Walk the Line

Plot synopsis:
In 1968, as an audience of inmates at Folsom State Prison cheer for Johnny Cash's band, he waits backstage near a table saw, reminding him of his early life.
In 1944, Johnny, then known as J.R., grows up the son of a sharecropper on a cotton farm in Dyess, Arkansas. He is known for his singing of hymns, while his brother Jack is training himself to become a pastor. While Jack is sawing wood for a neighbor with a table saw, J.R. goes fishing until his brother finishes. But Jack has an accident with the saw and dies of his injuries. Cash's strained relationship with his father Ray becomes much more difficult after Jack's death. In 1950, J.R. enlists in the Air Force as Johnny Cash, and is stationed in West Germany. He purchases a guitar and in 1952, finds solace in writing songs, one of which he develops as "Folsom Prison Blues".
After his discharge, Cash returns to the United States and marries his girlfriend Vivian Liberto. The couple moves to Memphis, Tennessee, where Cash works as a door-to-door salesman to support his growing family. He walks past a recording studio, which inspires him to organize a band to play gospel music. Cash's band auditions for Sam Phillips, the owner of Sun Records. After they play "Folsom Prison Blues", the band receives a contract, and launch to stardom at the beginning of the rock and roll craze.
The band begins touring as Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two. On tour he meets singer June Carter, with whom he falls in love. Cash begins spending more time with June, who divorces her first husband Carl Smith. After his attempt to woo June fails, Cash starts abusing drugs and alcohol. After his behavior reaches a bottom during a performance with June, they separate.
Later, over Vivian's objections, Johnny persuades June to come out of semi-retirement and tour with him. The tour is a success, but backstage, Vivian becomes critical of June's influence. After one performance in Las Vegas, Johnny and June sleep together. The next morning, she notices Johnny taking pills and doubts her choices. At that evening's concert, Johnny, upset by June's apparent rejection, behaves erratically and eventually passes out on stage. June disposes of Johnny's drugs and begins to write "Ring of Fire", describing her feelings for him and her pain at watching him descend into addiction.
Returning to California, Cash travels to Mexico to purchase more drugs and is arrested. Cash's marriage to Vivian crumbles; the pair divorce and Cash moves to Nashville in 1966. Trying to reconcile with June, he buys a large house near a lake in Hendersonville. His parents and the extended Carter family arrive for Thanksgiving, at which time Ray dismisses his son's achievements and behavior. After the meal, June's mother encourages her daughter to help Cash. He goes into detox and wakes with June; she says they have been given a second chance. Though not married, the two begin spending most of their time with each other.
Cash discovers that most of his fan mail is from prisoners, who are impressed with his outlaw image. He proposes to Columbia Records that he record an album live inside Folsom Prison. Despite Columbia's doubts, Cash says that he will perform, and his label can use the tapes if they wish. At the Folsom Prison concert, Cash says that he has been sympathetic to prisoners, explaining that his arrest for drug possession helped him to relate to them. With this success, Cash embarks on a tour with June and his band. On the bus, he stops to talk with June and proposes to her, but she turns him down. At the next concert, June says she will only speak with him on stage. Cash later performs "Ring of Fire" on stage. After the song, Cash invites June to a duet and stops in the middle, saying he cannot sing "Jackson" any more unless June agrees to marry him. June accepts and they share a passionate embrace on stage.

Tags: romantic, humor, boring, sentimental

Review:
Short of a computer generated Cash walking around in his own bio-pic like one of those John Wayne beer commercials this is the definitive representation.And yet Phoenix may not give the best performance in the film.Reese Witherspoon more than holds up her end in a role that easily could have been reduced to a clichéd bumpkin.
WALK THE LINE, Mangold's story of the relationship between Johnny Cash and June Carter, is deliriously romantic, exhiliratingly entertaining (as a musical it invites and earns comparison with the best of Vincente Minelli), and profoundly moving--all set to a spectacular soundtrack.
