Nashville (1975) on Netflix
Country singer Barbara Jean returns to Nashville as the music industry turns out to greet her. Over five days, hopefuls, reporters and organizers converge on a presidential candidate's rally.
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- Netflix2.6/5
- IMDb7.6/1031,866 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes91%
Trailer
Plot summary
Hal Phillip Walker, a populist running on the Replacement Party ticket, is expected in town for a fundraising gala, and the city's music business is busy. Haven Hamilton records a patriotic song for the Bicentennial while Linnea Reese, a gospel singer, works with a choir down the hall. Barbara Jean, back in Nashville after a burn accident, is greeted at the airport by the music elite and collapses in the heat; Barnett, her husband and manager, takes her to a hospital. Martha, a teenager calling herself L.A. Joan, arrives to visit a sick aunt but chases musicians instead, and Opal, who says she is making a BBC documentary, asks everyone questions. Sueleen Gay, a waitress who wants to sing, is recommended to Walker's organizer John Triplette. Winifred leaves her husband Star and looks for a stage.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Nashville (1975)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Robert Duvall turned down the role of Haven Hamilton over Altman's low pay, so Henry Gibson took it instead; while Gibson was taking guitar lessons to prepare, he met instructor David Peel, who resembled him so closely that Altman cast Peel as Haven's son Bud.
- The lead role of Barbara Jean was still uncast as filming was about to begin, until Ronee Blakley, an Idaho singer-songwriter with no acting experience who had only been hired to write songs, took the part at the last minute.
- Several Nashville characters were drawn from real country stars: Henry Gibson's Haven Hamilton combines Roy Acuff, Hank Snow, and Porter Wagoner, Ronee Blakley's Barbara Jean is modeled on Loretta Lynn, and Timothy Brown's Tommy Brown is based on Charley Pride.
- Nashville holds the record, as of 2025, for the most Golden Globe nominations ever received by a single film, 11 in total, including four nominations within one acting category alone, a feat unmatched by any other major awards show entry.
- Louise Fletcher was originally cast in Lily Tomlin's role, and Tomlin was hired only after Fletcher went to play Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
SPOILER
None of screenwriter Joan Tewkesbury's drafts included a death, but director Robert Altman, who had a 'penchant for the tragic denouement,' pushed for the singer Barbara Jean to be shot at the film's climactic concert instead.
