The Bottom Line
The cast of the movie "Walk The Line" was apparently surprised when they were told they would be doing their own singing. Fortunately, most of the cast seems more than capable of capturing the essence of the performers they were portraying, especially Reese Witherspoon, who seems to channel June Carter directly into each of her performances. They make the performances different enough from the originals to make the soundtrack worthwhile, yet still retain that important flavor and feeling.
Pros
- "Wildwood Flower"
- "I'm A Long Way From Home"
- "Juke Box Blues"
Cons
- It's tough competing with the originals.
Description
- The motion picture soundtrack to the 2005 biopic, "Walk the Line."
- Performances by Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Tyler Hilton, and Shooter Jennings.
- Produced by the great T. Bone Burnett.
Guide Review - Various Artists - Walk the Line Soundtrack
The director of this movie didn't want a bunch of impersonators. He wisely said, "If people want to hear Johnny Cash, they should put on his records." This is undoubtedly true. However, I think back to what's probably the ultimate country music biopic, "Coal Miner's Daughter," and thought about how much Spacek and D'Angelo sounded like Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline. Joaquin Phoenix does an admirable job of capturing a sense of Johnny Cash, but of course he can't possibly capture the presence, the sheer majesty of Cash's own recordings. I'm torn between wishing the film had been lip-synched, like "Ray," and finding tremendous enjoyment in listening to Reese Witherspoon portray June Carter. The only Witherspoon performance lacking was no one sings "Jackson" quite like Johnny and June did.Tyler Hilton is a passable Elvis; but I had no idea who Johnathan Rice was supposed to be; I had to go look at the cast list to find out he was Roy Orbison. Waylon Malloy Payne is a terrific Jerry Lee, but Shooter Jennings neither looks enough nor sounds enough like his father to make a credible Waylon (although his performance of "I'm A Long Way From Home" is excellent).
All in all, it's a worthwhile soundtrack. There are some very good performances, and some good video footage extras that didn't make the movie (as a bonus, these play on your browser, and the disc does not download unwanted programs onto your computer). But if you want to listen to Cash, get "The Legend of Johnny Cash."