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Awesome: 45.99%
Worth A Look: 40.88%
Just Average: 10.95%
Pretty Crappy: 0.73%
Sucks: 1.46%
11 reviews, 71 user ratings
See another review of this film:Erik Childress (Awesome) EricDSnider (Worth A Look) Jason Whyte (Worth A Look) Jay Seaver (Worth A Look) Tom Ciorciari (Worth A Look) Mark Rodger-Snelson (Worth A Look) Peter Sobczynski (Awesome) brianorndorf (Just Average) William Goss (Worth A Look) Rob Gonsalves (Worth A Look)
by Cochise
"Wow! I live country music."
This was such a good film. Unbelievably so. If you love country music, and if you are a Johnny Cash fan, don�t miss this one. I loved this film! The film dramatizes his life in a way that makes you identify very strongly with Johnny Cash.
Joaquin Phoenix deserved the academy award for his portrayal of Johnny Cash in �Walk the Line.� He did it so well, that the difference in appearance between Cash and Phoenix did not matter. (The only other really convincing portrayal of a singer that was as good as Phoenix�s was Curt Russell�s portrayal of Elvis.)
WARNING - In order to review this film and discuss its meaning, I have to reveal the ending. So . . . if you don't want to know what happens in the end, please don't read this until after you have seen the film.
The music was fantastic. The movie is seen and heard at its best at home with a good 5.1 sound system and a front projector system. After seeing the movie I bought the Johnny Cash CD. The songs that Cash did sounded a little different than songs in the movie. But that didn�t matter, as I liked both Cash�s and the movie songs equally. I felt that the songs in the movie seemed more rocky that the originals. They sounded the way I remembered the original songs sounded. This was because when I heard the original songs when they first came out, they sounded as rocky to me then as the movie�s more rocky music sounds now. (This concept was used in First Knight. The idea was that to the medieval people, their music sounded as rocky as Queen does to us now.)
One of my favorite songs was the shoe shine boy song. I liked the way Johnny Cash was walking by a shoe shine stand, and the workers were shining shoes to a rhythm. This was a very clever touch by the director as you just know that the song is coming up.
The film gave an excellent picture of Cash�s early life, and the tragic accident that happened to his brother. The harshness of the life that gives birth to many a country music star was shown very well. One could understand the meaning of the phrase �paying your dues.�
The Sun Records scenes were among my favorite. I have seen enough movies that had Sam Phillips in them, and the actor who played him in �Walk the Line� did a brilliant job. He seemed to be a down-to-earth decent person. His speech to Johnny about how to be inspired to write a song was beautiful.
Reese Witherspoon, who played June Carter, was perfect. Not only did she sing will, she was truly convincing as the love of Cash�s life. I was disappointed that they did not put in the song about the unbroken circle that Cash did with the Carter family.
One of my favorite scenes was the one in which the producers did not want Cash to play in prison. Cash�s comment that anyone who did not want him singing there was not a Christian is a biting comment on phony Christians.
The ending was of the film was very sad, but tastefully done.
A very meaningful movie which gave me an understanding of Johnny Cash. Buy the movie, it is a worthy addition to your library.
link directly to this review at https://www.hollywoodbitchslap.com/review.php?movie=12838&reviewer=228
OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2005 Toronto Film Festival For more in the 2005 Toronto Film Festival series, click here.
6/27/16 Joanie One of Joaquin Phoenix's best movies.
5/15/11 Dr.Lao Well acted but painted-by-the-numbers musician biopic
7/31/10 the dork knight Boozy musician is an older than dirt trope. Still, Pheonix is great as adorkable Cash
2/20/09 tracy what are the pills that he is taking in the movie?
8/26/08 Jeff Wilder Pretty good. Different from Ray in its approach to the story.
5/28/08 PAUL SHORTT A STRONGLY ACTED, MUSICALLY VIBRANT, CONVENTIONALLY SATISFYING BIOPIC
5/08/08 Karrie Millheim Its a great movie, a real good job of showing them
12/26/07 Ionicera typical musician biopic, nothing that special here
10/18/07 catherine garcia so real
10/17/07 Beau great film! an enjoyable film with great performances
3/05/07 Robin Hudspeth Great movie, shows the ugly side as well as the good of this love story.
2/23/07 dmitry At best a mediocre TV movie of the week...someone should tell Mr.Phoenix to stop acting
2/19/07 Tiffany I loved this movie. Reese witherspoon is good in every movie.
11/24/06 Janet I REALLY ENJOYED THE MOVIE IT WAS GREAT JOAQUIN AND REESE DONE A AWESOME JOB
11/04/06 kid reese witherspoon was born for this movie. she was excellent. she sang good, she acted good
10/05/06 Kara I loved it!
