My Father and the Man in Black (2013)
Average Rating: 5.8/10
Reviews Counted: 18
Fresh: 11 | Rotten: 7
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 5.2/10
Critic Reviews: 7
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 3
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 4.2/5
User Ratings: 177
Movie Info
Before there was Johnny and June, there was Johnny and Saul. Secretly recorded audio diaries and telephone calls with Johnny Cash from the 1960s and 1970s reveal a brand new side of the legendary singer. An intense personal adventure that just happens to feature one of 20th-century music's greatest icons, MY FATHER AND THE MAN IN BLACK tells the inside story of 'bad boy' Johnny Cash and his talented but troubled manager, Saul Holiff, whose unexplained suicide leaves a son searching for his
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Cast
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Jonathan Holiff
Narrator/Self in Ree... -
Gary Holiff
Saul Holiff at 50 -
David Disher
Johnny Cash at 30 -
Joshua Robinson
Saul Holiff at 40 -
Dan Champagne
Johnny Cash at 40 -
Norman Singer
Saul Holiff at 75 -
Elli Hollands
June Carter Cash -
Alino Giraldi
Saul Holiff at 20 -
Robert Skanes
Marshall Grant -
Trevor Juras
Luther Perkins -
Brent Crawford
WS 'Fluke' Holland -
Llyane Stanfield
Mother Maybelle -
David James
Voice of Johnny Cash -
Nick Smyth
Carl Perkins -
Steve Megill
Tex Ritter -
Adam Nicholson
Johnny Western -
Adam Weir
Shel Silverstein -
Jennifer Phillips
Voice of June Carter... -
Paul Ackerley
Voice of Saul Holiff -
Barbara Holiff
Herself -
Myra Richman
Herself -
Harvey Glatt
Himself
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All Critics (18) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (11) | Rotten (7)
You get a strong whiff of what it must have been like to be Johnny Cash, or his exasperated manager, from this film. It would make a good companion piece to "Walk the Line.
Top CriticIt's good that Holiff wants to unlock this puzzle, but Cash is so compelling a figure that he is ultimately the only character we truly care about.
Here these men are but ciphers; we want understanding, but we get only suggestion.
Despite the clunky mix of narrative formats, "My Father and the Man in Black" makes for an illuminating alternate history of sorts to the Hollywoodized version of Cash's ascendancy in "Walk the Line."
Partly transcends its inherent self-indulgence.
The result will amuse hardcore Cash fans, but few others.
A strong story without the reconstructions. . . son/director could have trusted the powerful audio-visual material. . . instead of overplaying the reenactments and narration.
This has the potential to be dreadfully maudlin stuff, but the film is too damn interesting to be maudlin.
My Father And The Man In Black is partly a biography of Saul Holiff, partly an account of Jonathan Holiff's relationship with his dad, and never particularly successful as either.
In-the-family documentaries are often more emotionally rewarding for their makers than their viewers.
This film is rather like BBC's Who Do You Think You Are?, but with altogether too many scenes re-enacted by lookalikes.
For Cash devotees who want a hitherto-hidden perspective on their man ... this is invaluable viewing.
Plays like a non-fiction Walk the Line with script input by Eugene O'Neill.
It's fascinating to look at the life of Johnny Cash from a new angle, even if this documentary feels somewhat self-indulgent and a bit amateurish.
Holiff assembled this memoir from his father's papers and audio diary, although the portrait of Cash that emerges is that of a pill-popping religious nut, and there is next to no insight into his music or creative process.
Incredibly eye-opening and extraordinary thanks to endearingly personal accounts and strong archival footage.
Slightly jerry-built reconstructions detract from an intriguing film with a unique angle on the country legend.
Audience Reviews for My Father and the Man in Black
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