What The Critics Say

"What’s outstanding about this film is that both Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon actually do the singing on the soundtrack, and it’s uncanny how like their real life counterparts they sound. I think there’s a whiff of Oscar nominations in the air. And, I mean, the music's fabulous." Margaret Pomeranz ABC AT THE MOVIES "In Walk the Line, Joaquin Phoenix doesn't look exactly like Johnny Cash. He doesn't sound exactly like Cash, either. But he 'is' Johnny Cash." Bill Muller ARIZONA REPUBLIC "Walk the Line will send you out of the theatre eager to download the entire Johnny Cash collection." Sean McBride SEAN THE MOVIE GUY "It's a terrific, toe-tappin' life-and-love story, a must-see! Both Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon should receive Oscar nominations." Susan Granger MODAMAG.COM "Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon should go on tour." Mark Collette TYLER MORNING TELEGRAPH TEXAS "Walk The Line through The Ring of Fire and Cry, Cry, Cry, Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon Give Oscar Caliber Performances." Michelle Alexandria ECLIPSE MAGAZINE "I just think that both Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon are really splendid in this film, and I'm quite sure there'll be Oscar nominations in that direction." David Stratton ABC AT THE MOVIES "James Mangold is hands down one of the most film-savvy, smartest directors working in American cinema today, making a relatively seamless transition from indie film (Heavy) to bigger budget studio pics (Girl Interrupted, Kate & Leopold). He does a beautiful job with this his biggest film to date, paring Cash’s life back to basics, and punctuating it with grace where needed. Mangold neither patronises the Cash/Carter love story with cliche, nor the audience with ordinary filmmaking." Megan Spencer SBS THE MOVIE SHOW

The Inside Story

"It captures the birth of a new kind of American artist who become a hero to generations, encompassing the themes that ran through Cash's music and minimalist style: death, love, treachery, sin, hope and faith." ... Margaret Pomeranz ABC AT THE MOVIES