8/12/06 cody a very good movie about life johnny cash and june carter, reese witherspoon is awesome
8/04/06 jalnaiz good, very motivating
7/28/06 Heather Marie worth a try
7/27/06 Lizzie not this one
7/16/06 JenDenmark Great acting, good story, quite entertaining!
5/01/06 Del Other people's lives are more interesting than mine
4/27/06 Hilda semen THis movie was stupid!!!!!!!!!! This should never be shown again!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4/20/06 Becky One of my favorites. Great impersonations on the voices, good character devel.
4/18/06 Bill Chubbuck Reese is perfect
3/31/06 Rose Marie this is an extrodinary film about a legendary star. I thought it was one of the best films.
3/24/06 Lea Anne I ABSOLUTELY loved the movie...had no idea that they were doing their own singing.
3/22/06 Annie G Just because a famous singer dies, doesn't automatically mean his life is worthy of a movie
3/18/06 Elizabeth Go watch it. Now
3/18/06 Hydrogen Amazing. A great movie, worthy of all its praise.
3/17/06 MP Bartley Utter formula...but mixed to perfection. Phoenix and Witherspoon are wonderful.
3/14/06 Shannon Robles jouquin pheonix was brilliant, when you are watching the movie you really believe that you
3/12/06 Roderick Cromar I liked this one.
3/07/06 Carolyn Rathburn Wonderful, loved it, well done
3/07/06 James good movie, 2 disc dvd special features are crap worst special edition ever
3/07/06 Katie Amazing performances by Reese and Joaquin along with impressive singing.
3/06/06 Nobody Good movie, good acting, plenty of Cash songs. What more do you want?
3/03/06 Green Gremlin Johnny Cash will always kick ass !!!!!
2/24/06 PAG Great movie. One of the best from 2005.
2/13/06 alice Great acting !
2/08/06 helen bradley Joaquin Phoenix great, bit slow in parts
1/20/06 Kristina Williams That end scene brought tears to my eyes...great flick
1/16/06 Jared Wilson With all the stories they could tell, they told the same story as Ray did in 2004. Shame.
1/12/06 Rosita It is so natural
12/31/05 ALDO Robert Patrick rules. Yeah, formulaic, but much better than Ray,which felt like a TVmovie
12/31/05 carol whoa! I grew up with this music, also in my home we listened to leadbelly... this is rural
12/25/05 Reese rather see a movie abour a boy named Sue
12/23/05 Mike V Formula bio-pic - but extremely well done.
12/21/05 tina mateer great,wonderful movie of johnny cash and june! I plain on buying the dvd someday
12/17/05 ownerofdajoint Struggling to overcome life's endless battles with brokenness is done well here
12/06/05 malcolm great performances, but these musician bio movies are pretty much all the same
11/30/05 bobbi What's the point? Is the movie saying that he's a hero for leaving his wife?
11/29/05 Sandra Kerbow Wonderful. I will buy it and watch it over and over
11/28/05 Suzz great performances make this worth seeing
11/28/05 Marilyn Awesom Strong performances loved the music
11/27/05 millersxing A weepy introduction to Johnny Cash for the uninitiated.
11/26/05 Billie This was awesome. I've already seen it twice and will buy the DVD when it comes out
11/25/05 Ahnold Great movie to introduce Cash to younger generation. Strong performances by all.
11/25/05 ajay certainly worth a look.
11/24/05 Idiot_for_LMP Great Performances as the buzz has been saying. Didn't like the story. Not a Cash fan.
11/23/05 bentable Just wow
11/21/05 Kurtis J. Beard Very strong acting. Contrived story. Cash was the man!
11/21/05 Taylor Fladgate This movie will stay with you for days.
11/21/05 Sasha This movie really moved me, it was a rollercoaster of emotions. Oscars better be handed out
11/20/05 Joe Smaltz Oscar material all the way
11/19/05 Jonathon Holmes nothing more than a retrad of "Ray"
11/18/05 Rick Rivera This film honors an amazing talent and a couple that truly completed one another.
10/23/05 Reini Urban Mangold learned some tricks, but still is Mangold. Strong Witherspoon indeed
10/16/05 caitlin Witherspoon should get a BA nom.
10/12/05 Bob Moore performance risks taken with gratifying results
9/29/05 walktheline This movie was amazing. I loved Joaquin and especially Reese.
Select a rating from the list: 5 STARS - Awesome 4 STARS - Worth A Look 3 STARS - Just Average 2 STARS - Pretty Crappy 1 STAR - Sucks
18-Nov-2005 (PG-13)
03-Feb-2006 (12A)
Shelby Lynne
Dan Beene
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