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Documentary maker recollects Johnny Cash

Robert Elfstrom wasn't yet 30 when he took a job documenting Nashville's main Man in Black for the film that would be Johnny Cash: The Man, His World, His Music.

"It was 1967 or '68, and I was a schmuck kid from Brooklyn who hadn't been exposed to a whole lot," said Elfstrom, now 69 and still working in the documentary world. "The first concert I went to, I couldn't believe what was happening onstage. And then I met him, and he was completely unpretentious. I said, 'Boy, this is too good to be true.' And that was the beginning."
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Director/cinematographer Elfstrom, sound man Alan Dater and producer Roy Herkin then followed Cash onstage and off, even traveling to witness Cash return to his boyhood home of Dyess, Ark., for the first time in years. The resulting documentary will air at 9 p.m. Tuesday on WNPT-Channel 8, and it may see a theatrical re-release in the future. Elfstrom, who works regularly on PBS series including NOVA, American Masters and Frontline, spoke with The Tennessean about his experiences with Cash.

Each time I was around Cash, I was struck by his charisma, which was completely unique and very strong. Was that in evidence when you were around him?

Always, all the time. That aura wasn't just there when he went on stage. After we made this film, he asked to make another film with him, called Gospel Road, and we were thrust together for well over a year. That film was shot in Israel. I remember sitting in my room at night, talking with him about what we were going to shoot the next day, and Johnny Cash would be sitting there in his pajamas, and he had it even then. That's not to say that he wasn't open, or that he had to always be "on," because it came natural for him.

Cowboy Jack Clement talks a lot about Cash's humor, which is in contrast to the image a lot of people have of him as being a dark, serious character.

Absolutely, we laughed all the time. We laughed at situations, and at some things that were off-color, but mostly he was great at making fun of himself.

One of the more poignant scenes in the film, to me, was the trip to Dyess. Do you remember much about that day?

Yes, and almost everything I saw in Dyess is in the film. We weren't there more than a couple of hours, if that. First, we stopped at the house where he grew up, and whatever emotions he had at the time, it was all right there. He went from the house and wandered out in the cotton fields. He was happy in one sense, but my feeling was that it was bringing back some memories that were upsetting to him, as well.

Do you think the film altered the public's perception of Cash at all?

Really, it's only in the last few years that people have rediscovered it, and it wasn't a great, popular film at all. It did get good reviews, and the reviewers loved that it was all shot hand-held except for some of the concert footage, and that none of it was really directed. It was all very real. I do think that at the time, Johnny Cash's audience was crossing over from strictly a country-western audience, and that people outside of country were having this epiphany of, "Oh my God, this is great stuff." So at that level, I think the film was an eye-opener to people. The whole time, I felt honored to be there, and amazed that a fellow like me could be in a position to do something like that. If I had to shoot that film today, I probably couldn't do it as well. I wouldn't have the spontaneity, because I'd be more careful about some of the technical aspects.

What was your time with Cash like when you weren't shooting?

His mind was working on many levels, and it was clear that you were in the presence of a real artist. But over the years, it sometimes became hard for me to be with him. I'm not a big shot, just a documentarian. And here I'm around a guy who says, "Let's go out to dinner," but if we go to the restaurant then there are going to be 15 times he'll be asked to get up, pose for photographs and sign autographs. That was the price he paid, and he never said "No" to anybody. So sometimes we wouldn't see each other for long stretches, and then all of a sudden he'd send some airline tickets to go to his place in the Caribbean there and just hang out. He'd get a metal detector and I'd have a shovel, and we'd go around digging stuff up. I think he liked those kinds of days.

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P.O.V. - Johnny Cash: The Man, His World, His Music | PBS

Documentary maker recollects Johnny Cash | www.tennessean.com | The Tennessean