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Walk the Line

 Walk the Line
type
TVTItem
 Walk the Line
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Walk the Line
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WalkTheLine
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Walk the Line is a 2005 biopic on the life of Johnny Cash directed by James Mangold, with Joaquin Phoenix playing Cash.Based somewhat on Cash's real life, it follows him through his formative years as he loses his brother to a sawmill accident, and then joins the Air Force. Later on, he returns to the U.S. and tries to work as a salesman, but ends up signing to Sun Records because his heart is in the music business. Along the way, he marries and then divorces his first wife, Vivian (Ginnifer Goodwin), then meets and befriends June Carter (Reese Witherspoon). After some drug-induced tumult, he eventually cleans up and performs his now-legendary concert at Folsom Prison. Johnny and June then perform a concert in Canada, where he interrupts a song to propose to her. She accepts. (No, this wasn't a Hollywood romance ending. That really did happen.)Both Phoenix and Witherspoon did all of their own singing and instrument-playing for the film. Among its awards, the film won one Academy Award (Best Actress for Witherspoon) and was nominated for three more (Best Actor for Phoenix, Best Sound, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing).One noted critic of the film was Rosanne Cash, Johnny's daughter from his first marriage, who said it was "painful"; Rosanne had a very good relationship with her stepmother June, and even spoke at her funeral. Mangold justified the somewhat unflattering portrayal of Rosanne's mother Vivian by saying that as a character, she was being seen from Johnny's perspective as he fell in love with June.
 Walk the Line
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2023-12-08T05:45:22Z
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parsed
2023-12-08T05:45:22Z
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Dropped link to elvispresley: Not a Feature - ITEM
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DBTropes
 Walk the Line / int_17501df2
type
Cool Old Guy
 Walk the Line / int_17501df2
comment
Cool Old Guy and Never Mess with Granny: While Johnny is undergoing his self-imposed detoxification, his dealer, unaware that anything was going on, shows up at Johnny's house with his supply of pills. The dealer is met by Johnny's future father-in-law Ezra Carter, with a shotgun. Backing up Ezra was his wife "Mother" Maybelle. With her own shotgun.
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"Well Done, Son" Guy
 Walk the Line / int_1779f10e
comment
"Well Done, Son" Guy: Johnny's father, partly due to Johnny's aforementioned status as the unfavored son.
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 Walk the Line / int_18d15922
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Title Drop
 Walk the Line / int_18d15922
comment
Title Drop: June says "Y'all can't walk no line" in one scene. Oh yes, and there is the fact that Cash recorded a song called "I Walk the Line."
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 Walk the Line / int_259d5879
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Anachronism Stew
 Walk the Line / int_259d5879
comment
Anachronism Stew: J.R. and Jack, in 1944, quote the Foghorn Leghorn cartoon "All Fowled Up" - which was not released until 1955, and Foghorn himself did not debut until 1946.
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 Walk the Line / int_266a9dd6
type
Heel–Faith Turn
 Walk the Line / int_266a9dd6
comment
Heel–Faith Turn: Johnny goes through one of these, although it is shown subtly. As Johnny descends deeper into his adulterous and drug-filled career, he shows an aversion to religion and praying. Following his detox, June takes him to a church service. He hesitates, but walks in after being encouraged by June.
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 Walk the Line / int_34e3784f
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Please, Don't Leave Me
 Walk the Line / int_34e3784f
comment
Please, Don't Leave Me: These are the exact words J.R. says to his dying brother.
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type
Foregone Conclusion
 Walk the Line / int_3bc88a7f
comment
Foregone Conclusion: Anyone who is familiar with country music in general would know that Johnny Cash would overcome his drug addictions (eventually), his Folsom Prison concert would be a success, and he eventually marries June Carter.
