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Walk the Line uses a cast of up-and-coming singer/songwriters to portray the artists who toured on Sun Records' packages with Cash—among them Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, and Carl Perkins. None of the actors is a dead ringer for the icon he portrays, but together the ensemble does a great job capturing an astonishing time in music history when genres were being invented before audiences' eyes. We see Cash's almost maniacal pleasure in the performing, as well as his weariness off-stage as the musicians haul their gear from town to town and attempt to keep up with the frenzied demand for them. We observe the rock-and-roll lifestyle develop organically and destructively as a bunch of young bucks push each other to new musical heights but use alcohol, drugs and the company of groupies to combat loneliness and fatigue. In a seemingly innocuous scene, Cash is offered amphetamines to help him stay awake for the long drive to the next concert—sparking an addiction that will plague Johnny for many years to come and setting the stage for the destruction of Cash's already faltering marriage.

On an early Sun Records' tour, Johnny meets June Carter (Reese Witherspoon). The daughter of rural country legends Ezra and Mother Maybelle Carter, June has sung since infancy (an early moment in the film has a young J. R. Cash listening to the radio and declaring June his favorite Carter). Johnny and June forge a strong friendship and a successful musical partnership in a series of duets, but for years their romantic chemistry must be denied due to other commitments. Their protracted romance is the film's emotional center, and the chemistry between Phoenix and Witherspoon keeps us caring and rooting for them through a decade of detours and demons. Ultimately, June's faith in God—and in Johnny's ability to rediscover himself—becomes the saving grace in Cash's life, and although his own conversion is only hinted at by the film's 1968 close, the groundwork is laid.

Witherspoon delivers a full-bodied, note-perfect performance as sassy, no-nonsense June, and proves herself an able singer in the process. Walk the Line contains a multitude of concert scenes, and rather than interrupting the plot they propel it, thanks in huge part to Phoenix and Witherspoon's ability to tell us so much about their respective characters by the way they sing a song. Acclaimed producer T-Bone Burnett handled the film's music production and score, and must be given enormous credit for getting it right.

Walk the Line will no doubt be accused by some of being a conventional film, and it certainly does follow standard biopic conventions. But a story as compelling as Johnny Cash's doesn't need innovative camera angles or striking new narrative techniques to make it worthy of our attention. Johnny Cash changed music forever with three or four guitar chords and a voice that people believed. June Carter changed Johnny Cash forever with faith and love. Those are some pretty-old-fashioned ideas, but Walk the Line makes them new again. Johnny and June would be proud.

Talk About It

1. When young J. R. Cash envies his brother's ability to memorize Scripture, Jack reminds him of his gift for remembering hymns. Can singers be preachers? Was Johnny Cash?
   
   
2. Cash's record company tries to discourage him from recording an album in a prison because his fans are "Christian folk" who won't be impressed with a singer who's trying make murderers and rapists feel better. Johnny replies that if they feel that way, they "ain't Christians." Do you agree?
   
   
3. Sam Phillips told Johnny that his gospel music wasn't working because it wasn't authentic to who Cash was as an artist and a man. How do you think Sam Phillips would react to Christian music today? How are Christians doing with authenticity in the arts? Where are we getting it right? Where do we need to work on it? How are you doing with authenticity in the way you share your faith?

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Related Elsewhere:

The Man in Black	Printer view
Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, who play Johnny and June Carter Cash in Walk the Line, join director James Mangold to discuss the legend's life—and faith.