Saw this on pay-per-view for the first time last night. Great performances by both Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, with each doing their own vocals.

My knowledge of the biographical details of Johnny Cash's life are limited, so how accurate is this movie?

I only wish there had been more stage performances, especially of that legendary Folsom Prison show.

mediocre at best. jon stewart said it best: "ray with white people."

bassplayer617 Wrote:
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> My knowledge of the biographical details of Johnny
> Cash's life are limited, so how accurate is this
> movie?


There's lots of books about Cash. He has even written one himself. Very nice book!
I've also seen a GREAT movie about his life,
where he also wanders in the woods with a gun, looking for birds,
and talking about ideas, and singing for the crows.

urrgghh ...Ray is way better

I thought both Ray and Walk the Line were outstanding! PHoenix and Witherspoon are an example to many so-called megastars.....
three cheers...

Both Trans America and Brokeback Mountain were many miles ahead............and the music on Brokeback alone was incredible with contributions from Willie Nelson, Steve Earle, the incredible Miss Ronstadt, and (what the hell was the Academy thinking by not nominating and awarding) EmmyLou Harris for the epic "A Love That Will Never Grow Old".............Walk the Line wasn't as good as it could have been; the performances by the lead actors were it's greatest strengths

It's funny how they tailor movies for today's mass audience.

Years ago a film bio would have filed away the rough edges of someone's life. Today we celebrate them.

While Johnny Cash had a pretty severe drug dependency, the portrayal of him in Cash just revels in that and doesn't show the more thoughtful side of him. He was a very deep guy.

His fixation with gunfighters of the old west, an interesting obsession, happened during that period.

In his autobiography, "Cash" his life-turnaround is credited to his love of Jesus more than his love of June.

I guess the studios figured that audiences couldn't handle that.

I'm a huge Cash fan and I really disliked the movie- and I knew I was going to. Watched the video with my daughter 'cos she wanted me to. If you knew nothing about the man -you'd have gotten a VERY skewed take on his life and learn virtually nothing about his music. Phoenix did a decent job with the vocals, but in a seriousness, it was pathetic compared to the masters vocals.... a big thumbs down.

Ok, admittedly I'm not a huge fan of Cash, but I think you are being too rough on the criticism of the movie.

If nothing else, I was inspired to visit the official Johnny Cash site, and I grabbed a few of the songs. Yep, I picked four songs from the latter days : "Rusty Cage", "I Hung My Head", "Hurt" and "The Man Comes Around". All are just incredible.

Cash covering Soundgarden, NIN and Sting?

It is very easy to see how this man has garnered fans from the rock crowd -- I always thought that "The Wanderer", from U2's Zooropa, was very cool.

I always had a hard time getting past the cariacatures of JR Cash, but the first time I saw the video for "Hurt", I was reduced to a weeping baby. Like many others, I'm now try to make amends and appreciate the man's extraordinary body of work.

As far as the movie is concerned, I was grabbed by the opening scene -- that throbbing bass from behind Folsom's walls was so powerful -- that's not some whiny-ass steel-guitar-driven country, that's a primal force of nature. Can't stop the train, indeed. Yeah, man, BOOM-CHICKA-BOOM.

Despite what some of you have stated, I'm gonna buy that DVD.

Phoenix and Witherspoon may be good actors, but I just didn't get the point of them doing John and June's songs....I'd much rather have heard the real thing.

The movie was a huge hit, and the majority opinions in this post are by far the minority opinions of the larger movie-going public. I understand it was very close to JC's actual life events, but even if it were a completely fictional story it would have been one of the best movies of the year. As far as the music, it was every bit as good as the real thing. There is a soundtrack CD out, so check it out.

"make up your mind, 'cause I gotta go"

I enjoyed it very much. Good acting and good music.

I enjoyed the movie immensely. I understood beforehand that it was not intended to be the definitive biography of Mr. Cash's life. As a matter of fact, the movie ends right after the marriage to June in the late 60s. I thought the performances of Mr. Phoenix and Ms. Witherspoon were very good and that Ms. Witherspoon was more than deserving of the Best Actress award.

erikjjf Wrote:
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> I enjoyed it very much. Good acting and good
> music.


Me too

BOBM Wrote:
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> As far as the music, it was every bit
> as good as the real thing. There is a soundtrack
> CD out, so check it out.


You jest, surely. You tellin me that Joaquin's pipes are as good as Johnny's? Yeah, right....