PrintNashville Film Festival: showcasing Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison
Now playing at a record store near you: Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, filmmaker Bestor Cram's richly detailed and abundantly fascinating account of events surrounding Cash's recording of his legendary live album at California's Folsom State Prison in 1968.
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The documentary played to appreciative audiences Sunday and Monday at the Nashville Film Festival and likely will be a staple of Public TV pledge-week schedules for years and years to come.
But you can see it on DVD right now because it's part of Sony Legacy's two-CD reissue package of Cash's original recording.
During a post-screening interview at the Nashville Festival, Cram — who also co-directed The Special, a 2005 documentary celebrating the bluegrass standard "Orange County Special" — noted that because of music licensing expenses, Folsom Prison was "more expensive to make than most documentaries I've been involved with. So we needed more insurance policies up front… By joining forces with Sony Legacy, we were able to [cover our expenses] and make sure the movie got out there."
• About Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison
• Buy the DVD/2-CD package
Of course, having your movie released as a major element in a record company's deluxe-edition box-set is not quite the same thing as landing a theatrical release and seeing the film on a lot of big screens. (Which is one of the reasons Cram was happy to bring Folsom Prison to the Nashville Festival.)
"But I really don't care where people see something," the director insisted. "And, really, it's extremely rewarding to know you've got a really serious film packaged with the full concert on two CDs, along with a booklet that [Cash biographer] Michael Streissguth has written that is a great explanation of what this concert meant to Johnny Cash and to music, with photographs. As someone who appreciates having your craft packaged well, this is fabulous."
The only downside: "It doesn't come with popcorn."
