Walk the Line

This day in 2004 marked the last day of shooting on James Mangold’s Walk the Line–a portrait of country icon Johnny Cash featuring an Oscar-nominated performance by Joaquin Phoenix and a winning one for Reese Witherspoon. The two leads trained vocally for 6 months, and their duets onscreen crackle with a raw energy that matches the couple’s up-and-down relationship. Phoenix dips into Barry White range as he channels Cash’s dark baritone, and Witherspoon finds a perfect balance between June’s softer melodies and her woman-scorned growls. Line‘s Folsom Prison concert has been hailed as one of the best musical scenes in cinema history, as Phoenix rips through “Cocaine Blues,” nearly inducing a riot among the impassioned convicts. Some critics found the structure of the movie–star rises after struggling, abuses drugs, redeems himself and finds love–to be a little Ray-like, but the movie stays pretty true to life. With appearances by Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Waylon Jennings, it’s also fun to play “Spot the Rockstar.”

Quotable: “I got to tell you, I can’t tell you how many shows we done, but this is the best audience we ever had. I want to thank you for that. You know, standing back there in your shop, catching my breath, I come to admire you even more… I got to tell you – my hat’s off to you now. Cause I ain’t never had to drink this yellow water you got here at Folsom. [smashes the glass] This song’s for your warden!”–Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash in Walk the Line