The American country style went hand in hand with cinema next to the first movies with sound, and this society has been always a good one. On one hand many of those films based on country music contributed to the worldwide mainstream of this musical genre, as well as with the culture and country clothing fashion.
Many country artists have also been committed to shine as a movie star, like Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Keith Carradine, George Strait or Tim McGraw. And here is an interesting fact: the country music, along with jazz, have been the most leading rhythms in American-filmed movies. This illustrate how the country influence into the cinema come through our days, and not only speaking from a musical perspective. Then, how American country lifestyle is still giving so much into the movie star system? Let’s explore this.
A story-inspiring genre
The figure of the country singer has been always a productive material to many Hollywood screenwriters. We can find realistic biopics or fictional stories about them, and a main reason could be because of our internalized idea of a lonely outsider or an antihero, making possible all kind of narrative resources. We saw that already: characters that are drowning into an endless abyss, but after a extreme experience in their lives, are brave enough to emerge into the surface to reborn as human beings and also as artists. In part they embody the accomplishment of the American Dream, based in the aspiration of prosperity and liberty in exchange for hard work and redemption, as a model for the whole society.
Also they can be symbolized in the United States as the voice of the American rural worker class. Many songs, as well as the movies, are related to ‘normal people’ in common situations, which is easy to feel identified with. Maybe this is another reason of the success of this genre in the USA, and why is still having a huge influence into the American imaginary.
We are just a step away from fashion, another reason that makes all country clothes ageless, ready to be worn. These times, sometimes with a reinvigorated persistence, country fashion has a place into all kind of new trends. The focus on cowboy boots, shirts, vests and other accessories for men and women is constanly updated with new collections and innovations from other style, unlike other trends that are fading away in a short time. But beyond this, the country style has a privileged spot into the fashion industry, the same way it is into music and cinema.
A journey through the most notable country movies
1967 was the year where for the first time a country movie had some repercussion in the billboard. It was ‘Road to Nashville’, a musical starred by famous country singers suchs as Marty and Waylon Robbins, Kitty Wells, Connie Smith or Johnny Cash, with an amazing soundtrack that marked an era.
In the rise also of the rock and the new age, in 1972 ‘Easy Rider’ was released, inspiring many other movies that shown the most rebel and unconventional society, like ‘Cisco Pike’. This last was starred by the also singer Kris Kristofferson, playing the role of a declining country artist that also is being hounded by a corrupt cop.
Three years later ‘Nashville’, from Robert Altman, was released, a three-hour movie about the course within five days of various people related to the music industry. One of them, the singer Keith Carradine, won an Oscar award to the best original song, ‘I’m easy’.
The golden age of country movies came with the eighties, some of them even Oscar-winning, such as ‘Coal Miner’s Daughter’, starred by Sissy Spacek. She performed a great role as a strong women who achieve the dream of being a country singer as a young single mother. Another charismatic film was ‘Urban Cowboy’, where John Travolta replaced the disco floor and the high school for the honky tonk, as the great dancer he was.
Clint Eastwood, also a self-confessed lover of country music, directed and starred in 1982 ‘Honkytonk Man’, where he dared to sing as well. Jumping into 2005, one of the latest commercial movie hits related to country artists was ‘Walk the Line’, the long-awaited and multi-awarded biopic about Johnny Cash co-starred by Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Weatherspoon. And finishing this review in 2009, we want to name ‘Crazy Heart’, a musical drama where Jeff Bridges, with a brilliant performance of a country singer with a rought life that falls in love to a young journalist and tries to redeem himself. This film also won another Oscar to the best original song, ‘The weary kind’ as well as two BAFTA and two Golden Globe awards.
Réplica revólver Colt con estrella en empuñadura
Sombrero cowboy copa alta hecho con fieltro de lana negra rígida
Cartuchera calibre 45 con canana cuero color coñac
Bota cowboy Sendra punta cortada con arnés para hombre
