ReMastered: Tricky Dick and the Man in Black

It's a one hour Documentary on NETFLIX. So what? It's the story of what, to me, was an under reported event at a time when, in my lifetime, America had never been so divided.

For a number of years, the Country had been at War in Viet Nam but, unlike World War Two and Korea, was rapidly becoming divided between the Pro-War and Anti-War Factions. This resulted in often violent demonstrations around America.

Meanwhile, there were further Demonstrations associated with The Civil Rights Movement that, often as well, involved division and violence.

Today, when I hear that 'America has never been so divided,' I'm puzzled.

So...what does this have to do with 'Tricky Dick and The Man in Black'? To me...after seeing it. Everything.

Pat Buchanan has a voice in this. Isn't that enough to tell you this production was pointless? Nixon was a paranoid, vindictive a-hole, and good ole Christian Pat was a chief advisor. Surprised yet?

Johnny Cash was great. His family and closest colleagues tell us how great he was in the most hyperbolic terms possible. Are you now surprised?

Guess what. You're more than halfway through the production and nothing has happened thus far.

This was an exercise in futility. Not interesting. Unsurprising. Tedious. Perhaps another ReMastering is in order.

Footage used in the show wasn't actually as it happened, the performance isn't the one Nixon saw, and witness accounts are fuzzy. Warm story but have to ask what is truth?

Like many Cash admirers,today I chiefly listen to his final masterpieces ,produced by Rubin (the "American " series, eight works , all deeply moving and poignant.)

This doc is absorbing ,because, before the famous concert in the White House, it shows both sides of a country torn apart between the conservatives and the angry youth who took to the streets and was mistreated (some were killed) by the police .It's difficult to pinpoint Cash's attitude in these days : a patriot to the core , who supported any president's politics but who had a rebellious mind too : his concerts in jail and his fight for the Indians leave not doubt about it (as his "Apache tears "album testifies) . And to this list of honors, one can add another one: he refused to sing the mediocre reactionary " Okie from Muskogee" -which Phil Ochs ironically performed in his last concert in Carnegie Hall -and wrote a song I had never heard before ("What is truth?" ) : it took a lot of nerve and bravery to sing such words which was not really those people in their Sunday's best 's cup of tea. This song should be considered a Cash classic.

Cash ,like of most of the great artists ,was a man of contradictions ; aren't we a bit like him?

Cash is okay in all sequences, but the gossip around, always ready to explain the "good" side of politics. Ironically, the Nixon adviser is the most decent, and the "biographer" is the most disgusting. After all the Cash family was poor, but he will feel the need to explain how they had no hope without FDR giving them government handouts.