Blue Valley Songbird
This thoroughly enjoyable 1999 television movie is an appropriately  understated vehicle for country superstar Dolly Parton. Though a limited  actress, Parton's key role as a saloon singer with suppressed ambitions makes  for a perfect fit, neither overextending her lean thespian gifts nor  inadvertently mocking her range. Parton sings, of course, yet even the hillbilly  angel within yields to the script's focused tale of a love triangle involving  underrated singer-songwriter Leanna (Parton), her longtime manager and boyfriend  Hank (an outstanding performance by John Terry), and a restless musician (Billy  Dean). Veteran director Richard A. Colla (Fuzz,Battlestar  Galactica) approaches the material with grown-up sensitivity and  understanding. As Jean Renoir said, everyone has their reasons, and that's  certainly the case with these good people on screen. A subplot concerning  Leanna's psychological mistreatment in youth by a wacked-out father is an  unnecessary and redundant character note, but other than that misstep,Blue  Valley Songbirdis a pure pleasure.--Tom Keogh