ranch

Mountain Ranch, California

Mountain Ranch is a census-designated place in Calaveras County, California, United States. The population was 1,628 at the 2010 census, up from 1,557 at the 2000 census. The town is registered as California Historical Landmark #282...

; Main Street, Sheepranch

Sheepranch, California

Sheep Ranch is an unincorporated community in Calaveras County, California. It lies at an elevation of 2359 feet ....

; and the Pioneer Hotel in Sheepranch. Extras were locally hired and many of the towns residents are seen in the movie.

Reception

Honkytonk Man received critical acclaim, and has a score of 93% on Rotten Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

. The New York Post

New York Post

The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...

wrote, "The pace is slow, very country, but it rises to touching moments...not all perfect by any means, but ultimately a story of occasional awkward truths." The film grossed $4.5 million at the United States box office.