Forget North Country, Walk the Line directed by James Mangold (Girl Interrupted) and written by Mangold and Gill Dennis is the better 2005 Oscar contender.This romantic tragedy, which is based on the autobiographies of Johnny Cash The Man in Black and Cash: the Autobiography was actually written and perfected alongside the famous duo Cash and June Carter Cash before their deaths in 2003.The movie begins with a young, music obsessed "J.R." Cash growing up in a poor cotton farming family in Arkansas.
Shortly afterwards, a family tragedy changes his life forever.Cash (Joaquin Phoenix) leaves for the air force, where he is stationed in Germany, buys an old guitar and proceeds to write one of the most recorded songs in history along with many others.Upon returning, Cash's obsession leads him to a recording studio and into the spotlight with June Carter (Reese Witherspoon) as well as Elvis Presley (Tyler Hilton) and the comical Jerry Lee Lewis (Waylon Payne.) The next emotional hour and 45 minutes is filled with great music, drug dependency, infidelity, and most of all love.Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, who sang every song themselves, completely shined in this movie.
Phoenix and Witherspoon had such great chemistry, by the end of the movie you actually think they might really be in love.However, if you tend to get restless in longer movies, the running time of 136 minutes can start to seem a little long towards the end, but it's well worth it.Overall Walk the Line receives nine out of ten stars.
Joaquin Phoenix IS Johnny Cash in this biopic, but Reese as June Carter Cash sets this film on fire.
As it turned out, Johnny gets the film he deserves, and, what's more, Walk the Line got me extremely interested in the work of his wife, June Carter Cash.Covering 20 years of his life, including Cash's rise into fame and delve into near-self-destruction, James Mangold concentrates on the key things in his life  his music, the drugs, and his all-consuming, untameable love for the very special June Carter Cash.
In real life, Johnny and June didn't get together until 20 years since their first meeting, and that they could wait that long for each other, is quite poignant.Holding the film together are the Oscar-nominated and Oscar-winning figures of Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, and their chemistry pretty much carries the film.
(Yes, that is Joaquin Phoenix's own voice in the movie!) However, I think that, at times, Mr. Phoenix comes up just a little bit short when it comes to his ability to project his voice firmly, but his performance, in general, was so masterful, that this point is quite easily overlooked.What really drives WALK, what gives it its soul and keeps it focused and centered is the repressed romance between Cash and the love of his life, June Carter (Reese Witherspoon - Legally Blonde, Cruel Intentions) Joaquin Phoenix, despite shining in the title role, is overshadowed by Witherspoon's overwhelming screen presence in the scenes where they appear together.
Yes, his life and career are notable - the emergence of a legendary Country Western singer out of the elements of a warped childhood peaked by the accidental death of his older brother whom the father clearly preferred, and the torture of self doubt that haunted a man through an unsuccessful marriage and a thwarted love for fellow Country Western singer June Carter, his descent into alcohol and drugs, and his final victory over his demons - but isn't this the same story we see almost annually about famous stars whose backgrounds seem templates from this same mold?
And perhaps that is the reason the writers and director elected to spend most of the screen time on the singing and concerts of Cash and Carter - leaving very little of the story of Cash's life except to outline form between songs.But if you condensed the actual acting time on the screen it falls into the overly familiar family clashes, drunken bouts, weaning off drugs, spats and eventual public displays of feelings that seem to be the formula for this genre of biopic.
"Walk the Line" is a good movie, but what makes it well worth going out of your way for, even if you are not a country music or Johnny Cash fan, is Joaquin Phoenix's raw, mesmerizing performance of masculine power and vulnerability.
Both were biographies of singers of a similar era, the main difference between the color of their skin, Ray being Ray Charles, of course, and this movie about Johnny Cash.Both singers (and films): 1 - had a brother who died early on in their lives which affected them for years and years; 2 - were made to feel guilty about those deaths even though there was no reason for that guilt; 3 - had adulterous affairs as their singing careers began to take off; 4 - became addicted to drugs and beat that addiction; 5 - made bold decisions regarding their careers that went against prevailing thought but turned out to be the right decisions; 6 - movies featured outstanding music and slick photography; 7 - movies were fast-moving and interesting to view all the way through despite being over two hours long; 8 - featured wonderful acting performances.In Walk The Line, Joaquin Phoenix, who plays Cash, goes one up on Jamie Foxx, who played Charles, because Phoenix did his own singing....and he was very good.
