At least one Academy Award Performance

Rating: 9/10 (31 December 2005)

This movie was a very pleasant surprise. Although it got good reviews, it was only the lack of something better when my wife and I decided to catch a matinée before going for dinner that got me into the theater to see it.
I was never much of a fan of Johnny Cash, who I often described as having a range of half an octave in an unpleasant key. Furthermore, I just did not believe Joaquin Phoenix was the right man for the role. I believe you had to see Cash to appreciate his unique style. "The man in black" looked big and powerful on stage as he held his guitar to his shoulder like a rifle, and when lyrics like, "I killed a man just to watch him die" passed his curled lip while his eyes seemed to dart about the room he could appear somewhat menacing. I didn't think Phoenix could convey that image.
I was wrong. In the Folsom Prison scene, when Phoenix yanked the guitar to his shoulder and curled his lip as he poured forth the lyrics, the darting eyes had a look of madness in them. I felt a chill run down my spine  it was as if Cash himself had taken over the actor's body. I actually felt as if I were watching the real Johnny Cash. I have never seen an actor actually become the real-life character he was playing the way Phoenix did. It was an Academy Award performance.
Reese Witherspoon handled the June Carter role quite well. She conveyed the spirit quite well, although I don't think anyone ever had the energy and warmth in her comedy that Ms. Carter did. Think Minnie Pearl on speed.
Cash is not portrayed as a sympathetic character. He was a self-centered man who could be downright mean. Of course, those characteristics are not exactly rare among big-time entertainers. What makes the story interesting is June Carter's unwillingness to marry him, in spite of her obvious love for him. She made him wait until he knew she could live without him if could not return that love and be faithful to her. Possibly, for the first time in his life he came to value someone else as much as he valued himself. It seemed to work and Cash, along with June Carter Cash, went on to a great career, and reportedly, a good life with the woman he loved.