Walk the line

[Howdy Doody]

 Has anybody seen this film? What did you think of it?  I basically liked it but Joaquin Phoenix was a fair Johnny Cash but not the best.  I liked it though.  Pretty much G rated version of a troubled life gone good.   I feel it could have been more realistic in many ways.  JC was a gritty realist who found a spiritual path after alot of pain.  Reese Witherspoon is delicious in this movie.   T-bone Burnett did a swell job with the music.

[Ron]

I love Reese in this movie.  I mean everything down to the authentic accent was just great.  Joaquin was good, not perfect... but man, who in the world would you get to play Johnny Cash?  Very interesting individual, hard to imitate.  So I think he likely did about as good as you can playing Cash in a movie.

My favorite scene of the whole movie is when they're driving in the car, and June wakes up and wants to know where they're going.  Jerry Lee Lewis says "I know where we're going, Everybody in this car is going straight to HELL" then says the bible says "Don't do it.  It don't say you can sing about it.  Or talk about it.  Or touch it"  or something like that, it was a great scene.  Then June says "Jerry, you think I'm going to hell?" and Lewis says "No June, You're too pretty to go to hell".

[TV Forces]

I thought it was a very entertaining movie, but I don't like how they ignored his Christianity
which was a HUGE part of his life.  Also, now that I have the DVD, I can pin down my problem
with some of the performances.  It sounds like all the songs were recorded in the studio,
but when he's lip singing to them in a live setting, like "Cocaine Blues," they are just too
relaxed.  There's no live vibe..  you can just tell they were recorded in a studio without acting
like "hey, I'll be singing this in front of prisoners in an intense scene."

[mark goddard]

He still didn't smash the glass at Folsom prison......

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

Things get changed for "tramatic purposes". But it was still a darn fine film, although I too agree, his religion was a big part of his life and they should have included more on that..

[Rocker]

Good film, but I expected more. They also should have used the original music.
The gus that played Elvis and Jerry Lee did a horrible job, and where the heck is Carl Perkins in that movie? He had more to do with Cash than Elvis or Jerry....

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

Oh yeah, that "Elvis" sucked. Big time.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

The Roy Orbison wasn't that great either.

Still, I loved the film from a purely filmic standpoint.

[cabinessence]

I liked it as a film very much. 'Real' source  music would probably have cramped its presentday realism. Jerry Lee and friends are peripheral to the story, they're quickly dabbed in background, impressionistic strokes to establish context without drawing attention away from the center. Approximations of their sound (and appearance)  are all that's needed in my opinion, especially so since J. Phoenix was directed to do his own musical interpretation. He's absolutely got to for the screenplay he's working in: the songs are expressions of himself as we get to know him onscreen, to the extent that we have Sam of Sun coaxing out the real Johnny-Joaquin from the bogus gospel imposter version who first auditions for him, both egos and voices belonging to the same actor essaying the part. To have real Cash slipped in there instead would sound bizarre and peculiar and rob the performance of half its strength. He's not impersonating Cash, he's doing a personal interpretation to fit Cash as a character in a story. The real victory here is that the story reasonably credibly explains Cash's own, and  that Joaquin's soul maps itself to the subject's. I ended up believing in the guy up on the screen, musical versimilitude notwithstanding, and having that guy up there singing out was essential for the trick to work.

[TV Forces]

Yeah, Elvis, Jerry lee, AND Roy were all horrible.  Roy looked like Gary Busey doing Buddy Holly!  And what's with Elvis asking Cash if he wants a chilli burger?  Is that some kind of joke on later day Elvis?

I find it ironic that Jamie Foxx is worshipped, wins an Oscar, and launches a singing career after LIP SINGING Ray Charles..  but Joquin gets nothing for playing one of the hardest to sing-along-with-and-imitate guys that ever walked the earth.

[donald]

I saw the film when it was first in theaters and again this past weekend on DVD.  I enjoyed watching it AGAIN, which is to me the definition of a good movie.

And I have a new appreciation of the talents of Reese Witherspoon, not to mention the late June Carter Cash.

Just a damn fine movie.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Am I the only one that bought the soundtrack album and loved it?

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

I didnt buy it but I liked it just the same.

[mark goddard]

My Mom and Dad bought it and they felt ripped off.....they thought it was Johnny Cash and June singing when they purchased the cd , not the actors.

[Rocker]

Am I the only one that bought the soundtrack album and loved it?

I got it and one of the first things was to burn a cd with all the original songs, where possible. But I think Phoenix and Reese did a good job, I just don't like it that much.

BTW Waylon's son does a very good job with his song. He's really good.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Plus, he has a cool name.  Shooter.

[donald]

He should get together with Gunner Nelson and do something.

...............Gunner and Shooter ................sons of rockabilly

[TV Forces]

My Mom and Dad bought it and they felt ripped off.....they thought it was Johnny Cash and June singing when they purchased the cd , not the actors.

Well, they weren't ripped off.. it's clearly labeled as being the actors singing the songs.
Plus, no original recordings were in the movie, so why should the soundtrack include any?