We ain't too dadgum ignorant to recognize that Sissy Spacek's Oscar-winning performance as the "Coal Miner’s Daughter," Loretta Lynn, is one of the most startlingly real transformations any actor has made in film history. Spacek doesn't "act" Loretta Lynn...she becomes the country superstar--from her humbler than humble beginnings as a backwoods mountain girl to the heights of wealth and fame as the big-hearted and big-haired "First Lady of Country Music". It is not only the performance of the year; its a performance for the ages.

And lending her support is an equally stellar supporting cast, that sadly, went unrecognized by the Academy when the nominations were announced. Tommy Lee Jones equally transformative turn as Doolittle Lynn, Beverly D’Angelo’s knockout portrayal of Patsy Cline that somehow feels unforgettable even with limited screen time, and a coterie of other players, both actors and non, who help lend the film its aching authenticity. Along the way, we talk about director Michael Apted’s outsider perspective, on-location authenticity, and the little details that make the early Kentucky chapters feel like you’ve stepped into another era.

Then we get into the messy stuff that great biopics can’t avoid: myth versus fact, what gets softened or sharpened for Hollywood, and the big structural question of how you end a “still-going” life story without a neat tragedy. We also revisit the stacked 1980 Oscars context and why Spacek managed to dominate such a competitive year.

If you love classic Hollywood, music movies, or performance deep-dives, hit play, subscribe, and share the show. After you listen, leave us a review and tell us what scene or song stays with you most.

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Brad's YouTube channel, Our Chosen Spanish Life. youtube.com/@ourchosenspanishlife

Links to Tony's website, and Brad's website at www.goinghollywoodpodcast.com

Follow us on Instagram @goinghollywoodpod

To watch "The True Story of the Barrymores," go to https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0CZTHYN6D/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r

To watch Tony's WIRED video "Tech Support: Old Hollywood" go to https://youtu.be/6hxXfxhQSz0?si=TO4Xv6q87XhBnqDT

Reach us at goinghollywoodpod@gmail.com

Listen to our Going Hollywood Playlist on Spotify.

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I'm flying solo without Brad this week, so I called in film historian Brandon Davis to help me unpack Martin Scorsese’s flawed but brilliant masterpiece from 1977, "New York, New York" starring the one and only Liza Minnelli and Robert DeNiro.

We get into why the movie shocks people on first watch: lavish MGM-style sets, painted-backdrop “Technicolor” vibes, and then suddenly two people fighting like it’s a bruising 1970s relationship drama. We talk about Scorsese’s improvisation-heavy process, how that creates both magic and mess, and why Minnelli’s performance is so unexpected when she starts as a tightly controlled big-band singer instead of the full-throttle star persona most people expect. Along the way, we break down the numbers that matter, especially “But The World Goes Round,” the restored “Happy Endings” sequence, and the blockbuster “New York, New York” concert moment that turns the whole film into a showbiz fever dream. Finally, we address the elephant in the room; the odd but undeniable inspiration director Damien Chazelle took from Scorsese's brilliant film failure to create his mega-hit from 2016, "La La Land".

If you love classic Hollywood, Scorsese deep cuts, movie musical history, or character-driven storytelling, this conversation is for you. Subscribe, share the episode with a film friend, and leave a review, then tell us your verdict: is “New York, New York” a mess, a masterpiece, or both?

Text us or Leave a Voice Mail

Brad's YouTube channel, Our Chosen Spanish Life. youtube.com/@ourchosenspanishlife

Links to Tony's website, and Brad's website at www.goinghollywoodpodcast.com

Follow us on Instagram @goinghollywoodpod

To watch "The True Story of the Barrymores," go to https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0CZTHYN6D/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r

To watch Tony's WIRED video "Tech Support: Old Hollywood" go to https://youtu.be/6hxXfxhQSz0?si=TO4Xv6q87XhBnqDT

Reach us at goinghollywoodpod@gmail.com

Listen to our Going Hollywood Playlist on Spotify.

We are celebrating someone's birthday today on "Going Hollywood" and it is an occasion truly worth marking: Marilyn Monroe's 100th birthday on June 1, 2026. And though it may be odd to think of the ultimate movie sex siren as a centenarian, her image as an ever youthful romantic symbol is forever burnished in celluloid.

So we feel it's fitting, as we celebrate the life of this screen legend, to take a look at her final, unfinished film; "Something's Got to Give", the 1962 romantic comedy that shut down after a chaotic production and survived only as reconstructed footage. Long maligned as substandard due to Marilyn's alleged anesthetized and pathetic mental state during filming, we discover the exact opposite to be true: she’s funny, focused, playful, and totally winning as a sophisticated light comedienne. It should have been the birth of a "New Marilyn", instead it became the farewell performance of a movie icon.

Along the way, we confront the harder context: old Hollywood’s treatment of mental health, the way “difficult” often meant “undiagnosed,” and how Marilyn’s intelligence and business instincts (including her own production company) get erased by the dumb-blonde myth. We end with what happened to the production, the attempted replacement, the lawsuits, the plan to rehire her, and the haunting question of what really happened on the evening of August 4, 1962.

If you enjoy classic Hollywood history, Marilyn Monroe, behind-the-scenes filmmaking, or the real story of "Something’s Got to Give", subscribe, share this episode with a movie-loving friend, and leave us a rating and review. What do you think the finished film would have meant for her legacy?

To watch the remaining footage of “Something’s Got to Give” on YouTube go to https://youtube.com/watch?v=1-WCdD8uJyg&si=m9wOY6-BuEKHZCH_

Text us or Leave a Voice Mail

Brad's YouTube channel, Our Chosen Spanish Life. youtube.com/@ourchosenspanishlife

Links to Tony's website, and Brad's website at www.goinghollywoodpodcast.com

Follow us on Instagram @goinghollywoodpod

To watch "The True Story of the Barrymores," go to https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0CZTHYN6D/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r

To watch Tony's WIRED video "Tech Support: Old Hollywood" go to https://youtu.be/6hxXfxhQSz0?si=TO4Xv6q87XhBnqDT

Reach us at goinghollywoodpod@gmail.com

Listen to our Going Hollywood Playlist on Spotify.