According to everyone who knew him there were two things Johnny Cash loved dearly. Family and music. If you love music then you'll be stunned by the performances of the cast in "Walk The LIne" which tells the story of John Cash from his years as a little boy on his dad's cotton farm, through his early years as a touring musician, the hell of drugs and his enduring love for June Carter. While the love story is as good as any you've seen before it is the man and his music that are foremost in this film. "The early fifties were the height of the smooth post war sound, Doris Day and ‘easy listening,’” says Mangold. “Musak was invented the year John released his first singles; even country music of the early fifties was highly produced, the edges smoothed for greater ‘appeal’. One of the things I wanted the music in the film to convey," director James Mangold explained, "was the startling roughness, the good humor, the cockiness, the urgency, heat and fire that shook people when these boys first played to crowds." He got his wish when Grammy-winning and Oscar-nominated music producer T Bone Burnett joined the production team. "T Bone was the perfect choice, not only because of his film experience and his connection to roots music," says Mangold, "but because of his experience producing first albums by emerging bands, such as Counting Crows and the Wallflowers. Our cast was a very new band." Luck was on Mangold's side again when, while working on the film "Cop Land" he mentioned to producer Cathy Konrad he was interested in making a film on Cash's life. Conrad found out that the film rights were held by the Cash’s close friend, actor-filmmaker James Keach. Mangold approached Keach and a deal was made when the "three agreed to develop the project, with Gill Dennis and Mangold writing together." If you think making the film must have been exciting imagine what it would have been the first time they met with the great man himself. "I remember vividly the excitement Jim and I had when our very first meeting with John and June was set up," recalls Konrad."We flew down to Hendersonville, Tennessee and they invited us over for breakfast. We were waiting in the lobby of a Holiday Inn and suddenly I heard this booming voice. I turned around to hear: "Hi, I’m Johnny Cash". And there he was, in his boots and jeans. He picked us up in his diesel Mercedes and we went to their house for breakfast. It was a very powerful experience. They said a beautiful grace before breakfast and they sang a song together. It was a day that Jim and I hold very dear." Through the ensuing years Konrad says the filmmakers spent hours "listening to stories about the early days of rock and roll, their tumultuous lives, and their long-percolating romance. As we got to know John better, Jim never shied away from asking him provocative questions that many people might have been afraid to ask. And John really trusted him. Jim inspired a real confidence in John in how Jim was going to tell this story." Right from the start Mangold saw this as an opportunity to tell a different story about the life of Johnny Cash. One that would focus on a little known part of the singers life. "This is a story very few people know," says Mangold. "Young John and his peers were pioneers struggling to find their way. What does it mean to be a rock star when no one has lived that life before you? What do you do with all this attention? How do you handle the pressure, the money, the fans, the demands? There were no roadies, tour buses, five star hotels, air conditioning or cell phones to stay connected to your family. People like John, Elvis and Jerry Lee were just driving their gear every night from one sweltering gig to another. No one knows how hard these tours were. I thought it was a world I hadn’t seen on screen before." "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash." "The more I learned from John about the early years in his life and career, the more I saw an opportunity to make a movie about a time when making music was about making music, and not about money or videos. John’s story isn’t the tale of some prodigy or raw ambition; he started late, taught himself to play guitar, and got little encouragement. Nobody was beating a path to his door when he moved to Memphis. But John was smart enough to plant himself at Sun [Records], ground zero of a musical revolution. Surrounded by outrageoous talent, John grew into something none of the others there would ever be, a timeless storyteller and a searing voice of the shadows. His songs were so unique, so personal, and so raw. Of course, the other opportunity was to make a movie about one of the great love stories. There was something magical about the idea that for a decade, the only place John and June were allowed to be alone together was onstage in front of 10,000 people." "Walk The LIne" Director and co-writer James Maygold John R Cash [February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003] was a vastly influential American country music singer, guitarist and songwriter. He was born J Cash in Kingsland, Arkansas, but then raised in Dyess, Arkansas. By age five he was working in the cotton fields, singing along with his family as they worked. Cash was very close to his brother Jack. In 1944, Jack was pulled into a whirling table saw in the mill where he worked, and almost cut in two. He suffered for over a week before he died. Cash was known for his deep, distinctive voice, the boom chicka boom sound of his Tennessee Three backing band, and his dark clothing and demeanor, which earned him the nickname "The Man in Black." He started all his concerts with the simple introduction: "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash." Fueled by his own rocky personal life and spiritual path, much of Cash's music, especially that of his later career, echoed themes of sorrow, moral tribulation and redemption. Hits include "I Walk the Line", "Folsom Prison Blues", "Ring of Fire", "Man in Black" and "Hurt". He also recorded several humorous songs, such as "One Piece At A Time", "The One on the Right is on the Left" and "A Boy Named Sue". In a career that spanned almost five decades, Cash was the personification of country music to many people around the world, despite his distaste for the Nashville mainstream. Yet, like Ray Charles, The Beatles, Bob Dylan and Elvis Presley, Cash is a musician who transcends genre. He recorded songs that could be considered rock and roll, blues, rockabilly, folk and gospel, and exerted an influence on each of those genres. Cash is one of ten performers to be inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame [Cash, Chet Atkins, Elvis Presley, Brenda Lee, Hank Williams, Don and Phil Everly, Sam Phillips, Jimmie Rodgers, Floyd Cramer], and he shares the honor with Hank Williams Sr. of being a full member of the three major music halls of fame: the aformentioned Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame as well as the Songwriters Hall of Fame. His pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. ©2006 - Wikipedia - All Rights Reserved "June Carter Cash." June Carter Cash [born Valerie June Carter; June 23, 1929 – May 15, 2003], middle daughter of Ezra [Eck] Carter and Maybelle Carter [Mother Maybelle], was a singer, songwriter, a member of the first family of country music, the Carter Family, and married to legendary singer Johnny Cash. She was born in Maces Springs, Virginia and played guitar, banjo, and autoharp. June's first husband was singer Carl Smith and they were married from 1952 to 1957. Their daughter Rebecca Carlene Smith [known professionally as Carlene Carter] was born in 1955 and is a country singer. Her second marriage in November, 1957 was to Edwin "Rip" Nix, a policeman, and they had a daughter, Rozanna Lea [Rosie] in 1958. June married her third husband, Johnny Cash, in 1968, and they had a son, John Carter Cash. In 1967, she and future husband Johnny Cash won a Grammy Award in the Best Country & Western Performance, Duet, Trio Or Group [vocal or instrumental] category for the song, "Jackson." In 1970 they won again in the Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal category for the song, "If I Were a Carpenter". She played the part of Mrs. "Momma" Dewey in Robert Duvall's 1997 movie The Apostle. In 1999 she won a Grammy Award for her album, Press On. Her last album Wildwood Flower was released in 2003. It contains bonus video enhancements showing extracts from the film of the recording sessions which took place at the Carter Family Estate in Virginia on 18 September, 19 and 20, 2002. She died in May 2003 in Nashville, Tennessee, from complications following heart valve surgery two years after she had a pacemaker implanted. She was interred in Hendersonville Memory Gardens in Hendersonville, Tennessee. She is immortalized by Reese Witherspoon in "Walk the Line", a 2005 biopic of Johnny Cash that focused largely on the development of their relationship from the time that they met until Carter accepted Cash's marriage proposal. ©2006 - Wikipedia - All Rights Reserved Cast & Crew Bytes "WALK THE LINE" stars .......
Joaquin Phoenix ["Gladiator", "Signs", "The Village" and "Ladder 49"]; Reese Witherspoon ["Legally Blonde I & II", "Sweet Home Alabama", "Vanity Fair" and "Just Like Heaven"]; Ginnifer Goodwin ["Mona Lisa Smile", "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!" and "Love Comes to the Executioner"]; Robert Patrick ["Texas Rangers", "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle", "Ladder 49" and "Supercross"]; Dan John Miller ["Murder Too Sweet" and "Timequest"]; Waylon Malloy Payne ["DKNY Road Stories" and "Crazy"]; Sandra Ellis Lafferty ["Bodies, Rest & Motion", "Spark ", "Soulkeeper" and "The Secret Sea"]; James Keach ["Comes A Horseman", "Moving Violations", "The Dance Goes On" and "The New Swiss Family Robinson"]; Victoria Hester ["Chosen", "Rookie Bookie" and "Somerville"] and Dallas Roberts ["New York Undercover", "A Home at the End of the World", "Winter Passing" and "The Notorious Bettie Page"] as Sam Phillips.
"WALK THE LINE" was .......
directed by James Mangold ["Cop Land", "Girl, Interrupted", "Kate & Leopold" and "Identity"]; screenplay by Gill Dennis ["Return to Oz", "On My Own", "Without Evidence" and "Riders Of The Purple Sage"] and James Mangold ["Heavy", "Cop Land", "Girl, Interrupted" and "Kate & Leopold"]; costume design by Arianne Phillips ["The Replacement Killers", "Girl, Interrupted", "Hedwig and the Angry Inch", "One Hour Photo" and "Identity"]; production design by David J Bomba ["My Dog Skip", "Original Sin", "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" and "Secondhand Lions"]; edited by Michael McCusker ["Sax's Final Orbit" and "Kings"]; cinematography by Golden Camera Award winner Phedon Papamichael A.S.C ["Identity", "Phenomenom", "America's Sweethearts", "Moonlight Mile" and "Sideways"]; original music by T-Bone Burnett ["O Brother, Where Art Thou?", "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood", "Cold Mountain" and "The Ladykillers"] produced by James Keach ["The Long Riders", "Armed and Dangerous", "The Experts" and "False Identity"] and ["Scream I, II & III", "Teaching Mrs. Tingle", "The Sweetest Thing" and "Identity"]. What It's All About

