Walk the Line (2005)

★ 7.5 2h 16m 3,110 votes IMDb
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A chronicle of country music legend Johnny Cash's life, from his early days on an Arkansas cotton farm to his rise to fame with Sun Records in Memphis, where he recorded alongside Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.

Walk the Line

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Cast

Joaquin Phoenix
Joaquin Phoenix as John R. Cash Age 51 · San Juan, Puerto Rico Joaquin Rafael Phoenix (born October 28, 1974) is an American actor. Known for his roles as dark, unconventional and eccentric characters, particularly in period dramas, he has received various accola...
Reese Witherspoon
Reese Witherspoon as June Carter Age 50 · New Orleans, Louisiana, USA Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon (born March 22, 1976) is an American actress and producer. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Golden...
Ginnifer Goodwin
Ginnifer Goodwin as Vivian Cash Age 47 · Memphis, Tennessee, USA Jennifer Michelle "Ginnifer" Goodwin (born May 22, 1978) is an American actress. She is known for her starring role as Margene Heffman in the HBO drama series Big Love (2006–2011) and Snow White / Mar...
Robert Patrick
Robert Patrick as Ray Cash Age 67 · Marietta, Georgia, USA Robert Hammond Patrick is an American actor best known for portraying intense antagonists and authority figures. He broke out in 1991 with his iconic performance as the T-1000 in James Cameron’s Termi...
Dallas Roberts
Dallas Roberts as Sam Phillips Age 55 · Houston, Texas, USA Dallas Mark Roberts (born May 10, 1970) is an American stage and screen actor. Roberts was born in Houston, Texas. He is a graduate of Juilliard School.
Dan John Miller
Dan John Miller as Luther Perkins From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Dan John Miller is an American singer-songwriter and actor from Detroit, Michigan. He is currently the guitarist and lead vocalist for the gothic country-garage...

Audience Reviews

Rob 0.5/10 Aug 18, 2015
A great example of bad casting, Cash was over 6'
The Movie Mob 6/10 Feb 11, 2023
**Walk the Line showcases incredible acting and directing but leaves out the brighter parts of Cash’s life to tell a more somber story that left me sad.**

Walk the Line chronicles the story of Johnny Cash’s rise to fame and romance with June Carter. James Mangold is one of my favorite directors and tells this story powerfully through the Oscar-worthy performances of Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon. The acting, music, and directing are all phenomenal. Still, the story is so sad, and its conclusion, while happy, happens so abruptly that it doesn’t feel resolved or satisfied after 2+ hours of drug addiction and hurting loved ones. Cash’s faith and love for his family, which are well known, aren’t represented in the movie and could have provided hope in this dark tale. I understand why this movie was such a huge award winner, but my escapist nature struggled to enjoy such a sad story.
CinemaSerf 7/10 Mar 14, 2024
Joaquin Phoenix might take top billing as the legendary American musician Johnny Cash, but it's got to be Reece Witherspoon who steals the plaudits as June Carter. She demonstrates all the feistiness and determination of a woman, in a man's world, quite prepared to do her own thing. Assisted by a fair degree of charisma and musical talent, she can play a stage with the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis and Carl Perkins with confidence. The film starts at the now famous Folsom Prison just before he takes the stage and by way of a continuing retrospective, we learn of his childhood - one touched by tragedy very early on, of his strained relationship with his father (Robert Patrick) then his service in the US Air Force before, gradually, his stage career and burgeoning romance with his co-star. He is married to Vivian (Ginnifer Goodwin) and they have children, but that doesn't really curtail his passion for Carter and we see that relationship evolve in parallel with his affection for just about anything that comes from a bottle. The life of this man has been pretty publicly documented so there's little room for James Mangold to manoeuvre with the facts here. Instead, we are offered a plausible speculation on just how this couple made it through. I found Phoenix's performance just a little too close to mimicry at times, but there's a solid chemistry between him and Witherspoon throughout with the depiction of his descent into chemically indeed oblivion quite sad to watch. It's underpinned by a strong score and both deliver the songs - especially "Jackson" quite toe-tappingly. This is a fair biopic of a flawed but ultimately quite decent character and it's worth a watch.

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