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Walk the Line

Walk the Line is a film chronicling the life of Johnny Cash, American country singer, focusing on his younger life, his romance with June Carter and his ascent to the country music scene, with material taken from his autobiographies. The title is taken from the title of one of Cash's best known songs, "I Walk the Line".

Walk the Line's production budget is estimated to have been $28,000,000.

The film previewed at the Telluride Film Festival on September 4, 2005 and went into wide release on November 18. This film has been nomininated for five Academy Awards including Best Actor (Joaquin Phoenix) and Best Actress (Reese Witherspoon).

Plot

The film details Cash's (Phoenix) life from his growing up as the son of a cotton picker in rural Arkansas to his drug addiction and subsequent rescue by future wife June Carter (Witherspoon) in his famous concert at Folsom Prison.

Full plot synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

In the opening scene, we see an outside shot of Folsom Prison, where the grounds are quiet, and the two solitary guards on their perch peer towards the main building. The camera moves towards the prison as faint music plays in the background. As the camera passes empty halls and cells, the music becomes louder and clearer, and cheering of inmates can be heard. The camera settles on an shot of inmates cheering as Cash's band is playing a loop of notes. A buzz saw sits ominously on a table in the center of the screen, as a solitary hand casually strokes the blades. After repeated calling, we are made aware that the hand belongs to Cash, and it is later revealed that the voice belongs to the prison's warden, calling for him to go on stage.

The next scene depicts Cash as a boy (then called "J.R.") and his brother Jack listening to the radio, and hearing a 10-year-old June Carter singing, providing a foreshadow into J.R.'s obsession with her in the future.

Early in the movie, Cash and Jack discuss their different strengths and weaknesses in regard to the Bible and hymns. Jack, who is training to become a pastor, and therefore "needs to know the Bible front to back", is much better at dealing with the wording and stories of the Bible. J.R., who can sing well like his mother, is very adept with the hymns they sing at church. A few scenes later, Jack is sawing wood as a job for a neighbor when Johnny declares it to be boring, and would rather be somewhere else. With Jack's permission, he leaves to go fishing. As he is walking back home, he is intercepted by his father, flush with blood stains on his overalls, asking "Where have you been?" As J.R. quickly learns, Jack has been fatally wounded by the saw. J.R.'s relationship with his father was strained since he was young, yet was made much more severe with the death of Jack.
Several years later, J.R. joins the Air Force and is posted to Germany. He appears not to enjoy his time there, but finds solace in playing a guitar he bought and writing songs - one of which becomes "Folsom Prison Blues". Following his discharge, he marries his girlfriend Vivian.

Vivian and John (as he is now generally known) live in relative poverty while John works as a door-to-door salesman. One day, he walks past a recording studio and is inspired to put a band together (which his wife describes as being made up of "two mechanics who can't even play") to play gospel music.
Cash and his band audition for Sun Records in front of Sam Phillips, and Cash is told to play a song which sums him up. Despite his bandmates not knowing the tune, he strikes up "Folsom Prison Blues" and is rewarded with a contract, which soon has him touring with the other Sun artists. On this tour (along with Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and Elvis Presley), he meets June Carter, who is both a singer (although she claims to have no talent) and a comedienne in the performances.

Cash's career goes from strength to strength, and he finds himself spending more time with June, who divorces her husband at this time. When his romantic intentions are rebuffed one night in rural Georgia, Cash is offered drugs and alcohol and soon begins to behave erratically. June tells him (and many of the other artists on the tour) at one point that they cannot "walk the line", prompting Cash to write "I Walk The Line".
This erratic behaviour peaks one night when Cash invites June onstage to sing a duet. Despite her objections, Cash decides on a love song and kisses her in the middle of the performance, after which she storms off the stage and they go their separate ways - despite Cash's protest that "it was only a song".

Some time later, Cash, still addicted (his father tells him that he would do well to start "sleeping at night...or eating"), takes his wife to an award show to which June also goes. Despite his wife's objections to the level of interest he is paying her, Cash persuades June to come out of semi-retirement and tour with him.
The tour is a great success, although backstage Cash's wife is critical of June's influence. After one performance, Cash and June sleep together in her hotel room. The next morning, as June is on the phone to one of her daughters, she notices Cash taking several pills. That night's concert sees Cash incoherent during his customary "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash" opening, as well as forgetting the lyrics to a song, losing control of the microphone stand, kicking the footlights and ultimately passing out. As a result, the rest of the tour is cancelled and June gets rid of Cash's drugs. It is at this point that a distraught June begins to write "Ring of Fire".