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 Walk the Line / int_41feb209
type
Non Sequitur, *Thud*
 Walk the Line / int_41feb209
comment
Non Sequitur, *Thud*: As he loses consciousness after collapsing onstage, Johnny mutters, "Fortunately, I keep my feathers numbered for just such an occasion" (an old Foghorn Leghorn line). Doubles as a Meaningful Echo, as Johnny was telling his brother about that cartoon shortly before the latter's death.
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 Walk the Line / int_56515a39
type
Artistic License – History
 Walk the Line / int_56515a39
comment
Artistic License – History: The movie makes it look like Jack Cash's death occurred on the same day that he was cut almost in half by a tablesaw. In real life, he suffered for over a week before he died. In real life Johnny's drug rehabilitation was a much more drawn out endeavor. While he did detox at the Cash house (attended to by June and her parents), it just brought his drug use down to a manageable level. Case in point, he was high when he recorded Live at Folsom Prison. He continued to abuse pills up until the birth of his son in 1970, two years after the movie ended, and didn't clean up for good until 1992.
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 Walk the Line / int_6bd689ca
type
Meaningful Echo
 Walk the Line / int_6bd689ca
comment
Doubles as a Meaningful Echo, as Johnny was telling his brother about that cartoon shortly before the latter's death.
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 Walk the Line / int_7d89315b
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"The Reason You Suck" Speech
 Walk the Line / int_7d89315b
comment
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: June tends to give these to John, very effectively. Viv delivers a couple to Johnny as well, only they don't take.
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 Walk the Line / int_923877a6
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TravelingSalesmanMontage
 Walk the Line / int_923877a6
comment
Traveling Salesman Montage: There's one of these early in the film to illustrate just how bad John is as a salesman.
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 Walk the Line / int_acedb8f5
type
Oscar Bait
 Walk the Line / int_acedb8f5
comment
Oscar Bait: Accused of being this; though it has many of the elements of the genre including historical figures and drug addictions.
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 Walk the Line / int_bc00493f
type
Precision F-Strike
 Walk the Line / int_bc00493f
comment
Precision F-Strike: Cash generally sticks only to the mild, old-school country boy stuff like "damn" and "hell". But in the scene where he performs on stage drunk/high, he acts very strange, playing the guitar with a dazed smile on his face and making an unusually harsh aside to his drummer: "Play the fucking thing." Moments later, he collapses. This surprising usage of the word catches the viewer and the band off-guard and lets them know something bad is about to go down. At Folsom Prison, he remarks that the concert is being recorded for an album, "so you can't say 'hell' or 'shit' or anything like that." This comment appears on the actual album, although the LP had the latter bleeped out.
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 Walk the Line / int_c3b51bb3
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You Are Better Than You Think You Are
 Walk the Line / int_c3b51bb3
comment
You Are Better Than You Think You Are: When Johnny is recovering, he is surprised that June and her family are helping him despite everything he has done to her. June tells him he’s a good man despite it all.
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 Walk the Line / int_c75df49a
type
Shout-Out
 Walk the Line / int_c75df49a
comment
Shout-Out: The line, "Fortunately, I keep my feathers numbered for just such an emergency" comes from the 1955 Foghorn Leghorn short "All Fowled Up".
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 Walk the Line / int_d7c3ba61
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Race Lift
 Walk the Line / int_d7c3ba61
comment
Race Lift: Vivian Cash had slight African-American ancestry (one of her maternal great-great-grandmothers was a mixed-race slave later freed by her father); this, along with her Italian grandparents and her tanned complexion, led to a campaign of racist attacks on her claiming she was a black woman married to a white man (a major no-no in the South of the 50s and 60s). In the film she's played by the totally Caucasian and very pale actress Ginnifer Goodwin.
