Talk:Walk the Line

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[edit] Rock and Roll Ruby

The authorship of this song by Johnny Cash, recorded by Warren Smith in Feb 1956, has been disputed on numerous occassions. Billy Poore's 'Rockabilly; A forty-year journey', recounts the often heard tale that Cash purchased the song for $40 (other sources say $45) from George Jones - the story is repeated in Craig Morrison's history of Rockabilly, 'Go Cat Go'

[edit] De-emphasis of religion

Walk the Line director James Mangold says, "The part of John's story that we're telling about is the part where he pushed God away" but religion was still prominent in Johnny Cash's early career. Walk The Line is one of the best movies of all time! And that is a fact!

Sam Phillips did steer Cash away from gospel songs but his first record for Sun contained two Christian songs: "I was there when it happened" and "If the good Lord's willing". Cash left Sun for Columbia on the guarantee that he could make a completely gospel album, 1959's Hymns by Johnny Cash. He followed that up with other religious albums, 1962's Hymns from the Heart and 1963's The Christmas Spirit, as well as songs scattered among otherwise secular records such as "The Great Speckled Bird" on 1959's Songs of Our Soil and "Amen" on 1965's Orange Blossom Special.

The movie shows a close-up of a letter from Folsom prisoner Glen Sherley but doesn't show the Folsom concert closer where Cash played Sherley's song "Greystone Chapel" and shook his hand.

The scene of Jerry Lee Lewis stating they were all doing "the devil's work" is accurate but leaves out Cash's response, "I'm not doing the devil's work. I'm doing it by the grace of God because it's what I want to do."

It's not shown that Cash was backed by the country/gospel group The Statler Brothers at Folsom.

Much time is spent on Cash's drug problems and June Carter's role in helping him but the film omits the pivotal role of religion. In the fall of 1967, Cash was so despondent over his drug use that he drove to the Nickajack Cave to kill himself by becoming lost in its darkness. He wrote in his 1975 autobiography:

"The absolute lack of light was appropriate, for at that moment I was as far from God as I have ever been. My separation from Him, the deepest and most ravaging of the various kinds of loneliness I'd felt over the years seemed finally complete. It wasn't. I thought I'd left him but He hadn't left me. I felt something very powerful start to happen to me, a sensation of utter peace, clarity and sobriety. I didn't believe it at first. I couldn't understand it.... the feeling persisted though and then my mind started focusing on God.... there in Nickajack cave I became conscious of my destiny. I was not in charge of my own death. I was going to die at God's time, not mine. I hadn't prayed over my decision to seek death in the cave, but that hadn't stopped God from intervening…I told my mother that God had saved me from killing myself. I told her I was ready to commit myself to Him and do whatever it took to get off drugs. I wasn't lying."

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Eiger (talk • contribs) 19:13, 4 December 2005 (UTC)

What, specifically, are you arguing should be changed/added to this article? -Mysekurity ^{(have you seen this?)} 00:35, 5 December 2005 (UTC)

Consideringthat the co-writer directer has said something to the effct of "It didn't make sense to concentrate on religion at a point in his life where he was obviously falling from grace and becoming lost.", I don't think the mention of religion needs to be in this article.

[edit] Little Details

The article says,

She feels uncomfortable performing it with Cash, but he ignores her protests and kisses her in the middle of the performance. She storms off the stage and they go their separate ways, despite Cash's protest that "it was only a song."

However, I think it's worth noting the store scene where that lady strikes a chord with June when she remarks about June's divorce, and then adding that June saw the same lady in the audience, which probably made her think that she was acting too freely with John on the stage. Zekintha 21:35, 9 October 2006 (UTC)