Walk the Line tells the life story of country music legend Johnny Cash, focusing primarily on the long courtship he had with June Carter. The film touches on his childhood, relating a horrific early incident from his life and establishing the troubled relationship he would have with his father. Cash joins the military and during his time in the armed services, he begins writing songs and romances a hometown girl. After the end of his duty he settles down and attempts to begin a music career. Cash auditions for Sam Phillips, signs to Sun Records, and finds himself on tour with future legends including Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis. On this tour he meets June Carter and they take a liking to each other although she refuses any serious advances from him. Cash gains world wide fame thanks in part to the inspiration he gets from June, but eventually his marriage crumbles and he develops a serious drug addiction.
This was a great film. Everything that can be said about "Ray" can be said about this film as well (I watched "Ray" pre-blog, so there's no entry for that film). Joaquin Phoenix became Johnny Cash - looked and acted just like him. But most amazingly, Joaquin Phoenix sang all of the songs used in the film himself - that's right, no lip-syncing. Reese Witherspoon did the same thing - sang everything herself, and won an Academy Award for her effort. Johnny Cash led a very eventful life which translated into an engrossing film that could have lasted longer and still held my interest. My only complaint is that the bonus material on the DVD didn't include any archive footage of Johnny Cash. It would have been fun to see actual footage of some of the big events that were recreated in the movie. But, that's just a small gripe and shouldn't overshadow a fantastic film that deserved all of the awards and nominations it received - I will definitely watch it again.
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Would I watch it again: Yes
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon
I typically watch movies on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while riding the ACE Train from Tracy to Santa Clara. The opinions expressed are those of me, myself and I.
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Surprisingly good film. I thought it would have lost something in it's 2+ hour running, but it managed to keep my attention.
I had very little previous knowledge of Johnny Cash, nor could I name a single song (he simply isn't my kind of performer, and doesn't play my kind of music) prior to watching this film. However, I had heard good things about it.
I learned a lot from this movie and have a new respect for Johnny Cash. This, however, breeds the question . . . why don't these types of movies get made while the artists are still alive. I bet Cash would have been proud of this movie and the way he was professionally shown.
Rating 3.5 of 5. Although a good movie, I really don't see adding this one to my collection. It just isn't the kind of movie I would likely watch over and over.
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