Later again, the tensions in Cash's marriage flare up as he attempts to put up "pictures of my band" (including a very large one of June) over his wife's objections. The pair separate and Cash moves to Nashville, where he shares living quarters with Waylon Jennings.
Cash attempts to reconcile with June, which involves a long walk to her house. On the way back, he collapses in the rain and - on coming round the next day - sees a large house near a lake and promptly buys it. His parents, and the extended Carter family (June, her daughters and her parents) arrive for Thanksgiving, at which time Cash Snr berates Cash over his lack of achievement. Cash's response is to try furiously to remove a stump from the ground with his tractor, an attempt which ends with the tractor reversing into the lake and Cash being rescued by June (who was told by her father "You're already down there", in response to her protests that she was not going to help him out). Under the influence of the Carters (which extends to June's father chasing away Cash's drug dealer with a rifle), Cash cleans himself up.

As he returns to normal, Cash notices that many of his fans are prisoners, so he presents a proposal to record a live album inside Folsom Prison. His record company is dubious, arguing that the musical world has changed in the time Cash was rehabilitating, however he says bluntly that he will perform on a given date and the label can use the tapes if they think the music is any good.
The concert is a great success, and Cash embarks on a tour with June and his old band. En route to one performance (at 2AM), he proposes to June, who turns him down. This appears to have been a common event, as Cash tells her that that was the last time - June's response is that she doesn't like "re-runs". At the concert, June tells Cash that he can only talk to her onstage.
The concert features "Ring of Fire", which Cash credits to June before persuading her to join him in a duet of "Jackson". In the middle of the song, Cash stops singing and June looks concerned. Cash responds that he can only continue singing the song with her if they will get married and so proposes to her onstage. June, despite her shock, says yes.

Trivia

Phoenix and Witherspoon performed their own vocals in the film's numerous stage appearances.

Critics' reaction

Critics generally responded with positive reviews, garnering an 83% on Rotten Tomatoes. For example, Baltimore Sun reviewer Michael Sragow[1] wrote, "What Phoenix and Witherspoon accomplish in this movie is transcendent. They act with every bone and inch of flesh and facial plane, and each tone and waver of their voice. They do their own singing with a startling mastery of country music's narrative musicianship."

Yet some, like Las Vegas Weekly reviewer Jeffrey M. Anderson [2] believed the film suffered from the typical fate of the biopic, stating that important events are distilled into meaningless and unrealistic circumstances. Further, Anderson wrote, the director Mangold "stretches and dilutes the core story until it resembles less a great man's life than a TV movie of the week."

In addition, some critics also state that this movie is more of an actor/actress showcase than a movie itself.

Awards won

Boston Society of Film Critics Awards

Best Actress, Reese Witherspoon

Broadcast Film Critic Awards

Best Actress, Reese Witherspoon
Best Soundtrack

Florida Film Critic Awards

Best Actress, Reese Witherspoon

Golden Globe Awards

Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Best Actress - Musical or Comedy, Reese Witherspoon
Best Actor - Musical or Comedy, Joaquin Phoenix

Kansas Film Critcs Awards

Best Actress, Reese Witherspoon

Las Vegas Film Critic Awards

Best Actress, Reese Witherspoon

National Society of Film Critics Awards

Best Actress, Reese Witherspoon

New York Film Critics Awards

Best Actress, Reese Witherspoon

Online Film Critics Society

Best Actress, Reese Witherspoon

Phoenix Film Critics Awards

Best Use of Previously Published or Recorded Music

San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards

Best Actress, Reese Witherspoon

Satellite Awards

Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical, Reese Witherspoon
Outstanding Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy

Screen Actors Guild Awards

Best Actress, Reese Witherspoon

Washington Area Film Critics Awards

Best Actress, Reese Witherspoon

Primary cast

Joaquin Phoenix: Johnny Cash
Reese Witherspoon: June Carter
Ginnifer Goodwin: Vivian Cash
Robert Patrick: Ray Cash
Dallas Roberts: Sam Phillips
Dan John Miller: Luther Perkins
Larry Bagby: Marshall Grant
Shelby Lynne: Carrie Cash
Tyler Hilton: Elvis Presley
Waylon Payne: Jerry Lee Lewis
Shooter Jennings: Waylon Jennings
Sandra Ellis Lafferty: Maybelle Carter
Dan Beene: Ezra Carter
Clay Steakley: W.S. 'Fluke' Holland
Johnathan Rice: Roy Orbison
Johnny Holiday: Carl Perkins

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Washington Area Film Critics Awards. Iberia can mean:. Screen Actors Guild Awards. Iberia, a suite of twelve piano pieces in four books by Isaac Albéniz. Satellite Awards. Caucasian Iberia, or Arab Iberia, of south-eastern Georgia in the 4th century BC-5th century AD;. San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards. Iberia Airlines, the Spanish national airline.

