Walk the Line (2005)
88%RT Audience Score: 90%
Awards & Nominations: Won 1 Oscar
45 wins & 48 nominations total
Superior acting and authentic crooning capture the emotional subtleties of the legend of Johnny Cash with a freshness that is a pleasure to watch
If you’re looking for a movie that’ll make you want to put on your cowboy boots and start singing, Walk the Line is the one for you. Joaquin Phoenix gives an extraordinary performance as Johnny Cash, and Reese Witherspoon is sweet and sassy as June Carter. Sure, the movie may not be perfect, but it’s a fun and well-acted biopic that’ll have you tapping your toes and humming along to the music. Plus, who doesn’t love a good love story?
Production Company(ies)
Macrocosm Entertainment, Citizen Skull Productions, Bond It Media Capital
Distributor
20th Century Fox
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
Tennessee State Penitentiary, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Rated PG-13 for some language, thematic material and depiction of drug dependency
Year of Release
2005
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:DTS Dolby Digital SDDS
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Aspect ratio:2.39 : 1
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Runtime:2h 16m
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Language(s):English, Russian
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Nov 18, 2005 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 28, 2006
Genre(s)
Biography/Music
Keyword(s)
starring Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Ginnifer Goodwin, Robert Patrick, Dallas Roberts, Dan John Miller, directed by James Mangold, written by James Mangold, Gill Dennis, biography, music, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Namrata Joshi, Zadie Smith, Victoria Segal, Chris Chang, Steven D Greydanus, Andrew Sarris, David Walsh, Rachel Wagner, John A Nesbit, Kevin Carr, Fernando F Croce, produced by Cathy Konrad, James Keach, PG-13, Johnny Cash, June Carter, Vivian Cash, Ray Cash, Sam Phillips, Luther Perkins, 20th Century Fox, Surround
Worldwide gross: $186,797,986
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $284,677,017
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 531
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 31,044,386
US/Canada gross: $119,519,402
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $182,145,576
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 410
US/Canada opening weekend: $22,347,341
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $34,056,975
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 385
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $28,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $42,671,533
Production budget ranking: 900
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $22,978,621
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $219,026,863
ROI to date (est.): 334%
ROI ranking: 416
Reese Witherspoon – June Carter
Ginnifer Goodwin – Vivian Cash
Robert Patrick – Ray Cash
Dallas Roberts – Sam Phillips
Dan John Miller – Luther Perkins
Director(s)
James Mangold
Writer(s)
James Mangold, Gill Dennis
Producer(s)
Cathy Konrad, James Keach
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Won 1 Oscar
45 wins & 48 nominations total
Academy Awards
All Critics (208) | Top Critics (55) | Fresh (171) | Rotten (37)
The film boasts of extremely competent performances, particularly the extraordinary Phoenix. As for Witherspoon, with her nasal twang and perky persona, she is sweet and sassy…
January 10, 2019 | Rating: 3/4
Namrata Joshi
Outlook
TOP CRITIC
Walk the Line — although conspicuously well acted — is really no different from previous efforts, and that’s a good thing. It shares the charm of the (musical biopic) genre.
January 16, 2018
Zadie Smith
Daily Telegraph (UK)
TOP CRITIC
Not only does the film show just how hungry Cash was to sing his songs, it understands how hungry society was for the cataclysmic changes such music brought.
September 26, 2017
Victoria Segal
New Statesman
TOP CRITIC
It’s a tidy Hollywood arc imposed on a messy real life, but it gets the job done.
November 19, 2013
Chris Chang
Film Comment Magazine
TOP CRITIC
In spite of all it does right, Walk the Line leaves one with the nagging sense of a story unfinished — or rather, with something left out.
February 11, 2006 | Rating: B+
Steven D. Greydanus
Decent Films
TOP CRITIC
I advise you catch up with Walk the Line, if only for Ms. Witherspoon’s transcendent joyousness as a still-growing legend within a legend.
January 5, 2006
Andrew Sarris
Observer
TOP CRITIC
This is not a malicious or embarrassing work; the viewer simply feels that Mangold has not genuinely tackled a single one of the complex and potentially rich problems bound up with the lives of Cash and Carter.
July 9, 2020
David Walsh
World Socialist Web Site
I love this movie so much.
February 28, 2019 | Rating: 9/10
Rachel Wagner
rachelsreviews.net
the acting compensates for the weaknesses in the script
July 2, 2013 | Rating: B-
John A. Nesbit
Old School Reviews
What made this film work, and what ultimately won it most of its acclaim, were the performances of the actors.
July 31, 2012 | Rating: 3.5/5
Kevin Carr
7M Pictures
Reverently reductive
September 1, 2009
Fernando F. Croce
CinePassion
A fun, well acted, and well directed piece of filmmaking…
April 29, 2009 | Rating: 3/4
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed…
Plot
While growing up in the Great Depression era, Johnny Cash takes an interest in music and eventually moves out of his Arkansas town to join the air force in Germany. While there, he buys his first guitar and writes his own music, and proposes to Vivian. When they got married, they settled in Tennessee and with a daughter, he supported the family by being a salesman. He discovers a man who can pursue his dreams and ends up getting a record with the boys. Shortly after that, he was on a short tour, promoting his songs, and meets the already famous and beautiful June Carter. Then as they get on the long-term tours with June, the boys, and Jerry Lee Lewis, they have this unspoken relationship that grows. But when June leaves the tour because of his behavior, he was a drug addict. His marriage was also falling apart, and when he sees June years later at an awards show, he forces June to tour with them again, promising June to support her two kids and herself. While the tour goes on, the relationship between June and John grow more,and his marriage to his first wife ends. June finds out about the drugs, and help him overcome it. True love and care helped John eventually stop the drug usage, and finally proposes to her in front of an audience at a show.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
The film boasts of extremely competent performances, particularly the extraordinary Phoenix. As for Witherspoon, with her nasal twang and perky persona, she is sweet and sassy…
James-Mangold.jpg
