Walk the Line (2005)

I remember when Johnny Cash’s Live at Folsom Prison album came out and Folsom Prison Blues became a big hit. I remember when he had his TV show and he would bring out June Carter and they would sing Jackson. I had mixed emotions seeing this movie because I had indelible images already in mind. I also thought it a trifle strange that Johnny, who had dropped from popularity almost as fast as George W. Bush, rated a biopic, and that Reese Witherspoon had won an Oscar for playing what I can only describe as the frumpy June Carter. A friend lent me his copy of Walk the Line and asked me to tell him what I thought. Here it is:

I would say that the movie caught the psychological truth behind the Cash and Carter relationship; as far as the looks of the actors, they were a mile off, not even close.

Joaquin Phoenix played a guy who was a disappointment to his father and to himself, chock full of doubts. I guess that’s the same story that’s been told a thousand times in these biopics. Jerry Lee Lewis in Great Balls of Fire, for example. But Dennis Quaid had a way of assuming the character of The Killer where I never saw Johnny Cash peeping out of the eyes of Joaquin Phoenix. That’s not to say that his performance wasn’t convincing, I’m pretty sure he did capture the psychology of Johnny Cash, but not the looks and mannerisms. Oh sure, he played the guitar with his left arm fully extended a few times, but most of the time he looked like himself, not Johnny Cash. Johnny also had a distinctive scar on his jowl that should have been worked into Phoenix’s makeup. Maybe I’m shallow. He did sound like Johnny Cash from time to time, but not always. Many times he was on key where Johnny seldom was.

Reese Witherspoon, despite being made up plainer than usual, is at least 200% cuter in this movie than I recall June Carter ever was. Her holding Johnny Cash at arms length for so many years forms the focal point of the movie. Maybe she deserved her Oscar, but it sure wasn’t because she did a “good” June Carter. Way too perky. I think folks who don’t really know Johnny Cash/June Carter have a higher opinion of these performances than those who do. They are good meaty performances, but they should have been fictional characters, not Johnny Cash and June Carter. Like I said, it captured the psychological truth, if not the illusion of the actual characters.

Supporting characters were mixed, with Robert Patrick playing a real SOB as John’s father, a reformed drunk who would never say a nice word about him. The Carter Family, June’s family are what really gave Johnny support and he always seemed eternally grateful when he mentioned them. The guys who played Johnny’s contemporaries - Elvis, Roy Orbison, and Jerry Lee Lewis were really not too close to the real guys either. A few snips of songs were shown being performed by each and they were good, but the guys themselves didn’t look much like who they were playing.

The story showed Cash during the Korean War, serving in the Air Force in Germany. He began writing Folsom Prison Blues there, ostensibly based on his watching a documentary film about a prison riot. After he got home, he got married and quickly had a couple of kids, his job as a salesman wasn’t working out so he went back to his music, frustrating his wife, whom he seemed born to disappoint. He persisted nevertheless and got a record cut with Sam Phillips of Sun Records. He made acquaintance of June Carter who was one of the big stars of the Grand Ole Opry. His pursuit of her over the years leads to naught, and he takes refuge in the cold comfort of pills and booze. All the success, yet he can’t please his father or get the girl of his dreams, who marries a couple of guys in between. Cash persists, and about the four thousandth time he proposes she accepts, to cheers and acclaim of the listening audience.

All in all, I would call I Walk the Line more of a chick-flick than a musical biopic. Had they stuck to the stage performances, it would have a been stronger film, as the tepid script sucked the life out of any drama Cash's personal life may have had.

The Fox DVD is presented in 2.35:1 theatrical format, in color, and runs an overlong 136 minutes. A director’s commentary by James Mangold, subtitles, foreign language choices, and deleted scenes are included as extras.

Fans of Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon will be the best audience for this film, as well as those that like a bittersweet love story. Old-time Johnny Cash fans will probably view this one a little more skeptically.

Musical biopics I liked include

The Buddy Holly Story

La Bamba

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good Date Movie