Walk the Line

So I strolled up the theater to see Walk the Line on Friday. Sold out. This is a good thing for the movie, bad thing for me. I fought all weekend for a chance to go to the movies, and finally got it after many delays on Sunday.

For me, with a knowledge of Cash's life a 4 on a scale of 1 to 10. I know the basic outline of his career, accomplishments and contributions, but not enough to recite lyrics or tell you the dirt about his personal life. This movie was good for me then, I guess, because it completely dodged what I do know, and went straight for the personal life. As for the music, well, we didn't get much on that either.

Now Johnny Cash wrote two autobiographies - Man in Black, and Cash: an Autobiography. They were relied on heavily for the making of this movie, and it seems to me that if I read those books, I wouldn't learn much about his professional life either.

The movie was directed and written (in part) by James Mangold, who also wrote/directed Girl, Interrupted, Identity, and Kate & Leopold to name a few. After seeing the movie, it fits right in there with his others - a little dramatic, a little romantic, but basically superficial and not daring to get gritty.

Wait a tick....
This movie, now that I think about it, was a carbon copy of Ray, starring Jamie Foxx. It is almost identical. Only take out Ray Charles, insert Johnny Cash. And the tough part is, I HIGHLY doubt that their lives are that way, where you could just replace one with the other and no one would notice. I mean, come on, one's black. That'd stand out, right? Apparently not. The only way the movie could be more similar to Ray would be to name it 'Johnny'.

Soooo normal of a movie...
When Johnny Cash's life is going downhill due to drug use, for instance, the beautiful "I'm a strung out rockstar trying to get the monkey off my back by being locked in my bedroom sweating and groaning and having flashbacks" montage does nothing if not romanticize his issues with drugs. The closest he gets to a breakdown is throwing some things around the room and yelling at people, which, in reality, I'm positive it was much worse.

I guess I can understand wanting to protect the dignity of a legend, and he might have even written his own life this way in his books, making it hard for the Mangold and others to really tackle the tough stuff.

The movie is a straightforward "rags to riches to rags to riches" story of a rock star. I was amazed at how conventionally this movie was done. I was hoping for the "this is how Johnny Cash's life was different from all the rest" but instead I got "this is how Johnny Cash joined the ranks of the other legends" which is totally different.

On the other hand...
There were some great shots, great writing and acting (Joaquin Pheonix and Reese Witherspoon ARE June Carter and Johnny Cash...they do a great job, on screen chemistry and all) great moments where Johnny Cash is offered Cheese Fries by Elvis sitting in the rafters of a concert in the shadows, great music (of course).

Finally...
But it was just so NORMAL of a movie....don't expect to be surprised by anything at all. I enjoyed it, as will most people that see it, and I think a lot of people will be successfully starstruck by Cash (if they haven't seen many other musician/legend movies). Just don't expect it to change your perception of what a legend can be, or what a musician can be, or what it takes to be successful in life...if you've ever seen any other film in this genre, especially Ray, you've already got it.