Gospel Road: A Story of Jesus

In all of the films I have seen, this has to be the single most beautiful rendition of the story of Jesus I have ever witnessed. If you can look past the bad wardrobe, effects and the Scandinavian Jesus, you will see a portrait of a man sent straight from heaven to give life to a fallen world. The music is touching, the narration is humble and moving, and the old King James translation of the Bible comes to life in the land of Israel.

Modern audiences might not be able to see the wonder of the story in such a low-budget rendering, but again I'd encourage anyone, believers and atheists, to watch it with a child's eyes. If a person can suspend his or her disbelief for a while, I think this movie has the power to change a person's life.

I was surprised to find out how old this film was (came out in 1973) at the time I first watched it with my next-door neighbor (either in October or November of 2014) who checked it out of the library.

Since both Johnny Cash and his wife, June, have been gone for several years, I knew that it wasn't made all that recently, but I was thinking that it was made sometime in the time period of the mid 1980s to sometime early in the 21st Century.

Anyway, I found it to be so moving that I would like to buy my own personal copy of it as soon as I'm able to afford to do so.

This movie makes Jesus very real instead of portraying Him as some kind of one or two dimension paper doll acting out living like a human being without really being one.

This was a blond-haired and blue-eyed Jesus, but that didn't take away from His real-ness, because His actions were so genuine (for example, how He related to kids -- like a little boy in a man's body in some ways while still playing a guiding role to them).

Jesus knew that, more likely than not (by some slim chance that the cup that He was to bear got removed from the direction of His life), He wouldn't live long enough to grow His first gray hair and that how He would die would be horrible, so He put as much life as He could into a short period of time.

I won't spoil it for you by telling you how, but I'm going to say that the message that Jesus died for people who hadn't even been born yet was presented in such a way that -- even as I sit here now -- I can feel goosebumps being raised on me.

I'm not a religious person but I am a fan of Johnny Cash. Recently watched this movie on television one day from start to end and I enjoyed it. While it didn't convert me, I could appreciate the passion that Cash and others had for the project and respect them for it. Certainly found it more enjoyable than The Passion of the Christ. The fact that the lead was blonde did not matter to me as it does to some people here. If Jesus existed, its irrelevant what he looked like and only his message should matter. If you have an interest in Johnny Cash, then I think you owe it to yourself to give the movie a go, just to see what gave him strength in this life.

Johnny and June Carter Cash financed this film which is a traditional rendering of the Gospel stories. The music is great, you get a real feel of what the world of Jesus looked like (I've been there too), and June gets into the part of Mary Magdalene with a passion. Cash's narration is good too.

But....

1. The actor who played Jesus was miscast. 2. There is no edge to the story like Cash puts in some of his faith based music. 3. Because it is uncompelling, I doubt we'll see this ever widely distributed again.

I'd love to buy the CD.

Tom Paine Texas, USA

I played the role of Andrew the Apostle in this movie. I'd just like to say how amazing Johnny Cash was as the producer, and often times the director. Bob Elfrstrom played Jesus, and also directed, but mostly Johnny gave us direction in each scene.

We, the ones acting as the Apostles, walked behind Bob, our Jesus, in Jericho, and in every shot that Johnny and Bob found for us. June Carter was there as Johnny's confident and constant companion

I know many critics hated this movie. They didn't like Johnny's pick for Jesus, they thought our Judas was too type cast. But had they been there, they would have seen Johnny's amazing passion and his kindness.

We actors worked 12 hours a day on the set. We helped carry props, we helped push trucks out of the sand and set up scenes. And Johnny took care of us. He invited us to Thanksgiving dinner, and to a final wrap up party in Tiberias. At the end, I think the bad acting is our fault, but none of us were actors. We were a bunch of travelers he found in Jerusalem, and he made it work.

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