One Cash Too Many: The June Carter Story

Rating: 7/10 (28 November 2005)

Too early in "Walk The Line" a Cash-to-be, June Carter, is introduced into the story thereby subverting what should and could have been a more focused, intriguing and intimate story of "The Man in Black," Johnny Cash, into a sappy, too-oft-told, linear, Hollywood-esquire, predictable story of star-crossed lovers. I would have no complaints about THAT story if the title to the film were, say, "The June & Johnny Cash Story," or, better still, "The Real Story Behind the Lyrics to "I Walk The Line."" But, that is not the case, and but so this well-intentioned and well-acted film suffers immensely from the unwelcome, shoe-horned introduction of Ms. Carter into this biopic of the film's central character, Johnny Cash.
The introduction took place within the first 5 - 10 minutes of the film as young Johnny (12 yrs. old) listened to the Carter Family sing on an ole timey radio show. Even if one did not know that June and Johnny were to eventually get married many years later, one would have to be lacking concentration to overlook this early scene as an all too obvious set up for the story-line to the remainder of the film. The scene renders the youngster as smitten, portending his inexorable pursuit of June Carter. A pursuit the story-line doggedly follows instead of concentrating on other more interesting facets of Johnny Cash's life.
Playing the older Johnny Cash, Joaquin Phoenix decides against impersonation, opting for a brilliant interpretation. Word has it that he learned some of Cash's songbook prior to shooting and his education into that songbook parallels his subject's education into the music business and the cult of celebrity. If the chronology of Cash's rise to fame was rendered accurately, Phoenix vividly, and subtly, portrayed Cash's meteoric rags to riches ride, presenting Cash as a contemplative young man still feeling the wounds from his father's stern and sometimes unforgiving presence, and the deeper pains suffered from having lost his best buddy, his older brother Jack, when Johnny was 12 yrs. of age. Both of these males shaped Johnny, Jack via Johnny's assessment of him as his wiser more righteous, if not "right," sibling; his Dad via his take-no-nonsense, my-way-or-the-highway method of fathering. The resultant Johnny being a soft-spoken but headstrong kind of fella not all too sure of anything but his love of Carter Family music and a sense that he too could play his songs on the radio. Phoenix "aged" Johnny well, metering his subject's maturity deftly throughout the film.
As June Carter, Reese Witherspoon played her character as caricature, employing a squeaky southern drawl and moving around, when on stage, like a teen-aged version of country comedienne, Minnie Pearl. This caricature was accurate because June (not unlike Michael Jackson, as an example) was a star since childhood, having the good (bad?) fortune to be one of the famous "Carter Family," a seminal country/blue grass ensemble responsible, to this day (see Gillian Welch, et al.), for inspiring countless country and blue grass performers to try their hand at making a record.
Subsequent to meeting Johnny, June's character changes slightly, more as an effect, I think, of aging and maturation, than any direct effect from Johnny Cash, country music star. I say this because June was Johnny's senior, by far, in the music business, having ascended to stardom while Johnny was listening to her on the radio--long prior to even recording his first hit. There was little that Johnny Cash, the star, was going to teach June about "the business." As such, as shown in the film, June always called Johnny out for his drug abuse and drinking, refusing to settle for the "rock star" version her friend, Johnny Cash.
I feel that "WTL" suffers, as most biopics do, from broad-stroking exposition that mistakenly attempts--ever in vain--to tell a whole story instead of sacrificing trivial details for to paint a more solid portrait its subject. For instance, though Johnny's first marriage to Vivian is given a key role in the film, one is left to wonder why he and Vivian ever got married in the first place. We are hop-scotched along in that relationship. Initially we see Johnny, at that time serving our country in Germany, making a long-distance phone call to Vivian. Even then she is reluctant to believe in him, recounting her Dad's belief that his daughter's suitor ought to be career-minded instead of a dreamer. Then, once together, we see the two do nothing but square off in every subsequent scene, from the moment Johnny brings his work buddies home to rehearse some songs to the time after Johnny returns home from his first tour only to be further harangued by distrusting, over-burdened Vivian. Their in-fighting never ceases and one is left to wonder about the specifics of their hatred for each other.
Ginnifer Goodwin, the actress portraying Vivian, was hung out to dry by the screenwriter, left without option to play the first Mrs. Cash as anything but a hen-pecking harridan whose suspect devotion to Johnny Cash never came without a price. Phoenix and Witherspoon, thanks be to their starring roles, had more to work with.
Overly, "Walk the Line" suffered from the same kind of lack of alternatives provided to Ms. Goodwin. What should have been a far more intriguing examination of Johnny Cash, the person, the songwriter, the entertainer, was little more than a trite love story featuring Johnny Cash and June Carter as this movie's version of Romeo & Juliet or Oscar & Lucinda or Dick & Jane--take your pick. There should have been more examination of the man than of the particulars of pursuit of June.