Phoenix Film Critics Awards. The Greek word for the three Roman provinces comprising Hispania, roughly corresponding to modern Spain and Portugal: Hispania Tarraconensis, Hispania Baetica, and Lusitania. Online Film Critics Society. That part of it once inhabited by the Pre-Roman Iberians, who spoke the Iberian language. New York Film Critics Awards. The Iberian Peninsula of Southwest Europe, comprising Portugal, Spain, Andorra and Gibraltar;

. National Society of Film Critics Awards.

Las Vegas Film Critic Awards. Kansas Film Critcs Awards. Golden Globe Awards. Florida Film Critic Awards.

Broadcast Film Critic Awards. Boston Society of Film Critics Awards. In addition, some critics also state that this movie is more of an actor/actress showcase than a movie itself. Further, Anderson wrote, the director Mangold "stretches and dilutes the core story until it resembles less a great man's life than a TV movie of the week.".

Anderson [2] believed the film suffered from the typical fate of the biopic, stating that important events are distilled into meaningless and unrealistic circumstances. Yet some, like Las Vegas Weekly reviewer Jeffrey M. They do their own singing with a startling mastery of country music's narrative musicianship.". They act with every bone and inch of flesh and facial plane, and each tone and waver of their voice.

For example, Baltimore Sun reviewer Michael Sragow[1] wrote, "What Phoenix and Witherspoon accomplish in this movie is transcendent. Critics generally responded with positive reviews, garnering an 83% on Rotten Tomatoes. Phoenix and Witherspoon performed their own vocals in the film's numerous stage appearances. June, despite her shock, says yes.

Cash responds that he can only continue singing the song with her if they will get married and so proposes to her onstage. In the middle of the song, Cash stops singing and June looks concerned. At the concert, June tells Cash that he can only talk to her onstage.
The concert features "Ring of Fire", which Cash credits to June before persuading her to join him in a duet of "Jackson". This appears to have been a common event, as Cash tells her that that was the last time - June's response is that she doesn't like "re-runs".

En route to one performance (at 2AM), he proposes to June, who turns him down. His record company is dubious, arguing that the musical world has changed in the time Cash was rehabilitating, however he says bluntly that he will perform on a given date and the label can use the tapes if they think the music is any good.
The concert is a great success, and Cash embarks on a tour with June and his old band. As he returns to normal, Cash notices that many of his fans are prisoners, so he presents a proposal to record a live album inside Folsom Prison. Under the influence of the Carters (which extends to June's father chasing away Cash's drug dealer with a rifle), Cash cleans himself up.

Cash's response is to try furiously to remove a stump from the ground with his tractor, an attempt which ends with the tractor reversing into the lake and Cash being rescued by June (who was told by her father "You're already down there", in response to her protests that she was not going to help him out). His parents, and the extended Carter family (June, her daughters and her parents) arrive for Thanksgiving, at which time Cash Snr berates Cash over his lack of achievement. On the way back, he collapses in the rain and - on coming round the next day - sees a large house near a lake and promptly buys it. The pair separate and Cash moves to Nashville, where he shares living quarters with Waylon Jennings.
Cash attempts to reconcile with June, which involves a long walk to her house.

Later again, the tensions in Cash's marriage flare up as he attempts to put up "pictures of my band" (including a very large one of June) over his wife's objections. It is at this point that a distraught June begins to write "Ring of Fire". As a result, the rest of the tour is cancelled and June gets rid of Cash's drugs. That night's concert sees Cash incoherent during his customary "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash" opening, as well as forgetting the lyrics to a song, losing control of the microphone stand, kicking the footlights and ultimately passing out.

The next morning, as June is on the phone to one of her daughters, she notices Cash taking several pills. After one performance, Cash and June sleep together in her hotel room. Despite his wife's objections to the level of interest he is paying her, Cash persuades June to come out of semi-retirement and tour with him.
The tour is a great success, although backstage Cash's wife is critical of June's influence. Some time later, Cash, still addicted (his father tells him that he would do well to start "sleeping at night...or eating"), takes his wife to an award show to which June also goes.

Despite her objections, Cash decides on a love song and kisses her in the middle of the performance, after which she storms off the stage and they go their separate ways - despite Cash's protest that "it was only a song". June tells him (and many of the other artists on the tour) at one point that they cannot "walk the line", prompting Cash to write "I Walk The Line".
This erratic behaviour peaks one night when Cash invites June onstage to sing a duet. When his romantic intentions are rebuffed one night in rural Georgia, Cash is offered drugs and alcohol and soon begins to behave erratically. Cash's career goes from strength to strength, and he finds himself spending more time with June, who divorces her husband at this time.

