Johnny Cash - The Man, His World, His Music

Directed by: Robert Elfstrom

RS: 4of 4 Stars

Johnny Cash once called 1968 "the happiest year of our lives," and this documentary, made for public television by thirty-year-old director Robert Elfstrom in late '68 and early '69, is a rousing masterpiece, as edifying and eminently rewatchable as D.A. Pennebaker's verite Bob Dylan doc, Don't Look Back. Whether attending the glitzy Country Music Awards (where he won Album of the Year for Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison) or performing in a basketball court on a Sioux reservation in North Dakota, Cash's black-clad presence lends humility and majesty. Elfstrom records stunning glimpses of Cash actually relaxing during a visit to his parents in Dyess, Arkansas, and recording a loose duet of "One Too Many Mornings" with a grinning Dylan. What emerges is an essential portrait of Cash the humanitarian artist, his unwavering spirit described here in allusive terms by his radiant wife, June: "Steel is strong because it knew the hammer and white heat."