Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash! Reese Witherspoon as June Carter Cash? (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

More boobs, more violence, more swearing!!!

 

[Michael Elliott]

To me an R rating means realistic, not restricted. Johnny Cash didn't live a pretty life that should be seen by a PG-13 crowd. I think the drug addiction scenes could have been a lot more powerful and haunting with an R-rating. I think some of a performance could also be missed with an actor knowing he can't go "too out there" due to the film needing a PG-13 rating. Several films have gotten NC-17 ratings not for sex, violence and nudity but for the simple fact that they were "too intense". With WALK THE LINE I feel the film could have been a lot more intense and haunting in the ugly side of Cash to merit a R rating.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Well, I like the film the way it is, but who knows, maybe we'll get an R cut of it on dvd.

Anyone know what was cut from the film?

 

[Shawn_KE]

XM radios Cinemagic had the director on a couple days ago and said the DVD will have the full versions of the songs, not sure if they will just be extras or put into the film.

But finally saw this tonight, was blown away by Joaquin Phoenix's performance, he became Johnny Cash. He mimicked his stage performance and look. I saw Cash and not Phoenix.

Nice all around film, though they did take some liberty's with truth, I enjoyed the whole movie.

 

[TheLongshot]

XM radios Cinemagic had the director on a couple days ago and said the DVD will have the full versions of the songs, not sure if they will just be extras or put into the film.

It will probably be like the Untitled DVD version of Almost Famous, where they have the performance seperate from the movie. Makes more sense that way.

Jason

 

[Chuck Mayer]

I'd like to pop a review out later. The movie was very good, not great, but had great performances. As good as Joaquim was, I think Reese was better. Both did a tremendous job singing (and Reese has a great voice). As for the rating...whatever works. It might have seemed timid, but it showed the man's faults well enough without getting lurid.

I'm buying the soundtrack as well, since it's the actor's singing (I'll be buying a few Cash collections as well for the "real thing").

Take care,
Chuck

 

[Sam Favate]

I thought the movie was terrific. Been a JC fan for many years now, and I thought they nailed many aspects of his life. Phoenix did a hell of a job, and Reese did too. Both of them deserve recognition.

Saw the movie under lousy conditions -- the theater I was in had the sound mixed very badly. The bass was way up, so the scenes with music had the rhythm very high, but for most of the movie, the treble was very low, which meant we were really straining to hear people's voices. I missed a lot of the dialogue - it was unintelligible. Unfortunately, this happened for most of the film and in very key scenes. (I got free movie passes as a result -- but only because I complained. The theater was made aware of the problem at least halfway through the movie and did nothing.)

Despite all that, it was a great film. I liked that it was less sentimental than Ray and respectful and honest about its subjects. Looking forward to the DVD.

 

[ChrisMatson]

I finally got a chance to see Walk The Line and thoroughly enjoyed it. I expect that there will be nominations for both Phoenix and Witherspoon. I don't know if the film itself will get nominated though. As others have pointed out, there were enough issues with pacing/editing to knock it out of the top five for the year, but it was still a very good movie.

I hope the DVD includes real Cash/Carter performances.

 

[Citizen87645]

I'm a Johnny Cash novice with a dad who is a fan. It was fun being able to go to a movie he was really wanting to go see.

I enjoyed the film quite a bit and am actually considering picking up the soundtrack to hear the Phoenix and Witherspoon renditions of the songs. I also borrowed At Folsom Prison and At San Quentin so I'm not a total plebe .

I think what the movie nailed was the spirit of the subjects since if you put the actors side-by-side with the real thing there's not congruency in appearance or voice. Ray had more congruency but I think by dubbing in the Ray Charles vocals the film lost something of the spirit (I know others will heartily disagree). I also think Walk the Line had more subtlety in presenting the impact of a sibling's death, which I appreciated.

I was very impressed with Witherspoon. I've enjoyed her other work, but I felt like she turned a corner with this film and it definitely made me appreciate her in a way I had not before. At one point I thought, "Ok, I guess it's okay she got a fold out cover on Entertainment Weekly."

 

[Eric Peterson]

I caught this film over the holiday weekend and enjoyed it thoroughly, but like any biopic it has some major flaws.

The film seemed to get caught up in a cycle of tour, drugs, date June and repeat. Certainly these were major aspects of Cash's life and career but far from everything. Where were the studio sessions and album releases? After the initial recording session at Sun Records (Which was not named in the film as I recall), there was not a single other scene in a studio or mention of any album until "Live at Folsom" which I felt was a major missing element.

Cash's relationship with his bandmates was also missing, and as I recall he had a very tight relationship with them including Luther Perkins (who was hardly mentioned), and who died just after the Folsom album was released. That would have screwed up the Hollywood ending though.

However, my biggest problem is how it summed up the final 35 years of his career in TWO sentences. This was one of my major complaints with "Ray" last year, but they at least spent several minutes summing up the last 40 years of his career and Cash got TWO sentences. :frowning:

Even with my complaints, the films was riveting, and the performances by Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon were absolutely amazing (..and I'm not a big fan of either). If Phoenix does not with the AA for his singing performance alone, then there is a major performance by somebody still to come in December.

 

[Seth Paxton]

I'm giving it a 9.5 of 10, not quite Best Pix winner stuff but a nomination makes sense. I thought it was a bit better than Ray. There was less "and then" to Walk the Line and the plot felt less forced into an artifical theme/structure.

They let Cash's issues carry the film through the events rather than trying to make the events indicate his issues (which was my problem with Ray).

