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.

---

Plot Keywords:

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

---

Taglines:

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

---

Genres:

Comedy | Music

---

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 Corporation, 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.

---

Goofs

When The Big Bopper is playing on stage, a full band is heard playing but nobody else is on stage I.e. Nobody at the drum kit.

---

Quotes

Theo: Which one of y'all writes which song?
John Lennon: All the good ones are mine... He does the ones that are shit.
Paul McCartney: [laughing] Hilarious! "Number nine", really great.
John Lennon: "Yesterday"...
[Mumbling/singing/imitating Paul]
Paul McCartney: He writes the ones that are "Oh, there's no God, I'm a fucking asshole", and I write the ones that are beautiful and great, and he'll jump in with the "yeah, yeah, yeah"-
[Blows raspberry]
John Lennon: I write songs about peace and love, you write Sussudio.
Paul McCartney: [singing, imitating John] "Communism is the best, I'm a ...
[...]

---

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"

---

Alternate Versions

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

---

Connections

Spoofs Dirty Dancing (1987)

---

Soundtracks

You Don't Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show)
Written by John Glover and James Dean
Performed by John C. Reilly (as Dewey Cox) and Cheryl Tiegs
Produced by Michael Andrews

User Reviews

hilarious

I thought this was a brilliant satire of the biopic genre. It was obviously borrowed from Walk the Line, but there was plenty of other stuff thrown in as well. It was a truly hilarious movie, including the scenes where the band members convince him to try the drugs, a scene with the Beatles, the variety show stuff and interviews, all the scenes with the title character smashing the sinks, and the Walk the Line spoofs. It was very well written with lots of great dialog. You will love all the cameos and other stuff. I guarantee it. This was a tailor-made role for John C. Reilly, who is perfect in and for the part, as is just about everyone in it.

*** 1/2 out of ****