''Get to the Heart: The Barbara Mandrell Story'' is a 1997
biographical
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curric ...
television film
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...
directed by
Jerry London
Jerry London (born January 21, 1937) is an American television director and producer.
Life and career
London has directed more than forty television movies, including the Emmy Award nominated '' Chiefs''.
London won best director for James Cla ...
from a teleplay by Linda Bergman, based on American
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...
singer
Barbara Mandrell
Barbara Ann Mandrell (born December 25, 1948) is an American retired country music singer and musician. She is also credited as an actress and author. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, she was considered among country's most successful mus ...
's 1990 autobiography ''
Get to the Heart: My Story''. The film chronicles the life and career of Mandrell, from her early years in her family's band to her rise to country music fame, and the 1984 car accident that nearly ended her career. It stars
Maureen McCormick
Maureen Denise McCormick (born August 5, 1956) is an American actress, best known for her role as Characters of The Brady Bunch#Marcia Brady, Marcia Brady on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television sitcom ''The Brady Bunch'' (1969–1 ...
in the title role, along with
Dwight Schultz
William Dwight Schultz (born November 24, 1947) is an American television, film and voice actor.
He is known for his roles as List of The A-Team characters#Howling Mad Murdock, Captain "Howling Mad" Murdock on the 1980s action series ''The A-Te ...
,
Greg Kean
Gregory Kean Williams (born September 27, 1962) is a Canadian television actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as Clancy Lass in the television series ''Dead Like Me''.
Early life
Kean was born in Oshawa, Ontario, the son of Dorothy and Re ...
, and
Lisa Blount
Lisa Suzanne Blount (July 1, 1957 – October 25, 2010) was an American actress and film producer. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year for her performance in ''An Officer and a Gentleman'' (1982), and later ...
in supporting roles.
''Get to the Heart'' was produced by
Mandalay Television
Mandalay Television is a television production company, founded in 1995, which is part of producer and businessman Peter Guber's Mandalay Entertainment. From 1997 to 1999, Lions Gate Entertainment owned the company before selling it.
History
...
in association with
Hallmark Entertainment
Halcyon Studios, LLC, formerly known as Sonar Entertainment, RHI Entertainment, Hallmark Entertainment, Qintex Entertainment, HRI Group and Robert Halmi Inc., was an American entertainment company specializing in the production and distribution ...
, and was shot in Los Angeles in and around May 1997. In the film, McCormick plays Mandrell from age 14 through 38, and the actress prepared for the role by reading Mandrell's autobiography and watching tapes of the country singer. McCormick also did research on brain trauma so as to better understand Mandrell's experience in the aftermath of the accident. Although credited as an executive producer, Mandrell said she had little involvement in the making of the film due to her busy performance schedule.
The film premiered on
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
on September 28, 1997. It was watched by 19.9 million total viewers, making it the 13th most-watched
prime time
Prime time, or peak time, is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for television shows. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...
broadcast of its respective week. Reviewers found McCormick's performance lacking and criticized the script for glossing over parts of Mandrell's life story.
Plot
Growing up in Texasand later Californiain the 1950s,
Barbara Mandrell
Barbara Ann Mandrell (born December 25, 1948) is an American retired country music singer and musician. She is also credited as an actress and author. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, she was considered among country's most successful mus ...
's musical talent and love for performing is apparent from an early age. While helping her father Irby at a music store, a young Mandrell's impromptu performance on a
steel guitar
A steel guitar () is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conventional guitar i ...
catches the eye of country music guitarist
Joe Maphis
Otis Wilson "Joe" Maphis ( ; May 12, 1921 – June 27, 1986), was an American country music guitarist. He married singer Rose Lee Maphis in 1953 and they performed together.
One of the flashiest country guitarists of the 1950s and 1960s, Joe ...
, who invites her to perform in his shows in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. However, Mandrell's foray into show business is cut short as the constant travel proves too much for her parents and younger sisters. Over the years, the now-teenage Mandrell continues performing locally in her family's band. Mandrell and the band's drummer Ken Dudney fall in love, but Irby disapproves of their relationship due to their age difference. Meanwhile, Dudney enlists as a pilot in the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
. Seeing Mandrell pine over Dudney, Irby eventually accepts their relationship and the two get married in 1967. The couple move to a Navy base in
Whidbey Island
Whidbey Island (historical spellings Whidby, Whitbey, or Whitby) is the largest of the islands composing Island County, Washington, Island County, Washington (state), Washington, in the United States, and the largest island in Washington stat ...
, Washington, where Mandrell intends to settle down and give up performing for good. While Dudney is away on military deployment, Mandrell and Irby take a trip to the ''
Grand Ole Opry
The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a regular live country music, country-music Radio broadcasting, radio broadcast originating from Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, on WSM (AM), WSM, held between two and five nights per week, depending on the ...
