Panoramic, personal, and buoyed by a cast of dozens, Nashville “is a satire, a comedy, a musical, a melodrama. It’s a pageant of celebration” (Vincent Canby, New York Times). As the bicentennial of American independence looms, the titular “Country Music Capital of the World” becomes an unholy soup of politics, art, patriotism, religion, and money—showbiz, America. The musical score—brilliantly integrated into this scheme—includes songs written and performed by the actors themselves, their art perfectly pitched to their characters. “I’ve never before seen a movie I loved in quite this way” (Pauline Kael, New Yorker).