Walk The Line (2005) Review

As sure as night is dark and day is light; Joaquin will be on voters' minds both day and night.

Feeling it from the inside out © 20th Century Fox

Back in 1976, it was with great fanfare that Warner Brothers rolled out their contemporary version of A Star is Born, infusing one of Hollywood's most enduring love stories with the beat of rock'n roll. But nothing on screen quite matched the fireworks of the various behind-the-scenes battles pitting director Frank Pierson against the film's producer-star tandem of Jon Peters and Barbra Streisand, who were at the time an item.

Now, thirty years later, Hollywood has finally figured out how to get the third chapter of this saga right. Like Frederic March and Janet Gaynor in the original 1937 version of A Star is Born, and like James Mason and Judy Garland in the 1954 remake, the epic duet shared onscreen by Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon takes what could have been a standard biopic and elevates it into the rarified realm of A Country Star is Born.

This is earth-shaking, toe-tapping romance, a love story for the ages. True, we have moved from a fiction that closes with the immortal words, 'Hello, I'm Mrs. Norman Maine,' to a reality that takes its cue from the memorable greeting, 'Hello, I'm Johnny Cash.' But the result next January will be the same as it was for March and Gaynor, Mason and Garland: a Best Actor and Best Actress nomination for our Johnny and June.

A major crossover move © 20th Century Fox

It's more than a little ironic that Tammy Wynette uncorked her classic 1968 country song "Stand By Your Man" the same year that Cash cemented his reputation with a live album recording at Folsom Prison, an event which forms the basis of Walk the Line's electrifying, bass-thumping, flashback-intro opening. Because it was also that same year that June Carter said 'I do' for a second time, crowning her own triumphant version of standing by her tormented man Cash.

While Phoenix's Cash never quite sinks to the depths of ending it in the Malibu surf, as did both Norman Maine's, he does almost manage to scare Carter away for good at one point, consumed by personal demons and a truckload of speed. But somehow, the push and pull of Carter's goodness is enough to summon him from the depths, and with a little help from some gun-totting in-laws, the singer is able to finally kick the habit and find his way back to redemption, meaning, truth, harmony.

Nothing in the filmography of director James Mangold, except perhaps snippets of the underrated Sylvester Stallone drama Cop Land, can prepare you for the sheer adrenalin rush of Walk the Line. This feels more like a great concert than a great film, vibrating in the mind and tingling in the nerves long after the closing credits roll. Mangold synchs up his triumph of the human heart to the ever-present and undeniably visceral sounds of a reverberating bass drum. In a way, it's as if Cash's aorta itself is driving the music, screaming out to be heard as both an artist and a man.

Waylon Payne as Jerry Lee Lewis © 20th Century Fox

In terms of a star being born, get ready for a throwback to the days when idol maker Simon Cowell, age 56, had yet to be born. Few scenes have captured the raw excitement of an artist finding their muse, on the spot, as does the sequence where Cash auditions nervously for Sun Records head honcho Sam Phillips (Dallas Roberts). When his long-rehearsed gospel number is dismissed out of hand, the singer launches into one of several ditties he wrote while stationed with the Army overseas in Germany. Hesitant, and playing at first without the backup of his two band mates, Cash gradually finds his way to the heart and soul of "Fulsom Prison Blues." Based on this scene, it's easy to understand why Cash in real life might have been the first artist to ever release a full album on Sun Records, following in the footsteps of traveling road show companion Elvis Presley's prior smash for RCA.

Much has been made about the fact that Phoenix and Witherspoon do all their own singing here, be it live to tape or, in some cases, live to film. It's not so much that we as an audience feel more convinced when this occurs, as opposed to something like Jamie Foxx's masterful channeling of Ray Charles, done via lip synching to the rhythm and blues legend's original recordings. Rather, the act of learning the lyrics, singing the songs and emoting the chorus helps performers like Phoenix and Witherspoon feel it more. Much, much more.

To a certain extent, it's musical Method versus musical Madness. Each has its own merits, but if this rendition of Johnny Cash does go on to beat the likes of George Clooney in Syriana and Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote next March, it will make for one of the most intriguing back-to-back category juxtapositions in recent Oscar memory. To each his own, admittedly, but personally, I'll take a performance like Phoenix's over a performance like Foxx's anytime.

On set with writer-director Mangold © 20th Century Fox

Cash, like Charles, had an opportunity before he died to meet the man who was to play him. During their dinner, he apparently revealed to Phoenix how much of a fan he was of the actor's portrayal of Commodus in Gladiator, which garnered a Best Supporting Actor nomination. Besides making you wonder what River Phoenix would have been capable of today had he managed to overcome his demons, brother Joaquin's real-life hagiography instantly becomes of the order of Sean Penn's Daulton Lee in The Falcon and the Snowman, Russell Crowe's Dr. Jeffrey Wigand in The Insider, Sam Shepard's Chuck Yeager in The Right Stuff, even Robert De Niro's Capone in The Untouchables.

As for the film itself, Mangold's 136-minute juggernaut is going to be hard to beat this fall as a genuine Red State-Blue State crowd pleaser. It's got history, nostalgia, romance, father-son drama, kick ass musical numbers, iconic subject matter and Reese Witherspoon. But above all, Joaq the Line has got Joaquin as Johnny.