Walk the Line (2005)

Johnny Cash Fan

Being A Johnny Cash fan, I loved this movie...
Joaquin Phoenix really resembles "The Man In Black"

Reese Witherspoom resembles June Carter
the only question that I have is :Couldn't they( the people at
the movie studio ) have taught them how to sing?

I'm tired of movies in which the stars only lip synch to the sound track( Sweet Dreams is the best example of this fraudulant practice)
Since ,this is a biopic ,I'd Expect Joaquin Pheonix to at least to play the guitar,instead of faking it!! August 15, 2008

Perfect Portrait of the Man in Black

Here we have the rather luscious and dangerous Joaquin Phoenix channeling Johnny Cash in WALK THE LINE. At the literal heart of the movie is Cash's longstanding and long-unrequited love for June Carter (the ever ebullient Reese Witherspoon finally being allowed to put her Nashville accent to good use) and the trials and travails he must suffer before finally settling down with the love of his life. From the foot-stomping power of the very first scene, music is the thread that binds these two restless hearts and what makes the movie even more remarkable is that Phoenix and Witherspoon did all of their own singing!

(Originally published on the website of author Teresa Medeiros at www.teresamedeiros.com)
July 15, 2008

a testament to both the legend of its subject, and to the talents of its stars

Joaquin Phoenix probably would have won the Oscar for his portrayal of Johnny Cash in "Walk the Line" if only Jamie Foxx hadn't won the prize a year earlier for playing Ray Charles. The Oscars didn't want to look like the Grammys, so they gave the golden guy to Philip Seymour Hoffman for a less complex performance as Truman Capote.

Phoenix is better, though (and does his own singing), and director James Mangold, in a commentary, praises the actor unabashedly. One of the most memorable scenes has Cash watching from the wings as Elvis Presley (played by Tyler Hilton) wows a crowd of screaming teenagers. Without uttering a single word, Phoenix conveys a range of emotions. At first, he's admiring. Then he appears momentarily jealous of qualities Elvis has that are lacking in his own performance. Finally, he shakes off any feelings of envy he may have and is once more admiring, much too impressed with his colleague to let petty feelings intrude.

Biopics tend to follow a too predictable path, an unavoidable template when dealing with the kind of lives considered worthy of cinematic treatment. There's the early life and its troubles often depicted as providing the impetus for the subject's later success. There's the scene in which the hero discovers his talent or calling and struggles to effectively develop or present it to whomever (in this case, Sun Records' producer Sam Phillips) holds the power to bring it to the world. Then you've got the predictable rise and, sometimes, the fall. "Walk the Line" doesn't stray from the formula yet makes the cliches of the genre seem fresh because they allow Johnny Cash to appear not merely as a legend, an almost Mount Rushmore figure in popular music, but as a man full of doubts about his talent and his soul, and Phoenix captures him superbly.

Cash never really had a downfall comparable to Elvis Presley's, but he struggled with addiction, only overcoming his demons through the love of June Carter. He had career setbacks, but the film ends before Cash was dumped from the Columbia label and also stops short of detailing his eventual return to glory through the series of brooding recordings he made for producer Rick Rubin's American Recordings. It's a fine, superbly realized film, a testament to both the legend of its subject, and to the talents of its stars.

Brian W. Fairbanks June 23, 2008

BEST MOVIE EVER!!!!!

LOVE ROCKABILLY. LOVE JOHNNY CASH. THIS MOVIE WAS SO GOOD.I LAUGHTED CRIED AND ROCKED OUT. GOTTA HAVE IT TYPE OF MOVIE. June 23, 2008

Best movie even if you don't care for the Cash!

Unbelievable performance by Joaquin so give the award to Reese right?! She was good but what about the Phoenix! HELLO! Its a movie you can watch again and again. May 6, 2008

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