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 Walk the Line / int_dfe57573
type
Historical In-Joke
 Walk the Line / int_dfe57573
comment
Historical In-Joke: Although they are harsher in hindsight. When Johnny Cash wakes up on the tour bus, he walks past a passed out Luther Perkins (his guitarist) with a lit cigarette in his mouth, and he casually puts it out. Perkins dies months after the "At Folsom Prison" recording/performance when he fell asleep in his Tennessee home with a lit cigarette in his mouth, succumbing to burn injuries sustained in the resulting fire. Similarly, Elvis Presley offers Johnny amphetamines and cheese fries, two of the things that would help lead to "The King"'s own heavyset phase and early death.
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 Walk the Line / int_e16217f8
type
Historical Villain Upgrade
 Walk the Line / int_e16217f8
comment
Historical Villain Upgrade: In order to make Johnny's character seem more sympathetic, his first wife is shown disapproving of his early attempts to break into the music business, urging him to give it up and focus on getting a better job from her father. According to the real Johnny's autobiography, she was actually extremely supportive of his musical ambitions, and their marriage problems did not start until after his career took off. Also applies to Johnny's dad. The real Johnny mentioned that his dad was rather distant and a man of few words, not a raging dick like he is in this film. Although by the end of the movie, they have clearly reconciled.
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 Walk the Line / int_e55c5f35
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Happily Ever Before
 Walk the Line / int_e55c5f35
comment
Happily Ever Before: The film ends at Cash's performance of his Folsom Prison Album and marriage to June in 1968 at perhaps the height of his career commercially and only the beginning of his "superstar" period. He would go on to have a son with June (John Carter), play another prison album (San Quentin), and do more big shows like Madison Square Garden, but he would also relapse into addiction and suffer marital troubles. He'd eventually be dropped by Columbia Records and essentially be forgotten by his Mercury label before a resurgence under producer Rick Rubin, but by that point he'd be near the end of his life while enduring immense pain, stuck in a wheelchair and nearly blind. Almost enough material for a sequel.
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 Walk the Line / int_e603890a
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Artistic License – Music
 Walk the Line / int_e603890a
comment
Artistic License – Music: Referenced by Cash, who said that he hoped that whoever played him would at least know how to hold a guitar. He did.
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 Walk the Line / int_f19ff224
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TheUNFavourite
 Walk the Line / int_f19ff224
comment
The Un-Favourite: Johnny never could quite match up to his dutiful dead brother, Jack, in his dad's eyes.
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 Walk the Line / int_f9f2c33
type
Running Gag
 Walk the Line / int_f9f2c33
comment
Running Gag: Johnny repeatedly asks June to marry him. It never goes over well. Except for the last time.
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 Walk the Line / int_faf4a043
type
Good Adultery, Bad Adultery
 Walk the Line / int_faf4a043
comment
Good Adultery, Bad Adultery: Johnny Cash is distant and generally a dick to his first wife, while openly pursuing June Carter who, by contrast, is entirely unwilling to betray her husband. But he's portrayed sympathetically, and he finally winds up with her. He is Johnny freaking Cash though.
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 Walk the Line / int_fe0330fb
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Brick Joke
 Walk the Line / int_fe0330fb
comment
Brick Joke: "I got the laryngitis!"
 Walk the Line / int_fe0330fb
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 Walk the Line / int_ffad4e9f
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Shown Their Work
 Walk the Line / int_ffad4e9f
comment
Shown Their Work: Phoenix and Witherspoon learned to sing and play guitar and autoharp, respectively, for their roles. Witherspoon also looked through June Carter Cash's closet for inspiration. According to music supervisor and legendary producer T-Bone Burnett, Phoenix had so much trouble getting to Cash's iconic tone that they nearly resigned themselves to dubbing him over before Phoenix's voice dropped to the correct octave a week before shooting. Phoenix also had difficulty with his breathing before watching some of Johnny's live performances. Cash's idiosyncracy of tilting his head back after each line was a way of straightening his throat so he could take in a full breath quicker than if he'd kept his head in a normal position.
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Walk the Line

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 WalktheLine
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Walk the Line
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Anger Montage / int_508f7a42
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Artistic License – Music / int_508f7a42
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Biopic / int_508f7a42
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