'' in
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
, where Mandrell realizes she still loves performing and resolves to pursue her dream of making it in the music industry.
With Irby as her manager, Mandrell begins performing in local nightclubs in Nashville. She catches the attention of a record executive and is signed to a major label. Just as her career is starting to take off, Mandrell and Dudney find out they are expecting their first child, Matthew, and Dudney leaves the Navy to support Mandrell. With her family's help, Mandrell tours the country and has a string of hit singles in the 1970s. Mandrell is in the middle of a tour when Irby has a heart attack; he insists she does not put her career on hold on his behalf. Mandrell's success continues even as she and Dudney have their second child, Jaime, and she becomes one of the biggest stars in country music, winning the 1980
Country Music Association Award for Entertainer of the Year
The Country Music Association Awards is a major awards show in country music, with the highest honor being the award for Entertainer of the Year. It is the final award presented at the ceremony and recognizes the artist "displaying the greatest ...
. That same year, Mandrell and her family move to California where she has been offered her own show on network television. Despite some pushback from the network executives, her show is a ratings hit. However, Mandrell struggles to balance her career and family, with her hectic schedule often keeping her away from her children. Moreover, her health suffers as she overworks herself, and a worried Dudney convinces Mandrell to quit the show. Mandrell continues to record music and tour the country, even as she misses her family who are back in Nashville.
In 1984, while on a break from touring, Mandrell and her children are involved in a car accident. They survive but the accident leaves Mandrell with severe injuries including head trauma, causing her to have memory loss and mood swings. Depressed and in constant pain, Mandrell becomes reclusive, prompting bad press and media speculation. Her family tries to be supportive, but an embittered Mandrell takes her anger out on them. After an intervention by Dudney, Mandrell realizes she has been pushing her loved ones away and reconciles with them. Mandrell and Dudney have their third child Nathan soon after. With the encouragement of her family, Mandrell overcomes her fears about returning to the stage, and the film ends with her big comeback performance in Los Angeles in 1986.
Cast
Barbara Mandrell appears as herself in the opening and closing scenes,
[ while fellow country music singers ]Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actress, and philanthropist, known primarily as a country music, country musician. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton's debut album ...
and Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Ray Rogers (born Kenneth Donald Rogers) (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer and songwriter. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particul ...
also make cameo appearances as themselves.[
]
Production
''Get to the Heart'' is a biography about the life and career of American country music singer Barbara Mandrell. The film was directed by Jerry London
Jerry London (born January 21, 1937) is an American television director and producer.
Life and career
London has directed more than forty television movies, including the Emmy Award nominated '' Chiefs''.
London won best director for James Cla ...
and written by Linda Bergman, based on Mandrell's 1990[ autobiography '' Get to the Heart: My Story''. It was produced for ]CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
by Mandalay Television
Mandalay Television is a television production company, founded in 1995, which is part of producer and businessman Peter Guber's Mandalay Entertainment. From 1997 to 1999, Lions Gate Entertainment owned the company before selling it.
History
...
in association with Hallmark Entertainment
Halcyon Studios, LLC, formerly known as Sonar Entertainment, RHI Entertainment, Hallmark Entertainment, Qintex Entertainment, HRI Group and Robert Halmi Inc., was an American entertainment company specializing in the production and distribution ...
. Mandrell and her husband Ken Dudney, along with Tom Patricia, served as executive producers. The creative team also included James Glennon (cinematographer
The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera ...
), Michael Brown (editor
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...
), and Dennis McCarthy (composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and def ...
).
In April 1997, Maureen McCormick
Maureen Denise McCormick (born August 5, 1956) is an American actress, best known for her role as Characters of The Brady Bunch#Marcia Brady, Marcia Brady on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television sitcom ''The Brady Bunch'' (1969–1 ...
was announced to play the lead role of Mandrell. After a nearly ten-year break from acting,[ McCormick believed ''Get to the Heart'' would be the ideal comeback project] and would allow her to showcase her emotional range as an actor.[ In the film, the actress plays Mandrell from age 14when the country singer was starting out in her family's bandto 38when a car accident nearly ended her career.] McCormick noted that it was "very scary" to portray the life story of someone who was still alive. To prepare for the role, McCormick got to know Mandrell better by visiting the latter while she was performing in Las Vegas.[ McCormick also read Mandrell's autobiography and watched "countless tapes" of the country singer.] Another challenge for McCormick was portraying the recovery process that Mandrell had to undergo after the 1984 car accident left her with traumatic head injuries. The actress researched brain trauma to better understand the process, including watching medical videos and consulting with hospital patients.[ McCormick ]lip sync
Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , like the word ''sink'', despite the Hard and soft C, spelling of the participial forms ''synced'' and ''syncing''), short for lip synchronization, is a technical term for matching a Speech, speaking or singin ...
