ReMastered: Tricky Dick and the Man in Black

source: ReMastered: Tricky Dick and the Man in Black

For my money, of those I've seen, this was the best to date of the Netflix "Remastered" musical documentaries and all the more unlikely down to being about a country artist, which is about my least-favoured type of popular music. But then again, even I can see that Johnny Cash isn't your average country artist. I prefer to think of him as "rebel country", sure he could do the Grand Old Opry, God-fearing stuff if he was of a mind to, but he definitely appeared to be his own man and you have to admire him for that. This well-made programme focused on a concert Cash was invited to play at the White House for the then sitting president Richard Nixon, who thought he could play to the what he believed to be the inherently conservative, i.e. Republican, country and western-loving "silent majority", by having Johnny sing and play for him. Not long before, after Nixon had made his televised broadcast to the nation promising an honourable end to the Vietnamese War, Cash had impulsively concluded his live network TV show with a ringing endorsement of the president's lofty aim. Sensing an opportunity to lead the narrative with Cash as his unwitting agent, Nixon, himself more a classical than country music fan and his aides set up the gig in front of an exclusive, hand-picked audience. All Cash had to do was effectively roll up and roll over with the administration even trying to have him sing, by presidential request, two hoary Conservative anthems "Okie From Muskogie" and "Welfare Cadillac". Would Johnny play ball? Let's just say I was delighted with the outcome and that my admiration for the man in black rose immeasurably as a consequence, especially when you think that only a couple of years later, Elvis himself famously (or infamously, depending on your point of view) docilely shook Nixon's hand in a further attempt by the Pres to ingratiate himself with a well-known singer's fan-base. You've got to wonder how many artists would have displayed the integrity Cash did when it would have been so easy to comply. Sometimes the documentary over-reaches itself when it seeks to meaningfully juxtapose the fall-out from the White House show with bigger events happening elsewhere, especially the Kent State killings, but with this one act, Mr Cash reportedly made Nixon squirm in his privileged seat and I for one, having recently completed a weighty Nixon biography and listened to a podcast on his presidency, both of which attempt to reclaim his political legacy by minimising his obvious faults and almost airbrushing Watergate out of his history as if it was to coin a phrase, "a little local difficulty" was pleased to see that Cash could see through the whitewash and was enough of his own man to ask the president the telling question "What is Truth?". You'll not be surprised to learn that this episode doesn't rate a mention in either the book or podcast referred to above.

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.

Doesn't get at the subject matter in as direct a way as I would have liked. However, this movie introduced me to the incident where Carole Feraci looked Nixon in the face and told him, on stage in front of a room full of officials, "If Jesus Christ were in this room tonight, you would not dare drop another bomb." I could've jumped out of my chair. What a moment. I LIVE for that stuff!

From the existing reviews of this documentary, I wasn't expecting much, but ended up giving it 10/10 and am writing this quick justification for that high score here. This could be described as the story behind Johnny Cash's song "What is truth?" which at least one other reviewer picked up on, pointing out the documentary makers implied some footage of Cash performing was from his White House show when apparently it was filmed elsewhere. Nitpicking over the veracity of some details aside, this is a great story told well. I've mainly listened to the last albums Johnny Cash made produced by Rick Rubin, dismissing his earlier work as too generic country & western. This documentary was a huge eye opener for someone who's never heard the song "What is truth?" before, along with weaving in the stories behind "Route #1, Box 144", "The Ballad of Ira Hayes", and other Cash songs which I never realised were controversial, blacklisted from midwest radio stations in their day. Even if you're not a Johnny Cash fan, this is a great slice of modern history, leading to interesting thoughts of Nixon's America vs Trump's America without being preachy or didactic.

Interesting documentary about Johnny cash and president Nixon. The doc is short but very noncommittal on subject matter. Ranges from following Johnny cash and his political activism and his journey growing up, but also takes time to cover Nixon's presidency and the Vietnam war. Tries to establish a timeline on cash's performance at the White House and the state of the nation and how Cash impacts the social climate. Not a bad way to spend an hour, but felt it could have done better to establish a clearer intention.

Pat Buchanan has a voice in this. Isn't that enough to tell you this production was pointless? Nixon was a paranoid, vindictive a-hole, and good ole Christian Pat was a chief advisor. Surprised yet? Johnny Cash was great. His family and closest colleagues tell us how great he was in the most hyperbolic terms possible. Are you now surprised? Guess what. You're more than halfway through the production and nothing has happened thus far. This was an exercise in futility. Not interesting. Unsurprising. Tedious. Perhaps another ReMastering is in order.

Cash is okay in all sequences, but the gossip around, always ready to explain the "good" side of politics. Ironically, the Nixon adviser is the most decent, and the "biographer" is the most disgusting. After all the Cash family was poor, but he will feel the need to explain how they had no hope without FDR giving them government handouts.

Lost me when they straight up said that Southern voters are taken in by the dog whistles of racism. I can see why liberals may think that since they have no core values and can't believe we do.

Footage used in the show wasn't actually as it happened, the performance isn't the one Nixon saw, and witness accounts are fuzzy. Warm story but have to ask what is truth?