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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: 20th Century Fox
Salesrank: 6833
Released: January 16, 2007 |
| Our Price: $6.70 |
| Used Price: $1.95 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Singer. Rebel. Outlaw. Hero. With his driving freight-train chords, steel-eyed intensity and a voice as dark as the night, the legendary "Man in Black" revolutionized music?and forged his legacy as a genuine American icon. Golden Globe winners Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon star (and sing) as Johnny Cash and June Carter in this inspiring true story of one man's unwavering devotion to his sound, his message and the greatest love of his life.
Description of Walk the Line:
A solid and entertaining biopic, Walk the Line works less as a movie than an actors' showcase for its stars. Joaquin Phoenix's total immersion into the skin of singer Johnny Cash is startling--watching it, you can't believe this is the same guy who whined about being "vexed" in Gladiator. As he evolves from a farm boy to gospel croonin' plunker to the Man in Black, Phoenix disappears into Cash's deep baritone, his way of slinging the guitar onto his back, and his hunched-up style of strumming. But it's more than just picking up mannerisms: Phoenix also sings as Johnny Cash, and it's quite impressive.
The story of how Johnny Cash became Johnny Cash traces from his childhood under a distant father (Robert Patrick) to his early attempts at a music career, during which he married his girlfriend Vivian (Ginnifer Goodwin). During a tour with the likes of Elvis (Tyler Hilton) and Jerry Lee Lewis (Waylon Malloy Payne), he encounters singer June Carter (Reese Witherspoon), and his love for her--and her rejection of him through the years--spurs him into drugs, drinking, and depression. As with most movies based on real-life singers, as his popularity grows, the women come a-flockin', and the childhood demons surface. Witherspoon, who matches Phoenix drawl for drawl, plays June both as a sassy spitfire whose charm breaks your heart, and as a sympathetic friend who tries to help Cash get over--well, her. The love story is what endures, but the movie comes most alive during its musical numbers, and even if you're not a country fan, it may just get you to run out and buy a Johnny Cash album.--Ellen A. Kim
Walk the Line Reviews:
OKAY. 
2009-10-18 - Dvd was not in spectacular shape. Price was great, but had some scratches and freezes in some spots. Wasn't very happy with this buy, expected it to be in better shape. But overall the price was wonderful and shipping was fast.
VHS review of Walk The Line 
2009-09-10 - I wasn't a Johney Cash fan prior to seeing the movie. I did however enjoy the his music and the revelations of his personality and his life within the context of his biography. Reese Witherspoon did an excellent job in playing,June Carter, his devoted and pricipled wife and lover. At times I felt that , at times,Joaquin Philips over dramatized Cash's movements. All in all a very entertaining and informative story about an interesting and talented personality.
An interesting story
2009-08-30 - Johnny Cash is practically a household name, and even if you aren't into fifties music you're bound to recognize some of his songs, like Ring of Fire and I Walk the Line. However, there's more to his story and this film does its best to tell it.
Johnny's hardscrabble life in a relief community to his service in the Air Force and his failure as a salesman are all looked at. The film pulls no punches when it comes to his eventual drug abuse as he performed on the road and the way the pills he took eventually pulled apart his life. His love affair with fellow performer Carter is also highlighted and in fact is a recurring theme in the DVD.
A good film but not my cup of tea. No doubt if you're more into music you'd like this much more.
What goes around, comes around when you `walk that line'
2009-08-11 - I am reviewing this nicely done commercial effort to delve into parts of the lives of the legendary singers Johnny Cash and his (eventual) wife June Carter Cash (of the famous mountain music Carter Family bloodlines. Her mother was the incredible vocalist and guitarist Maybelle Carter) in reverse order. Although I saw the this film for the first time when it was released in theaters (and have viewed it several times on DVD) several years ago I am reviewing now after having just seen the real Johnny Cash and June Carter on one of the segments of Pete Seeger's black and white television programs from the mid-1960s, "Rainbow Quest" where they appeared. And knocked me, and I think Pete, over with their renditions of Carter Family material and information about that clan.
Okay, here is the skinny. If you want to get the glamorous, sexy romance and a fetching June Carter (Reese Witherspoon), the heartache and longing of pain in the butt Johnny Cash and the eventual joining together of two great musical talents story then this is the place to start. But, if you want the reason why this film was made in the first place, the legendary musical talent, warts and all, then watch them go through their paces along with old Pete Seeger. Both are worth the time.
Masterful Biopic 
2009-06-30 - I'm anything but a Johnny Cash fan. The only time I got a kick out of his music was in the late Sixties (or early Seventies?), when he released his tongue-in-cheek hit, "Boy Named Sue." Very entertaining, in case you haven't heard it. Otherwise, I paid scant attention to the Man in Black, other than knowing he sang about trains, and crime, and prison, and that he was a tad rambunctious.
So when WALK THE LINE initially came out, my interest wasn't all that keen on learning about the troubled life of Cash (or his equally tumultuous romance with June Carter). Two words got me to go see the film during its theatrical run--and to watch this exceptional movie several times since: Joaquin Phoenix. I'm a big fan of this remarkable, versatile actor, have been ever since seeing him in Gladiator. And in Cash's biopic Phoenix doesn't disappoint: he immerses himself in the character, becomes the troubled Man in Black--right down to the singer's deep baritone. Equally impressive is Reese Witherspoon as the ever-aloof June Carter (ultimately June Carter Cash); Witherspoon is dead on, from June's feisty sassiness, to her twang and drawl.
It's one thing not to appreciate the actual music--it's quite another to be blown away when two actors absolutely nail the actual music. That's what makes WALK THE LINE such a great film: it's completely, unequivocally, believable. Further kudos go out to Robert Patrick, who plays Cash's forever-disapproving father (the Denethor of the Ozarks). So don't let not being a fan of Johnny Cash keep you from seeing this film; if you haven't checked out WALK THE LINE, by all means do so. And get rhythm, when you get the blues.
--D. Mikels, Author, The Reckoning
