'Walk the Line' Movie

[Mikeymac]

I saw Walk The Line with my two teenage sons the other day...they're both into music from 'scream' music to AD/DC and other old stuff like Led Zeppelin, etc.  One plays guitar and the other plays drums.

When we were walking out, they both said they thought the movie was "pretty good." Can't get a much better endorsement than that!

Seriously, as a long time fan (one of the first albums I bought as a teen was Johnny Cash at San Quentin, and I listened to all my dad's older JC albums), I thought it was well done.  I might have wished for a little more development of Cash's faith and how that pulled him through, and his relationship with his first wife was left somewhat unresolved, but overall a powerful movie about his life, and the influences of stardom on very real human beings.

Both Phoenix and Witherspoon played their roles very well - not caricatures at all, but very believable, and the singing (which I understand they did?) and music was also excellent...including period correct guitars, amps and cars! 

I suspect this movie will be up for some Grammys...

[Caleb]

i want to see it, as im a fan of cash. i REALLY like the american recordings he did with rick ruben -- great stuff!

i heard that phoenix's voice was pretty good, but that witherspoon left some to be desired. but thats just what the critics said, so insert grain when needed.

i heard chuck colson talking about the film and how they really down-played cash's faith. i understand why, since its hollywood, but that is sad. cash's faith in Christ was THE major turning point in his life. just listen to his later recordings and you'll hear cash sing plenty about his faith. he really did live it, and not just 'thank the Lord' at the award ceremonies, like some of the bobble-head country stars.

anyway, im going to see the film...maybe this weekend.

[el guitana]

Cash was an early guitar hero of mine. I thought the CMT "60 Minutes" show was pretty good.
Take a look at what Cash was playing for the San Quentin concert CMT has been playing:

http://www.nbccableinfo.com/insidenbccable/img/trio/hi-res/g_JohnnyCash.jpg

[Caleb]

what is that thing?

i read an interview once where cash said he'd pretty much only perform w/ a martin. ive seen pics of him with a gibson, though from his very early days. it seems he was pretty much a sold-out martin guy. nothing wrong w/ that imo.

i also remember reading guitar world acoustic when martin came out with the johnny cash sig model. cash said, "i appreciate you guys building me my own guitar...but i only know 3 chords"

i thought that was pretty funny.

[Mikeymac]

Take a look at what Cash was playing for the San Quentin concert CMT has been playing:

Yeah...I have the original  Johnny Cash at San Quentin album, and I noticed that guitar in the pics on the back, but couldn't make out what it is.  It COULD be a tricked out Martin, but the soundhole rosette looks like it might be something else... 

Doesn't really matter...as Johnny said, he only knows three chords (okay, a few more than that), but he wrenches great SONGS out of those few chords!

I thought both Pheonix and Witherspoon sounded very 'authentic' in the film; and their harmonies together are excellent.  I'm ready to go see it again; either Thursday or Friday.

[GIGGLER]

Johnny was the coolest. I really liked the movie!

On his live concert with Willie Nelson, John has his black Martin.....hands it to Willie who's getting ready to do "Crazy". Willie starts off....playing a fab lead-in with some major bizarro - but -beautiful chords.....and Johnny pauses, like he's thinking....now that's the way that thing's supposed to sound.....anyway....Johnny says: "first time that guitar's ever been played."

I thought that was a great improv!!

[el guitana]

On his live concert with Willie Nelson, John has his black Martin.....hands it to Willie who's getting ready to do "Crazy". Willie starts off....playing a fab lead-in with some major bizarro - but -beautiful chords.....and Johnny pauses, like he's thinking....now that's the way that thing's supposed to sound.....anyway....Johnny says: "first time that guitar's ever been played."

I thought that was a great improv!!

Just about my favorite CD - the VH1 "Storytellers" series.

[poki]

i've got to see this movie being that i know next to nothing about cash other than his name.  i had no idea he didn't play the guitar well or perhaps plays well with just a few chords.   did Phoenix do his own guitar playing too?

