Great movie about a great man

Rating: 10/10 (5 March 2006)

Johnny Cash's whole life had movie material written all over it.From his time as a dirt poor sharecropper's son to his rise to become the greatest country music artist of all time Johhny Cash's life was just waiting to be made into a film.And this movie is a fitting tribute to Johnny Cash.
Phoenix is simply perfect has Cash.No he doesn't sound like Cash,no one could,nor does he have the 6 foot 2 inch frame Cash had but he becomes Cash so much so that you have to remind yourself that is isn't Johnny Cash on the screen.Witherspoon is also good as June.With this role she will be seen as a serious actress and hopefully leave some of the sillier stuff she had been doing behind.
The movie covers the period from Cash's childhood up until he and June marry.Its a great ride all the way.Cash is shown with all his faults---his addictions and his mood swings and his womanizing.But it also shows what made Cash the man he was and the things that shaped his music,such as his brother Jack's death,which seemed not only to shape his music but his whole life,and it also shows his enormous talents as he begins his recording career at Sun Records and touring with Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis back in the early 1950's.
One last note, Phoenix and Witherspoon do their own singing for this film and they are very good at that also.They are as good or better than most of the junk that is called country music today.
Don't just rent this DVD,buy it,because you will want to watch it over and over.