In 2005, FOX Pictures came out with the movie, "Walk the Line," portraying the life of Johnny Cash and his romance with June Carter, starring Joaquin Phoenix as Cash and Reese Witherspoon as Carter. Anyone who see this movie would fall in love with it completely... that is, until the real story is revealed.The movie starts off showing a young 11-year-old J.R. Cash with his best friend, his brother, Jack, on their family's Arkansas farm. The film quickly shows J.R.'s life before Jack passed away and fast forwards to the day J.R. leaves for the Air Force. In the Air Force, J.R. was forced to pick a first name in replacement of the "J," that's when J.R. chose the name, "John." From then on, J.R. was known as John R. Cash.
The movie never showed Cash meeting his first love, Vivian Liberto. The movie never showed that he cared about her much, only that he made one phone call to her when he was in the Air Force and asked her to marry him. In the movie, she seemed skeptical and said they barely knew each other, but then accepted his proposal.
In reality, Cash was deeply in love with Liberto. He wasn't allowed to call her at all from the base, so he would write her love letters almost every day, literally. These letters can be read from Liberto-Cash's book, "I walked the line--My Life with Johnny Cash." Cash actually met Liberto before he left to serve the country and even though they didn't know each other because of being physically apart, Liberto and Cash learned from each other through the on-going letters they wrote each other. Cash eventually did propose while he was in the Air Force, but it was never over the phone. He wrote and sent her a ring through mail. She accepted the ring immediately.
The movie goes on to showing the terrible life the Cash family were having after they got married. They were poor and were raising a baby in a tiny apartment. Cash was a door-to-door sales man and Vivian would stay at home and take care of their baby, Rosanne. The movie depicts Vivian as a cold-hearted woman who didn't love John as she would give him a hard time when he wasn't selling and bringing home any money. The movie shows that Cash secretly went to Sun Records to try out for the owner, Sam Phillips, and when Phillips wanted to sign Cash, making Cash the hero of the family.
Cash's stage name, "Johnny Cash," was given to him by Phillips. Phillips thought it sounded better and wanted him to use "Johnny" for the tour. In the movie, Cash began to wear black during concerts because he had nothing else to wear. He started going on tours and being far away from home. Vivian was seen in the movie, again, as a cold-hearted wife when Cash would call her during his tour. She would seem distant and in some ways, jealous, that he was away for so long. In one scene, Cash was telling Vivian that he loved her while she decided to hang up the phone while he was talking. He was out on tours, she was at home with two daughters, it was bound to happen, right?
WRONG! Yes, it was true that Cash wasn't bringing home money when he was a salesman. I'm sure that Vivian's attitude towards him was completely exaggerated. Cash actually had passed by Sun Records a couple times before he told Vivian about it. She encouraged him to go audition for Sam Phillips and was ecstatic when Phillips wanted to sign Cash. Cash did not initially wear black during concerts because Vivian used to made-make white suits with gold trimmings for him and his band. In fact, in between concerts, Vivian would fix Johnny's suits while they were on tour. Yes, Vivian went with Johnny on tour in the beginning of his career! Their daughters, Rosanne and Tara were with Vivian's parents while Vivian and Johnny were away.
Eventually, Vivian couldn't go on tour with Cash anymore because she was pregnant with their third child. Vivian began staying at home more while Cash continued to perform in concerts. Cash actually met June Carter when Vivian was touring with him. In fact, Johnny, Vivian and the Carter Family all used to hang out after the concerts. The movie shows that June was touring by herself along with Johnny and his band. But the truth is, her family of singers were also there. The movie also shows June's initial lack of interest in Johnny. But Johnny continues to approach her and once she found out about his drug addiction, she stayed by him to help him conquer the evil drugs.
What really happened was... June liked Johnny from the first time she saw him. In fact, one of the reasons why Vivian tried to stay with Johnny in the tour for as long as she could was because Carter once said to Vivian, "He will be mine," referring to Johnny. When Vivian stayed at home in California, she would talk to some of Johnny's band members where they would tell her on several accounts that they witness Carter trying to make an advance on Johnny. In the beginning, Johnny would politely decline her offers, but as the drugs took over, June was seen going into Johnny's room and leaving the next morning. The movie showed that it was Johnny that went into June's room late at night, but the truth was far from that.
The movie portrayed June Carter to be a saint, a "God-fearing Christian woman." What a load of baloney. True that Carter stayed by Cash's side during his period of drug addiction. The reason why Carter stayed was because she had an addiction herself. Carter and Cash would often take pills together. After Vivian and Cash's divorce, Cash and Carter would pick Vivian and John's four daughters up to take them for the weekend. Vivian would refused to let them take the children because they would show up high on drugs.
I'm not sure how Carter overcame her drug phase, or if she ever did, but Johnny eventually stopped taking pills. The movie showed that it was the consistent efforts of June Carter and her parents. But in reality, Cash had in-house nurses and doctors that stayed with him 24-hours a day. Carter never single handedly save him, as the movie depicted.
Lastly, the title of this movie, "Walk the Line" was the title to a song Johnny wrote in the beginning of his career, before he met June Carter. BEFORE he met June Carter, just in case there was any misunderstandings. Which means, Cash wrote that song for his first wife, Vivian. Cash didn't have to walk any lines for June. They were already wealthy, touring and having fun when Cash and Carter met. Cash walked the line for Vivian when he was struggling to make their lives more comfortable, for her and for their daughters.
Courtesy of YouTube - Johnny Cash singing, "Walk the Line" in 1959
By the end of the movie, Cash was calling Carter his wife. While as sweet as the memories of Johnny Cash and June Carter was, as portrayed in this film, I found out that the executive producer was John Carter Cash, the son of Johnny and June. Yes, that explains why June was an Angel while Vivian was the demon. That also explains why June's addiction was never shown in the movie and how if it wasn't for her, Johnny would still be popping pills left and right. Oh yes, the movie also didn't show how June stole someone elses husband, a man who already had four children at home.
Some recommended reading: "I Walked the Line. My Life with Johnny Cash" by Vivian Liberto-Cash and "Man in Black" by Johnny Cash. I haven't read any books by John Carter Cash, but there is one he wrote of his mother. Judging by this movie and how John Carter Cash depicted the characters, I don't think I want to support him by buying and reading his books. I guess, unless he's going to come out and finally tell the truth.
Photograph courtesy of Mark D. Roberts @ MarkdRoberts.com
