MY DARLING VIVIAN – Review

Authors and (especially) documentary filmmakers have long been fascinated (much as the general public) with the romances of the stars, namely what happens when the gods and goddesses of Hollywood, the modern Olympus, fall in love. Just a few weeks ago HBO premiered an excellent film on the life of actress Natalie Wood, with much of its running time devoted to her marriage(s) to “matinee idol’ Robert Wagner. Their coupling takes its place with other “tinsel town” teams like Bogie and Bacall, Gable and Lombard, and Taylor and Burton (yes, she was usually listed first). The same holds true in the music industry, and in this new film’s case, the country music kings and queens with Johnny Cash and June Carter very near the top of the list. Their story has already inspired an Oscar-winning “bio-pic” from 2005 WALK THE LINE. But often in the rush to tell these tales, the former flames, and even future spouses are ignored. This was illustrated a few years ago with the passing of beloved actor Gene Wilder. Social media was flooded with posts about how he and Gilda (Radnor) were finally reunited in the afterlife, brushing aside the fact that Gene had remarried after her passing, to a civilian (gasp) who helped him through his final years of illness. And, both had been married previously. This brings us back to “the man in black”. Before June there was his “non-showbiz” wife Vivian Liberto, who has been little more than a “footnote” in the Cash story. Now their four daughters have joined forces with some gifted filmmakers to offer an adoring portrait of the woman always referred to by Johnny in hundreds of love letters as MY DARLING VIVIAN.

Miss Liberto’s life is told through an extraordinary collection of treasured family photo albums, home movies, and incredible correspondence. Born in San Antonio Texas to a local woman and an Italian immigrant (almost right “off the boat”), her life changed as a teenager when a young man stationed at Brooks Air Force Base (they say purposely) bumped into her at a roller skating rink. Thus began an intense romance between her and young (only two years older) Johnny Cash. When he was stationed in Europe the two exchanged letters nearly every day (we see pages and pages of lined stationery filled with words of affection). Papa Liberto tried to discourage the two, but they made it to the altar in 1954, immediately packing the sedan to relocate to Memphis where Johnny Cash pursued his singing career. As he started recording albums, the two quickly began a family as they birthed four daughters: Rosanne, Kathy (barely a year later), Cindy, and Tara. From there it was on to “Californy” as Cash tried to become an actor. We view snippets of his TV work (he’s opposite Johnny Yuma, “The Rebel”) and his first feature film from 1961 FIVE MINUTES TO LIVE (often referred to as the more “fun” DOOR-TO-DOOR MANIAC). Time brought more fame along with more temptation as Cash drifted into the drug scene. But as Vivian stood by his side in court, his passions became directed towards a singer he shared the stage with on tour, June Carter of the famed Carter Family dynasty. The daughters became aware of the tension as the marriage dissolved. Vivian was the quartet’s main care-giver as Johnny “cleaned up his act”, married June, and attained greater stardom. As the limelight drifted away Vivian raised the girls into young women, as she became more prominent in the small Western town, and eventually remarried to Dick Distin, who managed his own security firm after years in local law enforcement. The two former spouses remained civil to each other during weddings and the birth of their grandchildren and rekindled a friendship in their last years after June’s passing in 2003. Johnny followed her that year while Vivian wrote an autobiography and died in 2005.

The daughters wistfully guide us through the delicate images from their family past, although the most famous of the four (and the only one to follow in Daddy’s footsteps) Rosanne is able to delve into real detail (the advantages of being the firstborn), For those of us who grew up watching Johnny’s hit weekly ABC-TV variety show in the early 70s its astounding to see him as a slender (he seemed a big burly black bear as he twirled around to say “I’m Johnny Cash” in the opening seconds of that program) young man barely out of his teens, the Air Force uniform (which was his wedding suit) swallowing him. And as with most 8mm home movies, those folks filmed move awkwardly, often stopping in their tracks to pose and painfully grimace. Ah, but what “flickering ghosts” are captured. Aside from Vivian shielding her eyes (movie lights then were bright and hot) we see members of the Cash back-up band along with pals like Sun Records’ Sam Phillips, Jerry Lee Lewis, and, what a min, is that the “King” himself? Thankfully the daughters dispel the myth that the kids can be kept “in the dark” when their folks start to strain at their wedding vows. Rosanne talks of becoming “little mother” to her youngest siblings as Vivian dealt with heartache and some serious health issues. One of her biggest struggles exposes the very ugly side of country music fandom. When drug dependency led to brief jail time in the mid-60s, photos were taken of Vivian (who stayed out of the limelight) with him outside of the courthouse. Due to recent hairstyle choice (a jet-black dye job) and her dark Italian skin tone, several newspapers screamed in headlines that “Johnny Cash had married and had a family with a Negress (their own ugly term)”. This in turn was followed by countless death threats (we see the crudely scribbled notes), record burnings, proposed boycotts, and eventually the public results of a medical DNA-style test (happily things have somewhat improved with many diverse acts on the ‘Opry’ stage). But Vivian could take care of herself as we hear in one of the lighter memories. With their home close to the desert she had to protect the girls from rattlers (“four blasts from her shotgun and it’s still slitherin’ up the driveway”). We hear of more examples of her courage as she was a newly single mother, gladly agreeing to visitations from her ex. The biggest post “dust-up” occurs when we see archival video clips of June with Mike and Merv getting big laughs by revealing that she’s “exhausted” raising seven kids (her two from her previous marriages, her son with Johnny along with his girls). Vivian quietly asked him to tell her to “tone it down” since it makes her appear to have little to do with the girls (something that her role the LINE movie, as played by Ginnifer Goodwin furthered). Happily, she seemed to find joy again in her marriage to Distin and her last moments with Johnny. But the most telling incident about her legacy occurs in a televised (well, mostly) network tribute to her first husband. In the video, some crowd shots are slowed down in order to pinpoint her in the audience, not in a special side balcony seat or in the front row, but rather in an aisle seat in the middle next to Distin. Rosanne’s first husband, singer Rodney Crowell acknowledges her from the stage and (after some brief applause) dedicates a song to her. But then the screen goes to a title card telling us that this was cut from the broadcast. The music industry had to keep the grand Johnny/June romance alive, even trying to bury any publicity for Vivian’s book “I Walked the Line”. But now her fascinating story is out there. For fans of one of country music’s true icons and for those who appreciate the real rollercoaster ride of a family, MY DARLING VIVIAN is a fascinating look at a woman who warrants her own celebration, not as a just “backstory”.

3 out of 4

MY DARLING VIVIAN opens at select theatres and is also available as a Video On Demand on most cable and satellite systems along with most streaming apps and platforms