POP GOES OSCAR

Blauner took a particular interest in the movie when it came out because Darin was supposed to be on the same tour with Holly, the Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens when their plane went down near Clear Lake, Iowa, in 1959. ''I just assumed that they had dubbed in tracks by the Crickets,'' says Blauner, ''and then I saw the credits. Busey was fantastic.''

''If you're born in the mountains, you got three choices: coal mine, moonshine, or movin' down the line.''

That's what one of the locals tells Mooney Lynn (Tommy Lee Jones) before he marries child bride Loretta, played by Sissy Spacek in Coal Miner's Daughter (1980). It's actually one of the best movies in this genre, thanks to British director Michael Apted and the Texan Spacek, who sings so well that Lynn herself approved. The ''who knew?'' aspect of the performance helped her win the Oscar, though in truth her only real competitors were two former TV stars, Mary Tyler Moore (Ordinary People) and Goldie Hawn (Private Benjamin). The movie also benefited from the acting and singing of Beverly D'Angelo, who played Patsy Cline.

Jessica Lange had similar success five years later in Sweet Dreams. She lip-synched Cline's recordings, though, which added a certain poignancy to ''Your Cheatin' Heart.'' The role was a nice change of pace for Lange — ''I figure somebody oughta be happy. Hell, might as well be me'' — and it earned her an Oscar nomination. Otherwise, Sweet Dreams is about as substantial as its title, though it did help the careers of Ed Harris and John Goodman.

''Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?''

What's Love Got to Do With It (1993) plays a little like the soul version of A Star Is Born. But with Oscar-nominated performances from Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett as Ike and Tina Turner — and some great production numbers — it's that rare movie that moves both heart and hips.

The Yale-trained Bassett had only 30 days to tone her physique, learn the dance routines, and master the nuances of lip-synching. She also had to wear 35 different wigs. The hard part, though, was descending into the depths of her abusive relationship with Ike and climbing back out again — with the real Tina Turner watching. Fishburne, who had costarred with Bassett in Boyz N the Hood (1991), was deemed a contender for a Best Supporting Actor nod, but his portrait of Ike was so searing that his peers voted to move his nomination up a notch to Best Actor. He also did his own singing.

''Generally speaking,'' says Blauner, ''actors who play singers should not do their own singing. They can act like singers they usually share the same tortured need to entertain — but the voice is too hard to replicate. That's why Jamie Foxx is so good in Ray. He's the vessel through which we hear the genius of Ray Charles.''

So Spacey, who failed to get a nomination, should not have sung Darin's songs? ''There's only one Frank Sinatra, there's only one Billie Holiday, there's only one Bobby Darin. But I will say this for Kevin, and for this I will always be grateful: He's keeping the song alive.''