Walk the Line
Stream
Rent & Buy
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.
What critics thought
The performances are the main event — Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix both do their own singing, and most critics found the results genuinely impressive, though the film itself drew sharper division. The script's adherence to familiar rise-and-fall biopic formula frustrated a number of reviewers, some of whom also felt Phoenix could feel confined by a Hollywood-standard portrait of tortured genius.
“Knowing Johnny Cash's albums more or less by heart, I closed my eyes to focus on the soundtrack and decided that, yes, that was the voice of Johnny Cash I was listening to. The closing credits make it clear it's Joaquin Phoenix doing the singing, and I was gob-smacked.”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon do first-rate work – they sing, they twang, they play new-to-them instruments, they crackle with wit and charisma, and they give off so much sexual heat it's a wonder they don't burst into flames.”
Carina Chocano·Los Angeles Times
“he seems stuck in the kind of off-the-rack psychological straitjacket in which Hollywood likes to confine troubled geniuses.”
A. O. Scott·The New York Times
“If Mangold's new movie has a problem, it's that he and co-screenwriter Gill Dennis sometimes walk the lines of the inspirational biography too rigorously.”
Richard Corliss·Time
“While Witherspoon, a fine singer herself, makes Carter immensely likable, a fountain of warmth and cheer, given how sweetly she meshes with Phoenix her romantic reticence isn't filled in.”
Owen Gleiberman·Entertainment Weekly
Accolades
Genres
Biography, Drama, Music
Cast & Crew
James MangoldDirector
Joaquin PhoenixJohn R. Cash
Reese WitherspoonJune Carter
Ginnifer GoodwinVivian Cash
Robert PatrickRay Cash
Dallas RobertsSam Phillips
Dan John MillerLuther Perkins
Larry BagbyMarshall Grant
Shelby LynneCarrie Cash
Tyler HiltonElvis Presley
Shooter JenningsWaylon Jennings
Sandra Ellis LaffertyMaybelle Carter
T Bone BurnettComposer
Gill DennisWriter
Phedon PapamichaelCinematographyWalk the Line
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.
What critics thought
The performances are the main event — Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix both do their own singing, and most critics found the results genuinely impressive, though the film itself drew sharper division. The script's adherence to familiar rise-and-fall biopic formula frustrated a number of reviewers, some of whom also felt Phoenix could feel confined by a Hollywood-standard portrait of tortured genius.
“Knowing Johnny Cash's albums more or less by heart, I closed my eyes to focus on the soundtrack and decided that, yes, that was the voice of Johnny Cash I was listening to. The closing credits make it clear it's Joaquin Phoenix doing the singing, and I was gob-smacked.”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon do first-rate work – they sing, they twang, they play new-to-them instruments, they crackle with wit and charisma, and they give off so much sexual heat it's a wonder they don't burst into flames.”
Carina Chocano·Los Angeles Times
“he seems stuck in the kind of off-the-rack psychological straitjacket in which Hollywood likes to confine troubled geniuses.”
A. O. Scott·The New York Times
“If Mangold's new movie has a problem, it's that he and co-screenwriter Gill Dennis sometimes walk the lines of the inspirational biography too rigorously.”
Richard Corliss·Time
“While Witherspoon, a fine singer herself, makes Carter immensely likable, a fountain of warmth and cheer, given how sweetly she meshes with Phoenix her romantic reticence isn't filled in.”
Owen Gleiberman·Entertainment Weekly
Accolades
Genres
Biography, Drama, Music
Cast & Crew
James MangoldDirectorJoaquin PhoenixJohn R. CashReese WitherspoonJune CarterGinnifer GoodwinVivian CashRobert PatrickRay CashDallas RobertsSam PhillipsDan John MillerLuther PerkinsLarry BagbyMarshall GrantShelby LynneCarrie CashTyler HiltonElvis PresleyShooter JenningsWaylon JenningsSandra Ellis LaffertyMaybelle CarterT Bone BurnettComposerGill DennisWriterPhedon PapamichaelCinematographyStream
Rent & Buy