[el guitana]

  i had no idea he didn't play the guitar well or perhaps plays well with just a few chords.   did Phoenix do his own guitar playing too?

Cash was not a bad player - just a pretty basic player, and he did that well. Sometimes the guitar was little more than a prop. But he played a good steady rythym. and some finger-doodlin'. His comment when Willie piucked up his guitar was hilarious bnecause Willie is just so way out there. I noticed in the televised San Quentin concert, he needed a little tuning after a while, but that was before quick electronic tuning!

Just saw a blurb that said the guy who played him took 6 months of singing and  music (guitar) lessons, as did the girl who played June (autoharp).

[FNG]

Saw the movie last weekend.  Okay movie, kind of skimmed over a lot of stuff in his life.  Great acting though, both Joquian Phoniex and Reese Witherspoon did a great job with the music, pretty dang good singers.  Even bought the soundtrack.

[Acoustickler]

Saw the movie and liked it a whole bunch.  A few points about Cash's guitars:

Johnny's favorite guitar was a 1971 Martin D-28 that he named "The Bon Aqua".

Johnny also played a Grammer acoustic (Billy Grammer, Nashville) from the post-Ampeg purchase era (1968-1971).  This is a distinctive looking guitar...mainly the pointy pickguard and headstock, which I believe I saw at points in the movie "Walk the Line" (at least I thought so from the pickguard...they did not show the headstock).

Early in the movie, Johnny buys a guitar in Germany while he is in the forces.  The guitar he buys in the movie is a German-made Hofner.  Don't know if Cash actually had one of these, but a consistant detail movie-wise!

Cheers,
Blair.

[d-avido1]

"Walk the Line" is definitely worth a look!

I wasn't a fan of either of the lead actor's going in but gotta' say I enjoyed it.  Johny's early songs were some of the first I learned on the guitar...they were and alway's will be extremely playable.

One tidbit' of trivia that still blows me away (hope I'm remembering this correctly?) is the fact that in the mid-50's Sam Phillips at little Sun Studios/Records in Memphis had Elvis Presley, Johny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison on his roster...talk about having a looking glass to the future!...and lotsa' luck!

[Tycho]

Not only that, but Phillips once arranged a session with Elvis, Cash, Jerry Lee and Carl Perkins called the "Million-Dollar Quartet".  It's really just the four of them jamming around the piano, but you can find tracks from the session on many Sun compilations.

[Guitar Jim]

I found the movie to be rather "dark". The movie covered  only the earlier stages of Johnny's career, up to about the early 70's or so I think. The remaing 35 or so years were not covered at all.
I think it's very difficult to accurately represent someone's life in a movie; a lot has to be left out and important aspects can't be dwelt upon too much because of time constraints. There's only so much that can be covered in 2 hours.
I must admit I was disappointed with the movie, but I'm not sure exactly why. Maybe, for some reason, I felt the characterisations were not quite convincing enough, but more importantly I felt the script had major problems...... in some sections of the movie it felt a bit too much like a biographical "tour" and in other sections I thought some of the less insightful scenes looked a bit corny. But there's some really good scenes in the movie as well....... was Johnny's father really that austere and emotionally inhibited?
Trying to explore the life of a person in a movie is a very difficult task for the makers to do, and I'm not sure they fully succeeded with this movie. Johnny Cash fans, and music fans in general, will enjoy it I'm sure. I think the audience for the movie is basically middle age people who lived through the musical times of the 50s and 60s.
I think Johnny really shone musically in the last decade of his life.

[ronmac]

I haven't seen the movie yet, and likely never will.

JC had a great career, right up to the end. Although I have been listening to his music all of my life the Rick Rubin series of recordings defined the man, for me.

When I think of JC now I think of him as an elderly musical master and legend. I would love to see an honest documentary of his last few years.