James Mangold's chronicle of the wild highs and hard lows of gravel-voiced country-music icon Johnny Cash is conventional to the core but gets a blast of pure, hard-driving energy from Joaquin Phoenix's and Reese Witherspoon's vividly realized performances as the troubled Man in Black and the steady love of his life. It opens in 1968, as the 36-year-old Cash prepares to record a live album at Folsom Prison — his first step back from an attenuated personal and professional flameout — then flashes back to Dyess, Ark., 24 years earlier. Twelve-year-old John (Ridge Canipe) and his slightly older brother, Jack (Lucas Till), quietly nurse dreams of escape from hardscrabble...
Released:
2005
Rated:
PG-13
Length:
136 mins