I have no problem when a biopic only focuses on one time period, much like fictional stories have to center around a few key themes. Trying to fit everything in is usually a biopic mistake.

Phoenix and Reese are both surprisingly good, enough to pique my interest in the soundtrack. My wife preferred the Reese effort on Jackson to the real June Carter even.

I have always been a Cash fan, but was never fully aware of his entire early career since I was born around the Live from Prison albums era. I had no idea of his early Sun Studio tours or his connection to Luther and Carl, nor Elvis or Jerry Lee.

While I knew a lot about his career and many songs, there were plenty I didn't know about too. I don't think I had ever heard Jackson, for example, since it wasn't on the Hits collection I had.

The film sent me out to finally get the classic Live at Folsom Co. and when I get some spare cash I will be getting San Quentin as well.


I'm not much for country, especially modern, but I love Willie, Cash and Hank Sr. This film only increased my interest and enjoyment of Cash's career.

 

[nickGreenwood]

I'm now reading Cash by Johnny Cash, and this is probably my only gripe with the film now, is the portrayl of the father. In the book, Johnny doesn't get into whether his father was mean or not. In fact it doesn't even seem that he was, maybe he was strict but not like the way he was in the film. My only other gripe is the guy who played Roy Orbison, but I guess I can let that go, I mean who do you get to play the man with one of the best singing voices?

Anyway hearing about the dvd with the concert footage seperate will be amazing. I absolutely love Reese's voice, I thought it was great, especially on the Jukebox Blues, which I think is my favorite song on the cd. I still need to see this a few more times, I can't wait for the dvd.
I also picked up At Folsom Prison right after the movie, the friends I was with and I were all like "Is Best Buy open?" after we saw the film.

I recommend Cash by Johnny Cash for a good look at Johnny by Johnny, his writing is good too, he just seems so normal for someone of his stature.

 

[Arman]

We also bought some Johnny Cash stuffs after watching the movie last week.

Cash TIVO Alert!

CMT will broadcast again on Sun., Dec. 4 9:00 PM ET/PT (then again on 12/21 @ 10:30 PM), the one-hour show featuring extensive interviews with Johnny Cash, including footage not seen on the original CBS telecast. I've TIVOed and seen that fascinating show last night.

[Tomorrow 12/1 @ 12:00 am they will air the American Revolutions: The Highwaymen, Featured Artists: Johnny Cash , Highwaymen , Jessi Colter , Kris Kristofferson , Waylon Jennings]

 

[Sam Favate]

If you're getting into Johnny Cash as a result of seeing the movie, you owe it to yourself to check out the work he did in the last 10 years of his life. His albums with producer Rick Rubin on American Recordings are outstanding and match up to anything he did in his younger days. The albums are: American Recordings (1994), Unchained (1996), Solitary Man (2000), The Man Comes Around (2002) and the superb box set Unearthed (2003), which contains My Mother's Hymnbook (released separately in 2004). There is a fifth volume that was completed before he died that is going to come out, but has been delayed several times already. The most recent rumor puts it coming out in Spring 2006. The album is said to contain Cash's version of Bruce Springsteen's "Further On (Up The Road)."

Much of Unchained was recorded with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers and it's the most rocking of his American albums. Petty also sings with Cash on an Unearthed track. Unearthed has several duets, including one with The Clash's Joe Strummer.

Cash produced vital, essential work throughout his life, and his later years were some of his best.

 

[nickGreenwood]

Those last few albums are amazing, especially "The Man Comes Around" I look forward to American V, I heard a release of January, but who knows.
Tom Petty also sings two songs with Cash on American III - Solitary Man.

I wish they had touched upon the last few years of his life in the movie, they could've used the Hurt video or something.

 

[GuruAskew]

After seeing the fantastic new film based on Johnny & June Carter Cash, Walk the Line, we realized we had a few boxes of the CASH American IV shirts left in the basement. And with American V coming in 2006, we decided to blow the rest of these out at HALF PRICE!

It doesn't get any more official than that. I wonder if it'll be reduced to a single-disc or if the rumor about it being a multi-disc box set is true. I believe one track from these final sessions has been released. "A Satisfied Mind" from the "Kill Bill Vol. 2" soundtrack was produced by Rubin and has a copyright date of 2004. It obviously couldn't have been recorded any later than 2003 but the more recent copyright plus the fact that it didn't make it onto "Unearthed" (which was American I-IV outtakes) makes it pretty likely that it was from the "American V" sessions.

 

[Sam Favate]

And with American V coming in 2006

Glad to hear it. Hopefully, they will time it to coincide with the release of the Walk The Line DVD, which, if you ask me, should be put out in time for the Oscars, or just after if the film is a winner in big categories.

Funny that I never got that email from Lost Highway. I thought I was on their email list! Hmmphh!

 

[Lucia Duran]

Just got back from seeing this movie and as a fan of Johnny Cash... I thought Phoenix and Witherspoon delivered. What a great film.

 

[Michael_K_Sr]

Just got around to seeing this last night and while I consider myself neither a huge fan of Johnny Cash or the two leads in the film, I was totally blown away by their performances. It may not be the best film of 2005, but it's probably my favorite.

 

[Josh.C]

I am a huge Johnny Cash fan and Witherspoon sounds BETTER than June Carter ever thought about sounding. EXCELLENT JOB!

Phoenix nailed Cash, and I was the first one after I saw the trailer to say "no way that guy can do Johnny". Well, I was wrong.