"Phoenix nails Cash's little-boy charm and pantherlike intensity, while Witherspoon reflects June's show-biz savvy, maternal sensibility and world-weariness. Together, they make one of the most combustible screen couples in recent memory." Sean Means SALT LAKE TRIBUNE

John Cash is fed up with the life of a door to door appliance salesman. Doors slammed in his face, rude people and poor results are making life miserable and frustrating for the young married man. Then by chance Cash comes across a recording studio. It's four bucks to cut a record so with his two friends guitarist Luther Perkins and bassist Marshall Grant Cash approaches Sun Records Sam Phillips. The audition is a dismal failure. Phillips doesn't want songs about Jesus and going to heaven saved by the grace of God, he wants songs with heart, soul and rhythm that will sell. Cash plays him a song he wrote while on service in Germany. Phillips is impressed and sees that Cash has something. He offers him a deal. It will be the start of a career that will span five decades and lead to Cash becoming the first artist to cut an album on the Sun Records label. Touring with the pioneers of the early music revolution of the '50's, [Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis and Waylon Jennings] Cash meets June Carter. He feels something for her immediately, but he's married with a family. A bond grows between them and eventually Cash will realize his dream of marrying her. It will be a rocky road before that day comes. The Verdict "That old saying, "Don't give up your day job", sure as hell doesn't apply to Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon. They could start a whole new career in music anytime they wanted. You'll see what I'm gettin' at when you take in "Walk The Line". Joaquin Phoenix is Johnny Cash. Reese Witherspoon is June Carter. "Walk The Line" is toe tappin', hand clappin' teee ....rific! Highly Recommended. FOUR STARS. Who's Who?

Joaquin Phoenix Reese Witherspoon Ginnifer Goodwin Robert Patrick Dallas Roberts Dan John Miller Larry Bagby Shelby Lynne Tyler Hilton Waylon Malloy Payne Shooter Jennings Sandra Ellis Lafferty Dan Beene Clay Steakley Johnathan Rice Johnny Holiday Ridge Canipe Lucas Till Carly Nahon McGhee Monteith Wyatt Entrekin Hailey Anne Nelson Kerris Dorsey Delaney Marie Keefe Victoria Hester Deborah Rawlings James Keach

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

John R Cash June Carter Vivian Cash Ray Cash Sam Phillips Luther Perkins Marshall Grant Carrie Cash Elvis Presley Jerry Lee Lewis Waylon Jennings Maybelle Carter Ezra Carter W S 'Fluke' Holland Roy Orbison Carl Perkins Young J R Young Jack Cash Young Reba Cash Reba Cash Tommy Cash [5 y.o] Roseanne Cash Kathy Cash Cindy Cash Carlene Carter Diner Waitress Warden

The Crew Directed by James Mangold Adapted from the book "The Man in Black" by Johnny Cash Adapted from the book "Cash: An Autobiography" by Johnny Cash & Patrick Carr Cinematography by Phedon Papamichael Film Editing by Michael McCusker Casting by Lisa Beach/Shirley Fulton Crumley/Sarah Katzman Production Design by David J Bomba Art Direction by John R Jensen & Rob Simons Set Decoration by Carla Curry Costume Design by Arianne Phillips Run Time 130 minutes Rated M [AUST] Copyright ©2006 - 20th Century Fox - All Rights Reserved Copyright Protected © 2006 - Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved