50 Years of Country Gold

If 50 Years of Country Gold plays like an hour-long TV variety show with the commercials taken out, it's because that's exactly what it is: a 1980 “special” filmed at the Grand Ole Opry, but also including canned video segments and recorded tracks from the Longhorn Ballroom in Dallas (Loretta Lynn) and Las Vegas (Roy Clark). Host Dennis Weaver works off a corny, reverential script that would be embarrassing today, even in the reddest of states, and a few of the 13 artists performing 14 songs (such as Lynn Anderson and Barbara Mandrell) were already passé. There is some fun to be had, like a “surprise” visit by Johnny Cash, who engages in some carefully scripted but still charming banter with his wife, June Carter Cash. Johnny doesn't even sing, yet he's the most interesting part of the show, especially considering the competition, including Lynn's tired-sounding performance of “Coal Miner's Daughter” and the closing collaboration of Merle Haggard and Ernest Tubb on “Walkin' the Floor Over You.” The Dolby Digital stereo is sketchy, some of the performances are embarrassingly trite, and the whole thing seems dated well beyond its 26 years. Not a necessary purchase. Aud: P. (M. Moore)