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Reviews
Walk the Line (2005)
Good Movie
This movie is excellent, whether you like Johnny and June, or not. This is just good film making. It makes Johnny Cash's rocky career accessible to the common man, while at the same time allowing for his fans to get a few glimpses of him that are hard to see without a lot of money spent on a huge collection of DVD's and books.
Reese Witherspoon does not sound as much like June as Joaquin sounds like Johnny, but performs well nonetheless. Joaquin even gets the growth of the gravel baritone by slowly building the voice from the beginning of the movie to the end. His portrayal of the first audition with the higher, less confident voice set up the rest of the movie very well.
The clincher for me was Folsom Prison, when Joaquin used Johnny's rifle shot guitar playing movement. That said it all. Great movie.
The Sea Hawk (1940)
Privateers abounding
Although this movie does not live up to Sabatini's book, it is still a good movie. Errol Flynn with a sword never really gets old. I am a younger movie watcher (I was born almost 40 years after this movie was made), but his acting is magnetic. I don't know if he ever has a bad angle to be filmed from. More than that, he picked the right movies to film, and this is one of them. The women watching the film adore him, the men enjoy the sword fights, and everything works out in the end. Yes, that sounds campy, but its done with style and class, and that's what makes it a great movie. The only thing that would make this better is if they had followed the book more and you got to see Flynn in a turban with a scimitar. If anyone could have given Laurence Olivier a run for his money to play "Lawrence of Arabia", it was Flynn. Sadly, they went for a little less true to the book, although the movie does not suffer for it.
Captain Blood (1935)
High Seas Adventure
This movie is not as good as reading Sabatini's book, but suffice it to say that Flynn does a fantastic job as the unluckily lucky Dr. Peter Blood. Olivia DeHavilland does an equally good job, as she should. With this being one of Flynn's action/adventure flicks that goes along with "The Adventures of Robin Hood" and "The Sea Hawk" (another Sabatini novel that one should read the book), he does a great job. The character actors are superb in their support, and any time you get to see Basil Rathbone in a sword fight is pleasant, especially when he plays a bad guy. Did Rathbone ever win a sword fight against Flynn? Seriously, though, very worthwhile movie to watch.
Those Calloways (1965)
Better than some might think
This movie is one of the better movies that Disney put out in the '60s. Many of the movies that they were producing in this time period were obviously family oriented, but all had a much lighter tone to them. This was a serious look at a serious time in US History, and I think they did a fantastic job with it. Overall, the performances are memorable, and the cast has stars, but is not overweighted. Some supporting roles of note are done by Ed Wynn and Walter Brennan. The music is also well scripted. Definitely worth a look.