There are only a handful of other reviews for this Netfiix doc as I write this and they're pretty lukewarm in response. Granted, it's only an hour long and could have provided more depth, but I thought the overview hit the main points regarding President Nixon's invitation to Johnny Cash to visit and perform at the White House. Cash's upbringing was rock ribbed conservative, but that didn't mean he couldn't observe and comment on the cultural and political events swirling around him during the late Sixties/early Seventies. His hardscrabble upbringing allowed him to relate to those experiencing hard times, including prisoners and those afflicted by drug and alcohol abuse. When the turmoil surrounding America's involvement in the Vietnam War reached a fever pitch, it hit home when the son of one of his band members died in action. While Cash declined to perform a pair of songs requested by the President, 'Okie from Muskogee' and 'Welfare Cadillac', he offered instead a newly penned song titled 'What is Truth?', intended to ask America's leaders to look both inward and outward to confront the senselessness of a war seemingly with no end in sight. During his performance, one can observe Cash perspiring profusely, perhaps in equal measure from the glare of the spotlight and the pressure of causing some discomfort among the audience. During a time when the political environment was divided between hawks and doves, Johnny Cash confronted an establishment by being a dove with claws.
ReMastered: Tricky Dick and the Man in Black
(2018 TV Movie)
"We hope to show you a little bit of the soul of the South tonight." - Johnny Cash to a White House audience, April 17, 1970
27 September 2020
Warning: Spoilers