The filmmakers took the tried-and-true road of a romance story instead, which makes sense business-wise.With all the goods and bads, the film succeeds on being a great piece of entertainment with fantastic music, acting, visuals and a guarantee to please a lot of people, almost as many as Cash did in his eventful life.
As portrayed in "Walk the Line", the biographic picture created by its director, James Mangold, and his collaborator, Gill Dennis, they present us an aspect of the man as he was starting in the music business as he goes from poverty and tragedy, early in life, to become one of the most influential exponents of the music that came out of Memphis in the fifties.The film showcases Johnny Cash and his involvement with June Carter, a figure that was legendary in her own right, and through her family which was involved in music.
On the other hand, June didn't want to get involved with a married man and was battling her own demons.The best excuse for seeing the film is the terrific performances of Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, who, as Johnny and June, make this film come alive and make the viewer enter their world.
Reese Witherspoon makes a splash playing and singing songs that Ms. Carter made famous, although she was eclipsed by the stronger personality of Mr. Cash.The film will not disappoint thanks to the great treatment James Mangold gave the film..
This might seem more like a family reminiscence on my part but humor me for just one more minute.My father was pretty conservative: he paid his taxes on time without question, was a Marine, believed in the death penalty, enjoyed any kind of sports, and coached in a Pop-Warner football league.Fast forward to this movie, Walk The Line, and I have to wonder why my father felt so strongly for this man's music.
If you'd told me, oh, a year ago that there would be this big-budget movie about Johnny Cash, and it would star Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, there's no way I would have been looking forward to seeing it.
Both Phoenix and Witherspoon so completely immerse themselves in the well-known characters of Johnny and June that one would almost expect some caricature, but there's nary a dishonest, insincere beat to their incredible work here.Director James Mangold, who previously directed Girl, Interrupted, hits no false notes here, where even the slightest misstep might have had rabid Cash fans clamoring for his head on a spike.
With a record under his belt Cash begins touring with many other rising rock and country stars as he begins a successful but storming personal and professional life.Without a great love for country music or for that matter biopics, Walk The Line took me some time to get round to seeing but when I did I was glad that I had because it is just simple a good film that rises above the genre.
Hard to avoid the comparison with Ray. Walk the Line is a good film, presenting some of the highlights of the life of the great Johnny Cash and the love of his life June Carter Cash.
I have been a Johnny Cash fan for about 25 years, but from my perspective, Walk the Line was simply not as powerfully done as Ray.The Parallels between the two men's lives are bizarre, and though I know it really isn't fair to compare two whole lifetimes, I can't help thinking that some of the choices made in the selection of lifetime thresholds for WTL may have been influenced by what worked in Ray.Mangold's direction creates a very polished though somewhat Hollywood film, and the editing, script and pace of the film are all very strong.Nevertheless, this is a solidly entertaining and well made film, worth seeing for Witherspoon's amazing and lovable performance and the music alone.
The story of country legend Johnny Cash (Joaquin Phoenix) is told through his ongoing romance with fellow singer June Carter (Reese Witherspoon) and how they get through tough times, from Cash's pill popping addiction to Carter's own marital troubles until finally agreeing to marry Cash.Walk the Line is an excellent look into Johnny Cash's life.
I like when Reese Whiterspoon and Joaquin Phoenix sang by themselves so I can feel that they really sang that song, it is uncommon since the actor and the actress in many documentary movie usually sing by lip sync, you know that.
In this regard, "Walk the Line" is nothing special but as a love story, it is wonderful from the first time young Johnny Cash and June Carter met during the show and she got strapped in his guitar until his proposal many years later on the stage (the only place she allowed him to talk to her).
Joaquin Pheonix and Reese Witherspoon (though they don't really look their parts) do a phenomenal job as Johnny Cash and June Carter.
It's a film featuring superb performances and some nice crooning.As I've said, "Walk the Line" is the story of Johnny Cash (Joaquin Phoenix).
