Ten years after Johnny Cash’s death, filmmaker Jonathan Holiff releases his documentary, My Father and the Man in Black, a film he wrote, directed and produced about his father Saul, Cash’s longtime manager. The film, now in limited release in theaters and on VOD, chronicles Saul Holiff’s life in the 60s and 70s through letters, audio diaries and recorded phone calls with Cash. It’s the story of a man who grew up in Ontario, Canada, and managed June Carter and The Carter Family along with Cash. Saul sent June out on tour with Johnny, he got Cash’s name plastered across marques throughout America and Canada, he set up Cash’s tour dates and took the heat when the singer-songwriter canceled shows. His life was consumed with Cash.

Jonathan—who followed his father into the entertainment business, first working in music PR, then as a producer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and later as the founder of an L.A.-based entertainment-marketing agency—made a movie that offers a behind-the-scenes look at Cash’s life and Saul’s career. He charts the singer’s rise from playing rodeos to his pill-fueled darker days to his legendary concerts at Folsom and San Quentin to his wedding to June Carter and stardom in Nashville in the 1970s. It also depicts his father’s rise as a promoter and manager, Saul’s decent into alcoholism and his startling decision, in 1973, to quit working with Cash when the star was in his prime. Jonathan’s film is about the relationship he had (or didn’t have) with his often-absent father who was frequently away on tour with Cash. He reveals the rocky partnership between the two men—years of triumphs, betrayals, resignations, and reconciliations. Jonathan’s personal feelings toward his father color the film, but his perspective is a refreshing look at the star and his manager as two fallible people who ultimately created the Johnny Cash persona.

By Elizabeth Varnell

 

Pictured: Saul Holiff, Johnny Cash and June Carter in 1966.
Photo Courtesy of The Saul Holiff Collection

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