That wasn't him, the guy in the movie was way more grizzled, and that's saying something.

Finally saw this last night and absolutely loved it. Phoenix and Witherspoon perfectly nailed their parts. Hats off to them.

I love Johnny Cash. He transcended any genre and appealed to so many people over the decades of his career.

I've read both of his books that this was based on (The Man In Black, and Cash: An Autobiography), but I silll learned a couple of new things in watching the film. Apparently, Johnny cash had a lot of input to the movie before he died -- He approved Phoenix to play him, btw. The writers/director also spent several years visiting with John and June to make sure they got the story correct and to get insight and ideas for the movie. (I had no idea they were working on this movie for 8 years!) I guess even with the occasional cheesy line or joke, it's hard to discredit the film when The Man himself (and June) had a lot of say in how it should be told.

Other people involved were close to the story also: John Carter Cash (son) was an executive producer. Waylon Jennings' son, who knew JC through his dad, played his father (Waylon) in the movie -- I thought that was kinda cool.

I've heard a couple of reviewers complain that there wasn't enough coverage of the other musicians in the film, Jennings, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Orbison, Elvis (Cash wrote quite a few songs for the last two, iirc.) -- but it just wasn't a story about all of them. They were a part of Cash's life, but they were not the focus of the movie. I didn't have any complaints about the actors who played them, or their looks/performances. They were all well done.

As far as the story goes in the film, it's not an all-encompassing biography/documentary of Cash's life. It's not supposed to be. They lightened some of it, skipped some, but it was really meant to highlight the most important events that shaped JC's career, mentality and personal life. It was well done in that regard. I absolutely loved it!!

T-Bone Burnett scored the movie -- great choice, imho. Phoenix and Witherspoon did a super job with the vocals and playing the instruments. Phoenix certainly had the talk and mannerisms of Cash down pat; and while there were some songs that weren't perfect mimics of Cash, there were some that were just absolutely dead on. This is easily the highpoint of his career. Witherspoon sounded exactly like June Carter. I'm not a fan (of either really), but she nailed the part in every aspect. I'm smelling Oscars...

Anyways (haha, you can tell I'm a fan!), it's well worth the price of admission -- more than once, imo. Both times I've seen it, it's been sold out, and the entire audience was tapping to the music, mouthing words, and just totally into the film. You can see the appeal of Johnny Cash in the scope of the audience: I went with my mom, who's pushing 70, my teenagers - Mr. Disco & Mr. Punk Rock, Teresa - mid 20's country fan, and Kim - 30ish black/Irish girl brom the Bronx -- and we all adored it.

Out of 5 stars, I give it 7.

edit:
Oh, and a P.S.

I gotta give props to the guy who played Sam Philips (Sun Records owner; Cash's first album) -- I had to look him up on IMDB to even know his name: Dallas Roberts. He's apparently new/unknown, done nothing really, but imo, he carried the scenes he was in. I hope we see more of him! Didn't hurt that he was kinda hot too.

As long as we're giving out props...how 'bout a few to Robert Patrick, who was fantastic playing Johnny's father. Ironically, Patrick ALSO played Elvis' father in the TV mini-series earlier this year. He was great in both roles.

I thought Patrick was great as well. It's the kind of role that could easily have been one-dimensional and villainous, but despite being a real dick, his criticism of Johnny toward the end was pretty dead on.

But don't you mean coincidentally, not ironically?

***1/2

Great flick, I saw it on the largest screen in at our theater, and the volume was cranked up - sounded great.

A few nitpicks - It seems like it kinda skimmed over his initial success, over the course of a few scenes suddenly he was a star and they were in a bigger house. A little more time showing his rise and lifestyle change might've helped. And when he bought his new house on the lake - it seemed like just before that he was broke, so that left me a bit confused.

Also at Folsom he started with Cocaine Blues - but that's not how it went on the album. Even thought it's my fav song and made for a good scene I would've preferred accuracy. Or am I mistaken? (i'm not an expert)

A little more of his religous faith would've been awesome. The scene that cuts away outside of the church service felt a little jarring. I wonder if they filmed anything else?

Other than those things - great movie. Sure, part of me wanted to see him old and playing 'Hurt' but it would've felt tacked on I think. Can't wait to pick up the DVD.

I believe Cash had money, but was just so messed up that he never bothered to deposit his royalty checks. Hence the scene where he is trying to cash a check and the teller says they put holds on large amounts.

I also believe that when Cash was singing Cocaine Blues it was an encore. He had already been singing because the Warden advised to not sing anymore songs about prison and for Cash and June to sing another gospel song.

Saw Walk the Line last night and i loved it. i will definitely be buying when it comes out on dvd. Hopefully they release an edition with the soundtrack!