It follows his childhood days in rural Arkansas, through his early music career, through his obsession with future wife June Carter (Reese Witherspoon), and through his inevitable downfall.Of course, the thing with biopics is that if you've seen enough of the genre you'll presume you'll know how the story will unfold up until the credits and then you can figure out the theme of life-affirmation.
"Walk the Line" is every bit as compelling and well made as last year's "Ray." Like that film it avoids the typical biopic trappings with straightforward direction and a lead player, in this case Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash, who totally immerses himself in the role to give a truly authentic and moving performance.
All I'd heard about Walk the Line were seemingly wonderful things, like "the acting is wonderful" and "The music is superb and great to listen to", so I went to the cinema expecting a fantastic movie.I should've gone to see King Kong again.Now I'm not a fan of Johnny Cash (I do love 3 or 4 songs though), but my god, what a dull, dull movie about a dull, drunk man.
Before "Walk the Line" came out, some people thought that Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon would be miscast as Johnny Cash and June Carter.
But for me, that's just not enough.This is a movie about the life of a legendary musician, Johnny Cash, played not-so-brilliantly by Joaquin Phoenix.
This is enough to describe the remainder of the movie.Now I don't know much about Johnny Cash and his music, but I can't claim I learned any more after watching Walk the Line.
I have always loved Johnny Cash's music and I think that Juaquin Pheonix and Reese Witherspoon did a phenomenal job of portraying John and June in the movie.
Besides the Love Story rendering between Cash and Carter, and the moment where Johnny sings his "Folsom Prison" tune to the agent, there is nothing remarkable within the film."Walk the Line" failed to satisfy me.
Ginnifer Goodwin and Robert Patrick also lend their presence as Cash's wife and father.This film also includes other famous music stars of Cash's time such as Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley.Definitely check this out if you are a fan of Johnny Cash or June Carter, or just great movies..
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..
The film's great saving grace is the performances of Juaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, who provide highly watchable impersonations of their country-western counterparts (although their relationship frequently borders on being more obsessive than romantic, especially as Cash's descent into drug addiction worsens).But the story itself offers no surprises as a formulaic presentation of a troubled artist saved by the love of a good woman.
First, Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon did their own singing playing Johnny Cash and June Carter while Jamie Foxx lip-synced Ray Charles' sound track.
Even more impressive, she did a stellar, professional job of covering all of June Carter's songs (she also had to learn to play the auto-harp), including her very surprising on screen chemistry with Joaquin Phoenix, who played the film's main character, Johnny Cash.
I still remember how I saw this film for the first time!...I went to the cinema with my parents having a bad taste in my mouth because of this film's plot...But instead, I was very excited abut the film and when my parents bought the DVD, I watched it again for three times...The actors are great especially Reese Witherspoon in the role of June Carter...She's an excellent actress and the film shows this 100% and it seems that the Academy saw this too and gave her the long-awaiting Oscar...Joaquin Phoenix is also excellent in the role of Johnny Cash, a legend for the country music...The music is superb and it's burning inside our hearts even after the film's ending....James Mangold, the director of the film, creates a world of music, love, downfall and finally resurrection, with a sharp sense of humour...What excited me most about this film was the musical duet of the two actors....They are very convincing in their roles and they make the audience feel like they are right there beside them...The love story is very subtle and a little strange and this is one more thing that makes this film a small gem...Per total, this is an excellent film worth seeing more than once...Take my word for it!.
I felt this way again when it came to Walk the Line, a story about Johnny Cash and June Carter.
Before I watched this movie, I didn't really know a lot about this time period, or about Johnny Cash and his life.
The two main actors in this movie are Joaquin Phoenix, who plays Johnny Cash and Reese Witherspoon, who plays June Carter.
"Walk the Line" is a good biopic of the early years in the life of singer, songwriter, musician and actor Johnny Cash.
And Reese Witherspoon IMO didn't deserve the Oscar as much as Joaquin but she did an outstanding job as well.The film tells the life story of the man in black himself, Johnny cash.
As his music changed the world, Cash's own world was rocked by the woman who became the love of his life: June Carter (Reese Witherspoon).