On this tour (along with Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and Elvis Presley), he meets June Carter, who is both a singer (although she claims to have no talent) and a comedienne in the performances. Despite his bandmates not knowing the tune, he strikes up "Folsom Prison Blues" and is rewarded with a contract, which soon has him touring with the other Sun artists. One day, he walks past a recording studio and is inspired to put a band together (which his wife describes as being made up of "two mechanics who can't even play") to play gospel music.
Cash and his band audition for Sun Records in front of Sam Phillips, and Cash is told to play a song which sums him up. Vivian and John (as he is now generally known) live in relative poverty while John works as a door-to-door salesman.

Following his discharge, he marries his girlfriend Vivian. He appears not to enjoy his time there, but finds solace in playing a guitar he bought and writing songs - one of which becomes "Folsom Prison Blues". joins the Air Force and is posted to Germany. J.R.'s relationship with his father was strained since he was young, yet was made much more severe with the death of Jack.
Several years later, J.R.

quickly learns, Jack has been fatally wounded by the saw. As he is walking back home, he is intercepted by his father, flush with blood stains on his overalls, asking "Where have you been?" As J.R. With Jack's permission, he leaves to go fishing. A few scenes later, Jack is sawing wood as a job for a neighbor when Johnny declares it to be boring, and would rather be somewhere else.

J.R., who can sing well like his mother, is very adept with the hymns they sing at church. Jack, who is training to become a pastor, and therefore "needs to know the Bible front to back", is much better at dealing with the wording and stories of the Bible. Early in the movie, Cash and Jack discuss their different strengths and weaknesses in regard to the Bible and hymns. The next scene depicts Cash as a boy (then called "J.R.") and his brother Jack listening to the radio, and hearing a 10-year-old June Carter singing, providing a foreshadow into J.R.'s obsession with her in the future.

After repeated calling, we are made aware that the hand belongs to Cash, and it is later revealed that the voice belongs to the prison's warden, calling for him to go on stage. A buzz saw sits ominously on a table in the center of the screen, as a solitary hand casually strokes the blades. The camera settles on an shot of inmates cheering as Cash's band is playing a loop of notes. As the camera passes empty halls and cells, the music becomes louder and clearer, and cheering of inmates can be heard.

The camera moves towards the prison as faint music plays in the background. In the opening scene, we see an outside shot of Folsom Prison, where the grounds are quiet, and the two solitary guards on their perch peer towards the main building. The film details Cash's (Phoenix) life from his growing up as the son of a cotton picker in rural Arkansas to his drug addiction and subsequent rescue by future wife June Carter (Witherspoon) in his famous concert at Folsom Prison. .

This film has been nomininated for five Academy Awards including Best Actor (Joaquin Phoenix) and Best Actress (Reese Witherspoon). The film previewed at the Telluride Film Festival on September 4, 2005 and went into wide release on November 18. Walk the Line's production budget is estimated to have been $28,000,000. The title is taken from the title of one of Cash's best known songs, "I Walk the Line".

Walk the Line is a film chronicling the life of Johnny Cash, American country singer, focusing on his younger life, his romance with June Carter and his ascent to the country music scene, with material taken from his autobiographies. Johnny Holiday: Carl Perkins. Johnathan Rice: Roy Orbison. 'Fluke' Holland.

Clay Steakley: W.S. Dan Beene: Ezra Carter. Sandra Ellis Lafferty: Maybelle Carter. Shooter Jennings: Waylon Jennings.

Waylon Payne: Jerry Lee Lewis. Tyler Hilton: Elvis Presley. Shelby Lynne: Carrie Cash. Larry Bagby: Marshall Grant.

Dan John Miller: Luther Perkins. Dallas Roberts: Sam Phillips. Robert Patrick: Ray Cash. Ginnifer Goodwin: Vivian Cash.

Reese Witherspoon: June Carter. Joaquin Phoenix: Johnny Cash. Best Actress, Reese Witherspoon. Best Actress, Reese Witherspoon.

Outstanding Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy. Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical, Reese Witherspoon. Best Actress, Reese Witherspoon. Best Use of Previously Published or Recorded Music.

Best Actress, Reese Witherspoon. Best Actress, Reese Witherspoon. Best Actress, Reese Witherspoon. Best Actress, Reese Witherspoon.

Best Actress, Reese Witherspoon. Best Actor - Musical or Comedy, Joaquin Phoenix. Best Actress - Musical or Comedy, Reese Witherspoon. Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy.

Best Actress, Reese Witherspoon. Best Soundtrack. Best Actress, Reese Witherspoon. Best Actress, Reese Witherspoon.