Saturday, August 7, 2010
The Gospel Road (1973)
Johnny Cash literally talks and sings the stories of Jesus in this vaguely docu-drama adaptation of the life of Christ taken from Cash's double album of the same name. In effect this is one of the more unusual 'concert' films ever made. Songs are by Cash and others like John Denver and Kris Kristofferson, June Carter Cash appears as Mary Magdalene, and Robert Elfstrom is a blondish Jesus. Filmed in Israel and very emblematic of the 1970's in its look and style, I kept thinking of Johnathan Livingston Seagull while I watched it. Odd, but the musics good and the productions pleasant enough, even low key. A Curio. Skim it.
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2 comments:
In his final years, Cash made a few purely acoustic recordings, as I'm sure you're aware. Atypical for him, a new direction. His voice - deep, old, and broken - lends a haunting beauty to the songs. Several of them are gospel tunes, and I think of one, with cello accompaniment, that sends chills down ones back.
Yeah Cash is one of those few people whose voice may have actually gotten better with age. His best known and most acclaimed late work was an adaptation of the heavy metal song ’Hurt’, it’s completely devastating, and actually works as kind of odd summation of his life and career. I always respected that Cash’s Christianity seemed unusually sincere, you get a sense that a real harrowing spiritual journey lead him there, he didn’t arrive at it easy.
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