Walk the Line - A Musical Review

Last night my husband and I attended an advanced screening of Walk the Line and it was a great movie that I think everyone will love. My husband, who is a film music composer, gives us his exclusive review of the movie, and mine will appear miraculously later today.

Walk the Line – A Musical Review
by Randall K. Harp
Published on 16 Nov 2005 at 23:48.

No, I’m not announcing a Johnny Cash Broadway musical. However, having just returned from an advance showing of Walk the Line (starring Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash and Reese Witherspoon as June Carter), I’m offering this short review of the musical score. Being a biography of legendary recording artist Johnny Cash, I expected mostly Cash’s music and very little score. Although it was just as I expected in that respect, I was still favorably impressed with the score, composed by music producer and recording artist T-Bone Burnett.

While I doubt that people will be lining up to purchase the score that so moved them during the film, I will tip my hat to Mr. Burnett who had the challenge of providing music in a supporting role in the big, fat shadow of Cash’s songs. With a blend of acoustic and electric guitars, and occasional piano, Burnett provides a score that feels at home with the Cash genre, without sounding like just “more of the same” of the hit songs that surround it.

With most films that I see, there is a defining moment for the score, where it really bonds with the film in effective teamwork. In my opinion, that moment in Walk the Line is a turning point in the story taking place at the Old Hickory Lake home of Cash in Hendersonville, TN. The point in the story serves as a bridge between a “before” and “after” Johnny Cash, and the score supports that role well.

At 136 minutes, Walk the Line is slightly longer than the average movie fare, but an enjoyable film for the eyes, the heart, and the ears. Even if you’re not a Cash aficionado, I think that you’ll enjoy the show.