Walk the Line is Right on Target

Rating: 9/10 (20 November 2005)

Johnny Cash (Joaquin Phoenix) grew up during the Depression and through the second World War as the son of a poor sharecropper (Ray Cash, played by Robert Patrick) on an Arkansas cotton farm. His father's distance and clear favoritism for his older son shaped the young J.R as much as did his mother's love for singing hymns. A childhood tragedy also contributed greatly to the make up of the man J.R. later became.
As a young man, J.R. joins the Air Force. He's stationed at a base in Germany where he fills his spare time learning to play the guitar. He's also obsessed with his girlfriend back home, the pretty Vivian Liberto (Ginnifer Goodwin). John eventually wins her hand and settles into a small apartment with his wife and new baby. Trying his hand at door to door sales in Memphis with little success, he yearns for his music even as his young wife tries to get him to settle down and be more responsible.
John is finishing up another long day when he happens by a small recording studio where, for a few dollars, fledgling musicians can record their own songs. He begs owner Sam Phillips (Dallas Roberts) for an audition. John and a couple of his buddies have been playing casually in their spare time for months. Unfortunately, the gospel music they play doesn't impress Phillips, and he bluntly tells them so. Out of sheer desperation, John plays a song he wrote about a man doing hard time in Folsom Prison. Phillips is no idiot; he agrees to work with the earnest singer/songwriter, and Johnny Cash is born.
In those days, incessant touring was the only way that singers could both make a living and get the exposure they needed to ensure radio airplay and record sales. It's on one such tour that Johnny meets pretty June Carter (Reese Witherspoon). Eventually, traveling around the country, the entire troupe become friends. Waylon Jennings (who is played by his son, Shooter Jennings), a young Elvis Presley (Tyler Hilton), Jerry Lee Lewis (Waylon Malloy Payne), Roy Orbison (Johnathan Rice), and more of the soon-to-be greats are among them.
Although Johnny is successful with his music, his wife is running out of patience. Her husband isn't often home and when he is, he's exhausted. She also worries about the growing friendship between Johnny and June. Eventually, Vivian can no longer hide her disdain. Johnny's disappointment in himself only grows when he's still unable to please his hard-hearted father. He escapes his unhappy home life by touring some more, and then by sliding into drinking and worse. Cash's career  and his life  might have ended shortly after that if not for his adoration of June. Though both are married, Johnny's not inclined to give up though he runs into more than a few stumbling blocks along the way.
Joaquin Phoenix has already been singled out for high praise and for rumors of Oscar as a result of his performance. It's true that Phoenix is astounding in the role. Making his performance even more amazing is that he learned to play guitar just for this part, and that he does all of his own singing (both of which he does credibly). What you may not have heard is just what a stunning performance Reese Witherspoon gives. She more than holds her own as an actress in the face of Phoenix's formidable talent, and then goes beyond that with some terrific tunes of her own. When the two perform duets, not only is the music enjoyable but the on screen chemistry is such that you've no doubt in your mind whatsoever that Johnny and June were destined to be together.
Ginnifer Goodwin and Robert Patrick are both good, especially the latter. In fact, I loathed Patrick's character which is a good indicator that the actor did a fine job in the creation of a man who apparently knew little about love and even less about raising children, but who did his best despite it all. The supporting cast is also excellent.
James Mangold, the director of such films as the wonderful Girl, Interrupted and the woefully underrated Identity, did a fine job directing; as the co-writer of the screenplay, his vested interest in the movie was clear and likely enhanced his direction. There are some edits that seem abrupt and effectively interrupt the flow of the story; there are a few matters that are mysteriously skipped or glossed over (perhaps these are scenes that will be returned to the film in the eventual DVD version). But as a whole, the film is well crafted, and the music, by the way, is terrific.
The performances alone are worth the price of a ticket, but the story, too, is something well worth telling. Johnny Cash really was one of the greats despite his personal flaws; that he overcame many of those shortcomings only makes him an even better man. And the love story between him and June Carter Cash is at once poignant and passionate, and will likely prove inspirational as well. Walk the Line isn't perfect, but it's awfully, awfully close...
FAMILY SUITABILITY: Walk the Line is rated PG-13 for "some language, thematic material, and depiction of drug dependency." Small children aren't going to enjoy this movie anyway, and even older kids may not enjoy it much thanks to the fact it takes place in a past they've never known and features people they've likely heard of only in passing. But for adults, Walk the Line has much to recommend it. I said I wasn't a Johnny Cash fan, and I wasn't. But Walk the Line was a film I thoroughly enjoyed, and as a result, even gained some appreciation for Cash's musical legacy. I recommend Walk the Line to movie and music fans alike. It truly doesn't get much better than this.