Hello, Darlings! In February, my bloggy friend Rob @ MovieRob celebrates his 2000th post! That is an insanely high number of movies, if I post at my regular rate which is roughly 50 films in six months, it will take me 20 years to reach 2000 films. That’s crazy!
As part of the celebration, he invited me to select a random film for him to watch from the year 1980. As you can imagine, it is a little hard to come up with something he hasn’t covered or seen, but I managed to find a film, he had never even heard of, Woo-Hoo! And it was my first choice.
I went out on a limb and chose a film I loved as a child Honeysuckle Rose. I hate recommending a film I haven’t seen in a long time, so I watched it too. Here’s my coverage of a Country classic!
Honeysuckle Rose stars Willie Nelson as touring country musician Buck Bonham. Bonham has a lovely wife Viv (Dyan Cannon) and child, whom he sees rarely. Viv used to sing too, but a tour bus is no place to raise a kid.
Well, there’s trouble in country-music land, Bonham’s lead guitarist Garner (Slim Pickens) wants to retire, and Buck is in a pinch. His new guitarist Cotton (played by Mickey Rooney Jr.) won’t be available for another three weeks after the tour starts! Viv suggests Buck use Garner’s daughter Lily (Amy Irving) as a temporary fill-in, and then all heck breaks loose.
Now, my darling reader, I am a huge Willie Nelson fan, I love his music, he is the reason I started playing guitar. Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys was the first song I learned to play. He is an honorary family member as far as I am concerned! Returning to this film as an adult was an odd experience. I am not sure why I was so into this film as a kid, other than the music, which is amazing (On the Road Again, Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain, Crazy, Whiskey River…).
There are a lot of very adult themes in this film, but rather than give you a play-by-play, let me tell you what I learned from watching this film as an adult! It is very entertaining, and despite being a movie exclusively for hardcore Willie Nelson fans (being 85% music and 15% plot), there is a lot to learn.
Lessons on Love from Viv in Honeysuckle Rose
Some women end up in relationships with men that women throw themselves at, should you find yourself with one of those men, you can learn a lot by watching Viv.
- If your husband participates in activity which forces him to spend massive amounts of time away from you, do not reject an offer to participate.
- If you ask your husband how many women he sleeps with on the road, and he hesitates, then gives you a vague answer, his infidelity should not come as a surprise.
- If you are not okay with your husband sleeping around, do not give him ideas! Do NOT say you CAN’T imagine smoking a joint and not wanting to sleep with someone, anyone. Particularly when you are not there and especially when your husband is Willie Nelson! Hello? Everyone knows he is constantly stoned, he can easily out smoke Snoop Dogg! Why would you even suggest that?!
- If you know your husband has a wandering eye, smokes a lot of pot, and therefore, is ready for action (see item #3) perpetually. Do not invite young women to join the band. Actually, let me rephrase this: do not invite any woman to join the band. The road is filled with temptation, why put an easy mark in his path, just saying.
- Especially, do not invite pretty younger women. No matter whose daughter they are, girls with distant daddy issues and hero worship are never a safe combination with famous older men.
- If your husband shamelessly flaunts his affairs on stage, draw the line and when you do, do it publicly, very publicly, like on stage in front of thousands of people.
- If you decide you still love the guy, you have a stronger sense of devotion than I will ever have, sorry I draw the line with cheaters, no matter what. But if you can find it in your heart to reconcile the romance, the best way back in is participating in that activity you avoided in the first place. Find the common ground, after all, it worked for Lily!
Lessons on Love from Lily in Honeysuckle Rose
Sadly, sometimes you find the one, but he’s already with someone else. If you are considering barging into a relationship, consider Lily’s effective tactics. But seriously, reader, don’t do it! It’s not worth it! If he truly likes you he will make himself available. You do not need to go after someone else’s man.
- If you want to spend time with a guy, develop similar interests.
- Try to be a constant presence in their life.
- Offer that one segment of sanity he can’t get from his crazy friends.
- If you make things public, don’t be surprised when the wife finds out.
- Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, if he wears a bandana and braids, try that look yourself!
- If he’s not leaving his wife for you, he’s not leaving his wife for you. End of story.
- If a guy says he needs to spend time in Mexico to clear his mind, don’t humiliate yourself and assume it’s a vacation for two. Wait for an invitation!
- When things go bad, and they inevitably will make sure you apologize to the wife, particularly if you have known her your entire life, she won’t forgive you but it makes you seem classier. Only a little, mind you, you want to be REAL CLASSY? Don’t sleep with married men!
- Once a groupie, always a groupie.
Well, I liked the movie and if you like Willie Nelson I am certain you will love this film.
Rob will post his opinion shortly, I cannot wait to see what a non-Hardcore Willie Nelson thinks of this film, I will add a link when he publishes his take, to be honest, I am not certain a non-Willie Nelson fan would like it. Hopefully, Rob will discover he is a huge Willie Nelson fan after watching Honeysuckle Rose!
Again make sure you visit Rob and send him hearty congratulations, 2000 posts is a prolific body of work!
Ciao for now, Dearies!
Summer
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Tnx Summer. Hope to watch and review it ext week. Keep ur eyes open for it!
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Looking forward to reading it!
Summer
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review should be up in about an hour. I now actually read your review (didn’t want spoiler beforehand) and it’s spot-on.
Not sure what kid would get much more than music loving from this film, so kudos to u and ur young self 🙂
Ive also seen movies I loved as a kid and have no clue now as to why and it perplexes me as to what I understood abt the film then.
BTW, did u know that during filming Willie Nelson (who was married) had an affair with Amy Irving… sound familiar? 🙂
This was obviously right before she met Spielberg
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No way! I did not know that scandalous factoid, but it makes so much sense! That’s exciting, my mum will be shocked when I tell her, thanks for trying the film, I am really looking forward to reading your post.
And you are totally right, It’s funny how your response can change toward identical material!
Ciao darling!
Summer
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PS. Tnx for the mention 🙂
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