Johnny Cash, 1932 - 2003.

Johnny Cash was, of course, not known for his movies, but there's a mighty, iconographic overlap between the Man in Black and, at the very least, the American Western: the outlaw as a beloved and admired hero with a mile-wide anti-heroic streak running right up under the skin. Just sample this bit in Bob Townsend's fine obit in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and tell me some screenwriter isn't sharpening a pencil (or firing up Final Draft) right now:

Embraced by presidents, preachers and punks, he performed at the Nixon White House and on evangelist Billy Graham's crusades. He also staggered through outlaw days, when he infamously kicked out the footlights at the Grand Ole Opry, and got caught trying to smuggle amphetamines across the Mexican border in his guitar case.

Whether it'd really make a good movie or not, who knows. It hardly matters; he lived out the tale for all to see, always aware of its potential as legend, never shirking from exploiting it, yet never afraid to reveal his deepest, most disturbing flaws, above all, in that almost frightening but intimate voice of his. Like frail iron.

Posted by dwhudson at September 12, 2003 8:03 AM