James Mangold directs this excellent biography of country music singer, Johnny Cash, from his early years down south on a cotton farm in Arkansas to his famous concert at Fulsome Prison in 1968, which reinvented him. Joaquin Phoenix (pre-craziness) does an outstanding job as Cash while Reese Witherspoon stars as (and won an Oscar for playing) June Carter. During the two hours, we see a Johnny Cash I certainly didn't know existed: the second son of a resentful father, the two-timing husband who ignores his wife as he pursues - relentlessly - June Carter on and off the many stages they graced, and the young star who slides inevitably into the Rock Star illness of booze and drugs. While Walk the Line toes the predicable line of every biography in its delivery, it is saved thanks to the performances of Witherspoon, Phoenix and Ginnifer Goodwin (as Cash's first wife, Vivian). And damn, the music is might fine to boot.
My rating 8 out of 10.
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