In other words,this film is a surreal ride.
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
View MoreVery good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.
View MoreGreat movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.
View MoreI Walk The Line is directed by John Frankenheimer, has a screenplay by Alvin Argent and is based on the novel by Madison Jones. The film stars Gregory Peck, Tuesday Weld, Estelle Parsons, Ralph Meeker and Charles Durning.Peck plays Henry Tawes, a married Sheriff in a small American town. The story takes place during the depression years. Henry's ordered life is turned on its head when he meets the Alma(Tuesday Weld). The pair are drawn to one another and begin an affair. Henry struggles with his feelings for the much younger woman.Henry also has to deal with Alma's terrible father (a terrifying Ralph Meeker)and his own devious deputy(Charles Durning).Peck is utterly convincing as the man struggling against his own feelings and willing to risk all he has to have Alma. I think he gives one of his best performances here.Weld is excellent as the flirty Alma, who is torn between her way of life and the possibility of a different kind of life with Henry.Estelle Parsons doesn't get much to do as Henry's wife, I would have liked a few more scenes of her character, Parsons delivers a solid performance despite the short screen time.The film has a soundtrack by Johnny Cash, the theme song is that most famous of Johnny's songs Walk The Line; and it fits the story perfectly.I think it's a real shame that this is not one of Gregory Peck's better known films. His performance here is one of his best.
View MoreThis film is set somewhere in the South, though the film never indicates exactly where. I assume it's Tennessee or Arkansas as it's very hilly and the accents of most of the people would indicate that. The local sheriff begins an affair with the daughter of a moonshiner and this all leads to terrible consequences.I just read through the reviews on IMDb and I seem to be in the minority here, as I wasn't particularly happy with this film--some of it due to the odd casting of Gregory Peck. The reason I chose to see it was the presence of Peck. Heck, the man could read from a phone book on film and I'd watch it!! I've seen him in some campy films later in his career such as THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL and THE OMEN simply because even with these silly roles, he still managed to transcend it all. However, despite my love of his films, this one disappointed me very much. Instead of the strong and decent persona he played in such films as 12 O'CLOCK HIGH, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD,THE BIG COUNTRY and other films, here he manages to be a rather unlikable and difficult to understand character. I think the blandness of the guy he played was the biggest deficit in the film and for once he was miscast. I really think that Ralph Meeker (who played the moonshiner in the film) would have been better in the role, as he had a long career out of playing morally ambivalent characters--plus he was a heck of an actor in his own right (despite not being a household name). Charles Durning, a supporting actor in the movie, also could have carried off this role very well.Perhaps one of the best performances in the film was that of Estelle Parsons. For once, she had a part that seemed very suited to her. Her roles in films such as BONNY AND CLYDE and DON'T DRINK THE WATER (among others) didn't do a lot to allow her to do much character acting (though she did get the Oscar for BONNY because apparently they liked to see her shriek). Here, however, she is amazingly believable as a sad and lamentable wife who's losing her husband to a young nymph.Overall, despite bad casting, this isn't a bad film--but it also isn't a very good film. Its pluses are gritty realism and some of the Johnny Cash music (particularly the title song). Minuses are Peck and the vagueness of his character and the unbelievability of the affair between him and Tuesday Weld--two actors that don't exactly seem at place in the hills of the South. Simply put, the script wasn't exactly first-rate.
View MoreThis is a very good film. Tuesday Weld and Gregory Peck give great performances. Never has Peck's 'stiff' style of acting been better suited for a role. He is wound so tight in this part it seems like he will explode any minute. His eyes and silent desperate yearning when he is looking at the truly beautiful Weld tell's the desperate needs of the man he portrays. Any man above forty will feel his pain and desire...and many his ultimate heartbreak. The original sound track by Johnny Cash is pitch perfect. The last scene of the film is truly remarkable and heartbreaking although it can be seen coming from the opening credits. This maybe Peck's most under-rated performance and Tuesday weld's best.
View MoreThe subject of small town boredom and emotional unrest; Gregory Peck portrays the sheriff in a small rural Tennessee town. He has a mid-life crisis(before it was fashionable to call it that).Estelle Parsons is the long-suffering wife, and Tuesday Weld the femme fatal. There is also a part with Charles Durning, as a racist small- minded police officer, who feels his job is to run everyone out of town who is not a "good church-going man". Some of the dialog and themes explored in this movie are interesting, and if one has ever traveled to this part of the country, there are still small towns a bit similar to this, even though they may now have a Wal-Mart 100 miles away.Gregory Peck's performance is excellent, though his involvement with a penniless moonshiner's daughter is a bit hard to swallow. You will enjoy the cinematography, and a depiction of American life which does still exist. This film is not as extreme as "Deliverance" but if you drive along Route 26 through North Carolina and Tennessee mountains, you will still see people living without heat, with plastic on their windows to keep out the cold.
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