s to Mandrell's songs in the film, which the actress felt was appropriate as she did not think she would have been able to mimic Mandrell's vocals.[
Although credited as an executive producer, Mandrell said she had little involvement in the making of the film due to her busy performance schedule. Instead, Mandrell's husband and their daughter Jaime Nicole Dudney, who plays Irlene Mandrell in the film, were more involved behind the scenes. Mandrell initially wanted ]Jennie Garth
Jennifer Eve Garth (born April 3, 1972) is an American actress. She is known for starring as Kelly Taylor throughout the Beverly Hills, 90210 (franchise), ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' franchise and Val Tyler on the sitcom ''What I Like About You (TV ...
for the title role, and was worried that she would not be able to separate McCormick from her previous role in ''The Brady Bunch
''The Brady Bunch'' is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz that aired five seasons from September 26, 1969, to March 8, 1974, on ABC. The series revolves around a large blended family of six children, with three boys and three gir ...
'', explaining: " first I thought ... when I see her playing me all I'm going to be able to think about is Marcia Brady
File:The Brady Bunch.jpg, 300px, Characters of ''The Brady Bunch'' (Mouse over to identify)
rect 0 0 105 79 #Marcia Brady, Marcia Brady
rect 108 0 211 79 #Carol Brady, Carol Brady
rect 216 0 320 79 #Greg Brady, Greg Brady
rect 0 ...
." However, she was full of praise for McCormick's performance after seeing an early cut of the film,[ and found that "not once did hethink 'Marcia.][
''Get to the Heart'' was shot in Los Angeles][ in and around May 1997.
]
Release and reception
''Get to the Heart'' premiered on CBS on September 28, 1997, in the 9:00–11:00 pm time slot.[ The film earned a national ]Nielsen rating
Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the #Nielsen TV ...
of 13.6 and was watched by 19.9 million total viewers, making it the 13th most-watched prime time
Prime time, or peak time, is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for television shows. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...
broadcast for the week of September 22 to 28, 1997.
Critical response
In a review for ''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'', Chip Crews found ''Get to the Heart'' unconvincing in its depiction of Mandrell's rise to fame, noting that much of the problems the singer faced were glossed over except for the 1984 car accident. Both ''The Seattle Times
''The Seattle Times'' is an American daily newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891, ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region. The Seattle Time ...
'' John Voorhees and ''TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media
In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...
'' Susan Stewart felt the film lacked conflict, while ''The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...
'' Jenny Tabakoff wondered if Mandrell's behind-the-scenes involvement was to blame for the script's idealized depiction of the singer. Voorhees was also critical of McCormick's portrayal of Mandrell, writing that the actress "looks perky but fails to communicate any of the electric personality and the burning desire to perform that made Mandrell a star".[ '']Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' Todd Everett thought the film suffered from Mandrell's one-sided perspective and found the acting generally lackluster, with the exception of Dwight Schultz as Mandrell's father and John Doe as Joe Maphis.[
Frank Wooten of '']The Post and Courier
''The Post and Courier'' is the main daily newspaper in Charleston, South Carolina. It traces its ancestry to three newspapers, the ''Charleston Courier'', founded in 1803, the ''Charleston Daily News'', founded 1865, and ''The Evening Post'', f ...
'' criticized the film as excessively sentimental to the point of being "unintentionally campy", with platitude-filled dialogue and a weak performance from McCormick. The ''Houston Chronicle
The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. ...
'' Ann Hodges as well as ''The Christian Science Monitor
''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles both in Electronic publishing, electronic format and a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 ...
'' Yvonne Zipp and Lisa Leigh Parney similarly thought McCormick was unconvincing in the lead role,[ with Hodges noting the "jarring" physical difference between the actress and Mandrell.] Zipp and Parney also did not like how ''Get to the Heart'' skipped over important events in Mandrell's life, and felt the film ultimately did not do the singer's life story justice. Gail Pennington of the ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the '' Belleville News-Democra ...
'' agreed that McCormick's performance was lacking, but concluded the film "is so earnest and sincere that it's hard to hate".
References
External links
*
{{Jerry London
1997 films
1997 television films
1990s American films
American biographical films
American television films
Biographical films about singers
Biographical television films
CBS films
Country music films
Films directed by Jerry London
Films set in Los Angeles
Films set in Nashville, Tennessee
Films set in Texas
Films set in the 1950s
Films set in the 1960s
Films set in the 1970s
Films set in the 1980s
Films shot in Los Angeles