Toronto – Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison is a documentary that focuses on …the time Johnny Cash went to Folsom Prison for a concert. One of the most prominent events in career of the Man in Black, this film by Bestor Cram takes us back to the event with the stock footage, new photography and of course, interviews with the people involved. The documentary briefly takes a look at how Johnny Cash came to be and the circumstances that led to him playing at the prison, and then the effect that the concert had on the population, including a subplot involving one Glen Sherley. I won’t link to the wikipedia on it guy, but lets just say his story was featured prominently in the film.
The documentary was pretty good. A bit of the introduction seemed repetitive, but if I had not know about the history of this man, I guess it would be necessary. Interviews in this documentary included the Cash offspring, Marty Stuart, Merle Haggard and some random inmates at the prison. So much has already been written about Johnny Cash already that it is nearly impossible to shed new light on the dude. The only thing that the interviews did was to further Cash’s reputation as a stand up guy who fought for the underdogs. Especially with the prisoners, you can sense their appreciation for concert to this day. Apparently, Folsom Prison is a harsh place to live and the documentary included some shots of the prison, which was kinda cool. There weren’t much input from Johnny Cash himself, just some stock interview bits, seeing how the man died a few years ago, that is understandable. As you would expect, the songs of Johnny Cash are peppered through out the documentary, which is a nice audio treat.
My only complaints with the documentary was that some of the subplots involving the prisoners and what they are doing today really weren’t necessary. Also, it would have been nice to get some input from June Carter on the whole thing. I guess that is technically impossible, but maybe some stock quotes or something. Marty Stuart’s hair was also distracting.
All in all, if you are a Cash fan, you will probably want to watch this, and if you have only seen the dude from that Medicine Woman show, it is a good chance for you to learn about one of the most important musical icons in history. A good compliment to the movie “Walk the Line”, I say.
Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison plays on June 19 (the best day ever), at 7pm at the Bloor Cinema
Here is the NXNE link. The movie is 87 minutes long, which is the number Sidney Crosby wears. Go Pens!
