November 19, 2005 -- “Walk the Line” is a good biographical movie about the early days of the career of country music legend Johnny Cash and his romance with singer/songwriter June Carter. It is an unflattering portrait of a man who cheated on his wife, was addicted to drugs and who was haunted by his past. It is Cash's flaws, however, that make him such a colorful and interesting character.

Joaquin Phoenix of “Ladder 49” stars as Cash and Reese Witherspoon of “Vanity Fair” stars as June Carter. Even though he was a music superstar, Cash is haunted by the death of his older brother and was belittled by his disapproving father Ray (Robert Patrick of “Ladder 49”). Ray's whole purpose in life seems to be to lower his son's self esteem. Cash's first wife, Vivian (Ginnifer Goodwin of “Mona Lisa Smile”), also disapproved of Cash's behavior and complained bitterly that he was not the perfect husband. The movie makes it appear as though June Carter was Johnny Cash's savior. She helped him get off the drugs and get his career back on track. She was his best friend while others offered only sanctimonious platitudes instead of the real help he needed.

It took a lot of years and a lot of changes and a lot of marriages before Johnny and June ended up together. It was a very twisted, winding road, which is shown in some detail in the movie. It makes you wonder how they ever ended up in such a stable, long-lasting marriage. One hint offered by the movie is that Johnny Cash lived the life of a rock star for a time. Women threw themselves at him. Maybe because of his experiences, he recognized the right woman when she came along.

The music in the film is excellent. Grammy-winning musician T Bone Burnett (“O Brother,Where Art Thou?”), composed the movie's musical score. Many of the songs are performed by Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon. They do a good job duplicating the sound of Johnny Cash and June Carter. Of course it is impossible to exactly duplicate the voice of Johnny Cash, because he was unique, but Phoenix comes closer to it than you would have any reason to expect. Other famous musicians are also depicted in the film, including Elvis Presley (Tyler Hilton), Jerry Lee Lewis (Waylon Payne), Roy Orbison (Johnathan Rice) and Carl Perkins (Johnny Holiday). A young Waylon Jennings is played by his son, Shooter Jennings. Sam Phillips, the legendary owner of Sun Records, is played by Dallas Roberts in a strong performance. Future stars like Elvis, Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis went on long road trips for Sun Records, playing in high school gymnasiums. They lugged their own equipment and drove in car caravans from one gig to the next. It was nothing like modern musical tours.

There are a lot of directions this movie could have taken, but it follows the path of the central love story. Along the way, it shows us something about the early career of Johnny Cash that few people knew much about before this film was made. This film rates a B+.

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Copyright © 2005 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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