Also, I had never seen a theater that full in a long time. It was one of the larger capacity theaters even and there had to have only been 1 or 2 seats left in the place.

If you would just like to have the soundtrack, it is already out. I picked it up on Amazon the night the movie opened, after we got home from seeing it.

I was already a Cash fan (like you couldn't tell from my post above!) and have most of his CDs, but I got the soundtrack, not only because Phoenix and Witherspoon did an amazing job on the vocals, but because it specifically contains only the movie songs, including the other artists' performances. It's a fun CD.

I must admit, I was one of those foot tapping people....and I was quietly singing along to "Jackson" and "Long-Legged Guitar Pickin' Man".

Off topic: Jalizarin: you may want to check out Brian Setzer's CD of Sun Records covers. Great music by a cool cat.

This was OK. If you've read his books though, you were probably picking out all the inaccuracies and wondering if what you were watching was how it really happened.

Joaquin Phoenix was John R. Cash. Reese Witherspoon was irresistable.

Not only the best film of this year, but maybe the best of any year.

****

I will do that LiquidSky. Thanks for the recommendation!

I loved the Stray Cats in the 80's -- got to see them live once. (Ack! I'm old!) Wasn't a fan of the Brian Setzer Orchestra, but this sounds like a great CD.

Apologies for staying off topic, but I've probably expounded enough on the movie, hehe. Again, terrific film!

Good to hear that a lot of people are enjoying the film as much as I did.

Was the big chested girl that Cash cheated with after the concert the stewardess riding behind him in the escalator before he got busted or am I just seeing things?

Also, why does Robert Patrick have Oscar buzz considering how small his performance was? Then again, Judi Dench won it for five minutes of Shakespeare in Love. Not that I'm complaining -- Patrick getting a nomination would be cool.

This movie was awesome awesome awesome. I love practically every second of it. As a big cash fan, Phoenix was pretty dead on (a little TOO bassy at times, but real real close). I was mesmerized. I thought it was MUCH better than Ray, and deserves to be honored as such.

Excellent movie. We saw King Kong and Walk The Line over the weekend. As great as Kong is I think Walk is even better. They simply did a fantastic job with this movie.

Are u eating crow yet?

I really wasn't expecting to like this as much as I did, I thought both Joaquin and Reese were great, and the music wow. Question: when musical numbers are shot, do they film them in their entirety, to then cut down further, because I would love to see some of the full length uninterrupted songs for the eventual DVD.

what a great movie!

just saw this and really enjoyed it. the performances were stellar. i thought Joaquin knocked the performance of Johnny Cash out of the park. he was absolutely mesmerizing in the performance at Folsom Prison. his eyes just made me shutter. that scene alone would have won him the Oscar any other year (but Hoffman i think is a slam dunk). It would have been fun to see a showoff between him and Jaime if it were up for last year's award. it would have been very interesting indeed and i think Jaime's win last year cancelled any hopes for Phoenix this year, unfortunately. liked this a lot better than "Ray" .

the music was so good and i couldn't believe that was both of them, all the time (something that Jaime didn't even accomplish). Reese's voice was especially incredible considering she had never sung before (or so she says). i listened to some actually Johnny and i think i like Phoenix equally. i was never into any of that type of music before, but god damn if i wasn't jolted by "Walk the Line", "Ring of Fire", and "Cocaine Blues", the duet, i think "Jackson" was incredible as well. They were all so good and i loved watching the performances especially.

really excited to get the 2-disc now and relive it again and watch the limited extras, especially the extended musical numbers (that really sealed the $19.99 price for me).

very good biopic.

i know this isn't the right place to go, but for a now new fan of the man in black, where should i start with a hits collection? I am no fan of either actor personally, but they deserve oscars for their performances. I do think some of it was a tad rushed (how did he become dirt poor, and then own a house on the lake?) I know its probably not the story the filmakers wanted to tell, but it would have been nice to see some of cash later in life.

I saw this tonight and liked it for the perfomances and music, but I wouldn't say it's a great film. All these biopics seem to just go through the motions and follow the same formula. I watched the buddy holly story last night on TCM and it was the same thing. It's all self-conscious, the way the audience has to fill in the gaps; it feels like your reading his biography with the events of his life shown to you. I guess that's the nature of the biopic. What I don't like is how they have to play up the drama and then after 2 hours give the impression that what you saw encapsulated their life.

i wondered about that exact thing myself...

I don't think he was dirt poor, he just wasn't bothering to do things like cash checks. It seemed more like he just tuned out from the world and holed up in a crappy apartment for a year.

yeah, he simply stopped carring. Like when he went to cash in the check, it was for a large sum, which is why they had to put a hold on it to let it clear.