Desc: The Pride of Jesse Hallam: Directed by Gary Nelson. With Johnny Cash, Brenda Vaccaro, Ben Marley, Eli Wallach. Jesse Hallam, an illiterate coal miner from Kentucky, moves to Cincinnati so that his daughter may receive spinal surgery. Determined to support his family in the city, he decides he must learn how to read and write as an adult, and resolves to graduate from high school.