'Walk the Line' is an exhilarating ode to the Man in Black

The only bad thing about the Johnny Cash biopic, "Walk the Line," is its timing. Coming on the heels of -- and taking pretty much the same approach as -- last year's "Ray," one of the best of all Hollywood musical biographies, it's bound to suffer some in comparison.

MOVIE REVIEW

WALK THE LINE

DIRECTOR: James Mangold

CAST: Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Ginnifer Goodwin

RUNNING TIME: 135 minutes

RATING: PG-13 for some language, thematic material and depiction of drug dependency

GRADE: B+

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Still, that's not much of a drawback. The movie is entertaining, reasonably true to the facts of its subject's life and full of music. It also beats down our objections to what, at first, seems bad casting, and communicates an infectious love for its characters.

The film opens midcareer as the Man in Black (Joaquin Phoenix) -- pill-dependent, emotionally troubled, creatively frustrated -- has come to Folsom Prison to record the famous 1969 "Folsom Prison Blues" album that will make him a pop-music icon.

From here, the movie flashes back to Cash's childhood as the second son of a dirt-poor Arkansas sharecropper, and chronicles the rosebud incident that will scar his life and make him an artist -- the tragic death of his beloved older brother.

Cut to Germany in the early '50s, where Cash is serving a hitch in the Air Force. Here he first picks up a guitar, gathers some musical ambitions and hears the voice of June Carter (Reese Witherspoon) on a delayed broadcast of the "Grand Ole Opry."

Out of the service, Cash is married to a woman who doesn't support his musical aspirations and is working as a door-to-door salesman. But he's playing his music on the side and, after some sage advice from legendary Memphis record producer Sam Phillips, he's soon on his way.

After that, he finds his drawly voice and thumpy sound, and he's able to get in on the ground floor of '50s rock 'n' roll, with hit after hit -- a rise that, in true biopic tradition, is soon marred by his personal demons and the appearance of a drug problem.

But what makes the film different is that it's structured as an epic love story. The first act builds to Cash's meeting with Carter, the second act traces his wild pursuit of her when she joins his band, and the third is her determined effort to save his life.

The stars click in their roles. Phoenix doesn't look much like Cash, and lacks his commanding stage presence, but he sings convincingly and exudes a potent charm. Witherspoon looks even less like Carter, but her bouncy perseverance sweeps aside all reservations.

Writer-director James Mangold ("Cop Land," "Girl, Interrupted") is often shaky on his period detail and he doesn't give Bob Dylan the credit he deserves for single-handedly resurrecting Cash's career, but otherwise stays on course and mostly avoids the cliches of the genre.

For some reason, the soundtrack omits "A Boy Named Sue" and "Don't Take Your Guns to Town" -- two novelty songs that helped define the Cash persona, but it includes most of his other hits, and the movie stands as an exhilarating panorama of his musical legacy.

P-I movie critic William Arnold can be reached at 206-448-8185 or williamarnold@seattlepi.com.

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