Release Date:  November 18, 2005
Rating:  PG-13 (language, thematic material and depiction of drug dependency)
Genre:  Drama
Run Time:  136 min.
Director:  James Mangold
Actors:  Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Ginnifer Goodwin, Robert Patrick

“Walk the Line,” the second Hollywood bio pic about an American music icon in as many years (following last year’s “Ray”), finds firm footing from a strong performance by Joaquin Phoenix. But in telling its redemptive story in mainly human terms, the film is much less powerful than it might otherwise have been.

Phoenix plays Johnny Cash, a tormented singer who rises to the peak of popularity before descending into self-destructive behavior. Director James Mangold frames the story around Cash’s famous Folsom Prison concert, using flashbacks to reveal Cash’s early influences. These include an older brother who died in childhood, an abusive father (Robert Patrick) who voices regret that Johnny was spared his brother’s fate, and a mother who instilled a love of hymnody in the younger boy.

Johnny gets married and has a family, but his efforts to settle down into a career as a door-to-door salesman never take root. Instead, he ingratiates himself with record producer Sam Phillips, who challenges Cash to sing something other than the stock gospel renditions popular at the time – something that Cash feels deep down, because, Phillips says, “that’s the kind of song that saves people.”

“It’s got nothing to do with believing in God,” he tells John. “It’s about believing in yourself.”

And with that encouragement, Johnny Cash – the persona, the Man in Black – is born. Cash’s lawless streak dovetailed with the burgeoning rock-and-roll scene, allowing him, along with Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis, and Roy Orbison, to tap into a youth movement eager for new musical approaches and styles.

Cash’s success takes him on tour, and away from his wife (Ginnifer Goodwin) and family, slowly eroding the bonds of marriage and family life. His growing weakness for female groupies is superceded only by his interest in June Carter (Reese Witherspoon), a fellow performer who joins Cash for several performances. Recently divorced, Carter initially resists Cash’s advances and marries another man, but the two singers eventually break their marital vows and sleep together. Carter’s second marriage ends, as does Cash’s first, but Carter turns down Cash’s persistent proposals of marriage thereafter, fearing commitment to the drug-addicted musician.