Reese Witherspoon

Copyright Âc 2008 Ed Bagley

Walk the Line - 2 stars (average)

"Walk the Line" is the story of Johnny Cash (Joaquin Phoenix) and June Carter Cash (Reese Witherspoon). Born poor in Arkansas, cash amounts to the glory of the country music world and destroys many relationships along the way to alcohol, drugs and pimping. Finally, June Carter wins his heart.

Cash has become who he was because the songs he wrote and sang his heart were his own life, they are not false, and music fans to them in their own world.

Walk the Line is a struggle to produce as it took four years to secure the movie rights and another 4 years to get the film made. Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon did their own songs, two of them took six months of vocal training and learned to play their instruments (guitar, auto-harp) from scratch.

Both Phoenix and Witherspoon to present their talents in this film that has a great story line but not a beautiful presentation. Based in part on human Cash own book Black and Cash: The Autobiography, the adaptation is also credited for Gill Dennis and James Mangold, who also directed the film. There is rarely a good idea for a director to be a writer in the same film, and Mangold showed why.

Rather than being a good scientist, it seems that Mangold was determined to send his portrayal of Johnny Cash Buck naked in the woods and cash lying around in the muck and mud for too long. It is unnecessary and adds nothing to the film, in my opinion. Mangold did not simply tell a good story well, he told a story.

Whatever the sins of cash on its way to becoming a legend and an icon of country music would have been handled without trying to bring it to an art form. That the writers and director who are without sin cast the first stone. It seemed as if they wanted to drag down the cash to build.

Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon saved this film. Witherspoon won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for best actress. Phoenix was nominated for an Oscar and won the Golden Globe for best actor. Walk the Line won the Golden Globe for best film, but not on my ballot. Walk the Line has won more Oscar nominations for best costume design, editing and mixing. Besides Oscar Witherspoon, the film had another 27 wins and 26 other nominations.

Walk the Line, released in 2005, occupies a special place in history as Johnny Cash recorded with Sun Records in Memphis, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins, among others.

It was reported that Johnny Cash chose Joaquin Phoenix to play him in the film, or on the basis of his performance in "Gladiator" and June Carter Cash chose Reese Witherspoon for her role in the film. June Carter Cash died in May 2003 before production began on the film, and Johnny Cash died four months later in September 2003.

Cash was blessed with a deep voice, distinctive and known as "The Man in Black". He wrote over 1,000 songs and sold more than 90 million albums in a career that lasted nearly five decades. A diverse group of artists were paid in cash forum, including Bob Dylan, Chris Isaak, Wyclef Jean, Norah Jones, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson and U2.

Johnny Cash has a number of signature songs that will not disappear soon, including "I Walk the Line," "Folsom Prison Blues," "Ring of Fire," "Man in Black" and "A Boy Named Sue" .

Walk the Line is worth seeing just for Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon. I do not want to watch it again, and was not a better person for having seen it, so it is my average score, which would have been higher with better writing and better direction.