Customer Reviews

Pride of Jesse Hallam [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is NOT a tape about Johnny Cash!! It is a CD interview with him, along with a movie, the Pride of Jessie Hallam. I bought it thinking it was about Johnny. WRONG. I waited 6 weeks and paid 18 bucks for it, only to be disappointed! You have to read the info carefully to see that. Don't make the same mistake I did!

As a Johnny Cash fan for longer than I care to remember I think this video was excellent. Johnny Cash played a difficult part convincingly and the story suited his style superbly. The accompanying CD is a must for every Johnny Cash fan. I've played it over and over.

There are 25 million functional illiterates in the United States, and this film made for television is purportedly based upon events in the life of one of them, Jesse Hallam, portrayed here in typically wooden fashion by Johnny Cash, primarily about Hallam's troubles after moving to a large city (Cincinnati). Hallam, a miner since 14 from the Coal Fields sector of Western Kentucky in Muhlenberg County, has no choice but to leave his country home when his young daughter requires spinal surgery in the Ohio metropolis, paid with cash in advance obtained from the sale of his property after his wife's death. He pits his native intelligence and work ethic against the problem of not being able to read or write, and discovers that in order to support himself and his two children, he must become literate; scenes involving the methods used in developing his new skills are the most engrossing of the production. Brenda Vaccaro plays Marion Galucci, vice-principal of the high school that Jesse's son Ted attends, doing her best with an underwritten role as Hallam's mentor, and one must appreciate the spirited performance of veteran Eli Wallach as her father Sal, employer and sponsor of the erstwhile coal miner. Adequately helmed by television director Gary Nelson, the work's stature rises from fine camerawork by Gayne Rescher, while Cash sings several appropriate songs on a sound track that features some excellent instrumental performances, including deft banjo work by Oscar Scruggs.

I saw this many years ago when it originally came out. This may not be a Johnny Cash concert, but it is an extremely good movie which stars him. I'm sorry the previous 2 people did not enjoy it, but it sounds like they weren't looking for a movie, but instead a concert or biography of this man. This isn't misleading advertising at all... it is a video of the MOVIE entitled The Pride of Jesse Hallam. It's about a man who is illiterate and his family and how they cope after his wife dies. It goes through this man's experiences of learning to read among other things. It is an amazing movie. Judge it on what it is instead of what it is not.

EXCELLENT! This is a very warm movie, one that should be shown at public schools. No, it's not a concert or biography, rather it is a movie about a grown man (Cash) who never learned to read/write & stumbles thru life without admitting it. Watch this one with your family. Cash was made for this part, and plays it naturally.

This was a good movie with a great message. Starring the man in black himself, Johnny Cash. The acting by Cash is great and the story is great. A must see for the entire family.

You know Johnny Cast as a legendary County artist but he can present a performance like no other in The Pride of Jesse Hallam. It's a story of a man with his two children trying to make it in Cincinnati. The main problem of Jesse is being illiterate. This is where Brenda Vaccaro steps in to give Jesse a chance to succeed. Eli Wallach did a wonderful job as Sal. Johnny Cash delivers in this made for TV movie from the early 1980s.

The Pride of Jesse Hallam

Dew ewe reed? Kan u reed? Johnny Cash plays an illiterate father in this drama. If you like Johnny and education and social issues and romance and decent acting, you owe it to yourself to experience this story. It provides great insight on the necessity of the ability to READ. I can't count the number of times I've urged friends and co-workers to view it. I mailed a copy to my younger son, who works with detainees in prison; many are there because of illiteracy issues and the social / cultural impoverishment resulting from illiteracy. I figured that they might feel a connection with the man Johnny plays; at least Johnny will keep their attention !! "Enjoy the viewing, and celebrate YOUR ability to read !!"

I wanted to buy a tape of johnny cash, this one said VHS and has a picture of a tape beside it. Now I read the above review and this customer says this isn't even a video, like it appears to be. That is not right to do people that way. I was ordering this for my friend, who is dieing of cancer. He wanted to watch anything with johnny cash, this was a gift I was trying to get him. Thank God I didn't order it and it not even be what it appears to be, a tape! Please, would someone fix this problem? When a person orders, it should be very clear what they are going to get in the mail. In my case, my friend doesn't have long to wait. S.D.