Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007)

Singer Dewey Cox overcomes adversity to become a musical legend.

Director:

Jake Kasdan

Writers:

Judd Apatow, Jake Kasdan

Stars:

John C. Reilly, Jenna Fischer, David Krumholtz

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nat Faxon	...	Awards Show Stage Manager
John C. Reilly	...	Dewey Cox
Tim Meadows	...	Sam
Conner Rayburn	...	Dewey Age 8
Chip Hormess	...	Nate
Raymond J. Barry	...	Pa Cox
Terrence Beasor	...	Country Doctor
Margo Martindale	...	Ma Cox
Honeyboy Edwards	...	Old Bluesman (as David Honeyboy Edwards)
Gerry Black	...	Harmonica Player
Aron Johnson	...	Teenage Band
Jack Donovan Saperstein	...	Teenage Band (as Jack Saperstein)
Taylor Hubert	...	Teenage Band (as Taylor Jamison Hubert)
Christopher Hurt	...	Teenage Band
Matt Price	...	MC (Teacher)

Storyline

The up-and-down-and-up-again story of musician Dewey Cox, whose songs would change a nation. On his rock 'n roll spiral, Cox sleeps with 411 women, marries three times, has 36 kids, stars in his own 70s TV show, collects friends ranging from Elvis to the Beatles to a chimp, and gets addicted to - and then kicks - every drug known to man; but despite it all, Cox grows into a national icon and eventually earns the love of a good woman - longtime backup singer Darlene.

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Plot Keywords:

elvis presley character | paul mccartney character | john lennon character | george harrison character | woman on top | 

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Taglines:

Life made him tough. Love made him strong. Music made him hard.

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Genres:

Comedy | Music

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use and language

Details

Official Sites:

Dewey Cox - Unofficial Facebook 2015 Sony Pictures [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 December 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Walk Hard

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,257,174, 23 December 2007, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$18,317,151, 13 January 2008

Company Credits

Production Co:

Apatow Productions, Columbia Pictures, GH Three

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min 120 min (extended edition)

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Dewey Cox's audition, at which he sings Dean Martin's hit "That's Amore," is an in-joke reference to Elvis Presley. Elvis showed up at his audition for Sun Records wanting to sing like Dean Martin, but Sun owner Sam Phillips refused to record him until he and three members of the Sun house band started jamming on a blues song, Arthur Crudup's "That's All Right, Mama," which became Elvis' first record.

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Goofs

When Dewey's first wife is holding two babies telling him that he doesn't spend enough time with his kids, one of the babies is a doll.

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Quotes

Dewey Cox: You know what? Go ahead! Take the children, I don't care! All I need is my music. I don't need you.
Dewey Cox: [pointing to the babies] And I don't need *you*, and I don't need *you*, and I don't need *you*. You're just sitting there all high and mighty in your diaper. If anything, you need me, you're a baby.

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Crazy Credits

After the credits there is a black&white clip of Dewey Cox performing Walk Hard in 2002, with the words "The actual Dewey Cox"

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Alternate Versions

The extended version released on home video, "American Cox: The Unbearably Long Self-Indulging Director's Cut", runs at 2 hours long.

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Connections

Spoofs Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)

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Soundtracks

Starman
Written by David Bowie
Produced by Michael Andrews
Performed by John C. Reilly (as Dewey Cox)

User Reviews

Cal Naughton Jr. no longer finishing second

Oh yes this movie was funny. I didn't have many expectations, if any, of this movie, but it certainly delivered. I knew from the trailers and ads that the movie was going to parallel if not parody "Walk the Line", but there were also several references to "Ray". I would say one of the funniest references to "Ray" was Dewey Cox losing his sense of smell.

Initially it looked like the movie would be very cheesy with punchlines being telegraphed well ahead of time. But, even with the punchlines being blatantly set up, it was better to go with the transparent set up instead of the thinly veiled set ups that a lot of comedies use.

Interestingly enough there was not much profanity which made its usage that much funnier. Now, I certainly could've done without the male nudity, but maybe that was only in the unrated version. Even still, by and large John C. Reily held his own and the movie was terrific.