For more than three decades, Johnny Cash’s shadow fell across the American cultural landscape like a silhouette of the Rockies. Even before his death in 2004, his position as an American icon was assured. Of all those of the Sun Records class of 1955, Cash was the bad boy, the rough diamond defiantly unpolished, a man who could have as easily shared a drink at a table with Dylan in life as he could be sitting with Elvis in death. In many people’s eyes, he was the original punk, kicking against expectations to find his own way. He made country music his own and gave rock ’n’ roll a mean side that became a profound influence on the countless rock rebels who have followed him.

Director James Mangold’s “Walk the Line,” based on two Cash autobiographies, tells of the Man in Black’s roller-coaster career in the 1950s and ’60s and his relationship with second wife June Carter Cash, all oiled with drug and drink and regular resurfacings of bad childhood memories. Predictable in form and a little too light-handed with some of the singer’s darker moments, “Walk the Line” is much more successful in dealing with the “love” side of the story, benefiting from two superb lead performances and a soundtrack by Cash and T-Bone Burnett that simply sounds terrific. Combined with history, nostalgia, father-son drama, and its iconic subject matter, “Walk The Line” ought to be a hot contender for Oscars aplenty come March.

The film begins with Cash (Jaoquin Phoenix) in the moments before his triumphant concert at Folsom prison in 1968, reminiscing to his beginnings in 1940s rural Arkansas, the tragic death of his elder brother Jack, and his tempestuous relationship with his unloving father (played with stern realism by Robert Patrick). Cash leaves his humble beginnings and, via a stint in the Air Force, becomes one of rock ’n’ roll’s first superstars, touring with the likes of Elvis Presley (Tyler Hilton), Jerry Lee Lewis (Waylon Payne) and June Carter (Reese Witherspoon), for whom he falls head over heels and does his best to try to woo.

Witherspoon is very impressive as June Carter. Growing from a sassy girl amongst the boys to become Cash’s professional partner and emotional crutch, Witherspoon is convincing all the way. Though always looking a little cleaner and slightly less rugged than Cash ever did, Joaquin Phoenix’s vocal work—from the signature, “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash” to the songs themselves—is spot on. The character’s gradual evolution from naïve country boy to outlaw voice of truth is handled well, with Phoenix milking the film’s darker moments for all they’re worth. One particular scene—a Thanksgiving showdown with Cash’s irredeemably unpleasant father—will make most audience members relieved to be sharing awkward silences with distant family members this Thursday.

However, the film could have offered a little more. Although “Walk The Line” is a better film than last year’s “Ray,” it too is a movie with fine lead performances that suffers from a plot that never really gets beneath its characters’ skin. We do see Cash at his vice-addled worst, but his battle between the bottle and the Bible is not given as detailed a treatment as it might have been. Also, it’s never entirely clear why Cash was perceived as more dangerous than his contemporaries, which would have explained the mutual affinity between Cash and his audience at Folsom Prison at the film’s climax. A less prefabricated, more assured approach could have helped here. “Walk The Line,” however, is a fine film, and it’s good to be reminded in an era of American Idol manufactured pop pap that they just don’t make ’em like Johnny Cash anymore.

directed by: James Mangold
starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon
rated: PG-13 for language, thematic material and depiction of drug dependency