Honkytonk Man (1982)

Itinerant western singer Red Stovall suffers from tuberculosis but has been given an opportunity to make it big at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. He is accompanied by his young nephew Whit. After a series of adventures which include the nephew’s first sexual encounter in a brothel, they finally arrive.

While a fit of coughing in his audition ruins his chances, talent scouts for a record company are impressed enough to arrange a recording session, realizing that he has only days to live. The tuberculosis reaches a critical stage in the middle of this session, where Red’s lines are filled in by Smokey, a side guitarist (country singer Marty Robbins in his last film role). Red eventually succumbs while Whit vows to tell his uncle’s story. Red’s vintage Lincoln Model K touring car, prevalent throughout the movie, finally ‘dies’ at the cemetery where Red is laid to rest.