Saturday, January 21, 2006

I Walk the Line-Johnny Cash

We went to see, I Walk the Line, last night at the dollar theater. When were walking in to buy our tickets I could tell we were in the right place at the right time. The lobby was full of old people. I fit in quite nicely, ha.

Of course we sat next to a couple who talked to each other through the whole movie as if they were in their own living room. The cell phones went off with jazzy songs and blue lights. People, you are in a theater! I'd be upset if I hadn't only spent a dollar to get in.

The movie grabs you from the beginning. There was a brotherly love and bond of the two young Cash brothers that brought tears to my eyes

I always thought that Johnny Cash had spent time in prison, that he "shot a man just to watch him die." The only times he was in Folsom Prison (not all that far from where I used to live) was when he was putting on a concert, though he had gotten into some trouble but didn't serve any real prison time. I got a kick out of one of the Amazon.com reviews of one of the Johnny Cash CDs that said ....people shouldn't reward people incarcerated by buying their albums. This person hopes he stays in prison. Uhhh....Johnny Cash is dead.

I totally got swept up into this movie. We were put into the life of Johnny Cash and it wasn't until toward the end of the movie that I "woke up" to reality because my butt started getting numb from the seats. I looked around and was surprised that a theater that was packed full of old people had not one of them got up to use the bathroom (not even me).

I came away with "wow, I never knew that about Johnny Cash (he was terrible when he was on the pills)." I'm not one to worship a singer, polititian, actor or actress, they are just people, so I never really research their lives. As far as I knew Johnny Cash and June Carter had always been a couple. The cast was excellent, I felt the pain, the love and the sorrow. We didn't get to see much of their happiness later in their lives. That was tied up at the end with words across the screen.

2 comments:

Dittman said...

I couldn't agree more - Cash has always been a real inspiration to me. Nothing came easy for him but he never quit swinging.

If you're a reader, you should check out "Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone" the story of the Carter family that paints a picture of the rural South so vividly that you'll pick up a accent, and "Cash: The Autobiography" which reveals the man that was just hinted at in the movie - the speed freak who set fire to a national forest while high, the bad father, the Christian, the guy who almost died after an ostrich attack (!), the liberal who took a an anti-war stand and pissed off his fan base, and the humble comeback artist.

Erie's Argonaut said...

Thanks Dittman, it sounds like a good read. The last of the Carters, Janette (82) just died. End of an era.