Johnny Guitare

Johnny Guitar is a great western that's emotional, thrilling and subversive, skillfully subverting some of the conventions of a western. Joan Crawford and Sterling Hayden both give incredible performances and have strong chemistry. Scott Brady is great but unfortunately Mercedes McCambridge's one dimensional character is annoying. Nicholas Ray's direction is great, its extremely well paced and well filmed. The music by Victor Young and Peggy Lee is fantastic.

Weird and hysterical Western with Freudian touches , dreamlike emotionalism and magnificent dialogue in which is blended domination, humiliation and a deadly confrontation ; resulting to be a fascinating and melodramatic film .The ex-prostitute Vienna (Joan Crawford) , a Gambling Saloon keeper, has built a saloon outside of town, and she wishes to make her own way once the railroad is put through, but the villagers want her run out of town and some of them hanged . Meanwhile the stagecoach is attacked and four men , Dancin' Kid (Scott Brady) and his hoodlums( Brian Cooper, Ernest Borgnine, Royal Dano) come to the saloon . Righteous Vienna stands strong against them, and is aided by the appearance of a gun-toting old flame of hers, Johnny Guitar (Sterling Hayden), who is not what he seems. As Vienna can't drive Guitar out of her head . Meantime the officials (Frank Ferguson , War Bond) pursue the group led by Dancin' Kid and besiege their booth and occurs a lynch mobs . At the ending takes place a long-expected shootout between the two-fisted enemies averted by a woman's insistence.

Love and hate are woven into two protagonists , the fallen angel Joan Crawford and the spinster landowner Mercedes McCambridge ; both of them share a mythical confrontation . Exceptional performances by all casting as top-notch Joan Crawford as gutsy matriarch squabbling over two men , Sterling Hayden as pacifist saddle-tramp who turns a psychopathic temper taking up his pistols and Mercedes McCambridge as nasty and vengeful harpy . Sensational plethora of secondaries as John Carradine , Paul Fix , Rys Williams , among others. Colorful cinematography with a symbolist use in Trucolor by Harry Stradling. Classic and immortal musical score by Victor Young , including unforgettable songs by Peggy Lee . This hypnotic Western with symbolism rampant is marvelously directed by Nicholas Ray , author of various master pieces and hits as Rebel without cause , 55 days at Pekin and many others . Rating : Very good , exceptional and indispensable seeing . Two thumbs up

Boy this is a jewel, and for many different reasons. A good lot of people deserve credit for their work

First is Nicholas Ray for his direction. A fine preparation and presentation of the visual elements really took some doing. The use, but not excessive glorification (thank goodness), of the relatively new Trucolor is well-done; the horses full of black-clad riders rushing up the rocky hill in the night, the many shots of the furious blazes dissolving Vienna's place, and so much more.

The acting is remarkable. Sterling Heyden, just in standing before the camera and delivering his lines in that firm and fearless manner (ala Asphalt Jungle), is a strong presence. John Carradine once again shows himself as the precious dramatist he proved himself to be many years before in The Grapes of Wrath.

What strikes me the most, though, is Ben Maddow's (thank Phillip Yordan for being an heroic front) screenplay. It is not only thick in theme and symbolism, it is thick with what was (at the time) almost unprecedented elements. Both Vienna and Emma are, as either GOOD or BAD, shown as the leaders of men! Pacifism is being shown as a good thing! Is that the good guys wearing black and the bad guys wearing white (or maybe the other way around)?! As many comments have mentioned, the Un-American Activities Committee parallels (complete with the entire Ox-Bow-esquire element) are, really, quite thinly veiled. The economically powerful, Small and McIver, are dominant and monopolistic capitalists (a version of antagonism almost unseen, for obvious reasons, since the McCarthey-assaulted Force of Evil). Remember, this is 1954!!!! This stuff is downright revolutionary! How did they ever get it all past the censors and masters of the code?

Let's hope time doesn't forget this one in favor of some formulaic shoot-'em-ups simply because they feature "the Duke."

The railroad is coming soon to a town in northern Arizona where a tough saloon owner (Joan Crawford) faces off with a power-mad cattle baron (Mercedes McCambridge) over the Dancin' Kid (Scott Brady) and more. Into this mix Johnny Guitar (Sterling Hayden) rides into town, a former love of the saloon proprietor. Who will be left standing when the ashes settle?

"Johnny Guitar" (1954) is melodramatic to the point of being surreal, not to mention implausible, but it's colorful, passionate, original and spellbinding. It's a Tarantino Western 40 years before Tarantino movies existed. The director, Nicholas Ray, also did "Rebel Without a Cause" (1955) so imagine that kind of overwrought 50's melodrama translated to a Western, albeit in glorious color.

Despite the title, Crawford's Vienna is the undoubted protagonist counterbalanced by McCambridge's fiendishly neurotic antagonist, who might bring to mind the Wicked Witch of the West.

Interesting quirky bits are thrown in that enhance the picture, like the A-framed saloon built into the side of a cliff; Vienna's piano recital in a bridal dress; and Old Tom (John Carradine) reading a book while on guard duty. Then there's the mystery of why no one in the area would be aware of the secret passageway behind the waterfall that leads to the "hideout" curiously located on top of a rock mount plain for all to see.

I shouldn't fail to mention Ernest Borgnine as a gang member of questionable character.

The film runs 1 hour, 50 minutes, and was shot in the Sedona region of north-central Arizona, including Oak Creek Canyon, with studio stuff done at Republic Studios in North Hollywood.

GRADE: A-

Director Nicholas Ray and credited writer Philip Yordan, not to mention a few other writers drafted in to prevent a disenchanted Joan Crawford from walking off the set, have succeeded in transforming what Ray himself called a 'valueless novel' into what can only be described as an unique filmic experience.

It remains a load of nonsense of course but is elevated by Harry Stradling's cinematography, Ray's compositional sense and a strong cast. The contrast between the natural exteriors and the mannered art direction of the interiors is also very effective.

It has since been categorised by various academics as a 'feminist' film. Looking at the mannish, gun-toting Vienna of Joan Crawford and the sexually repressed, vengeance-seeking Emma of Mercedes McCambridge, I consider that label to be totally inapt. Both artistes are marvellous in their roles however and the most has been made of Miss Crawford's wonderfully expressive eyes but it is the demented performance by the immensely talented Miss McCambridge that provides the film's core.

That core should really have been provided by the relationship between Vienna and the title character but this is alas something of a damp squib. Although Sterling Hayden's presence is undeniable he again has the look of a reluctant performer who'd prefer to be elsewhere.

Strong support from Ward Bond whilst Ernest Borgnine impresses once more as a Neanderthal nitwit. Veteran John Carradine does his best with the underwritten role of Old Tom and the role of Dancin' Kid represents Scott Brady's finest hour, although that would not be difficult.

Although it has become a must for Ray cultists the film had a mixed reception as it was not the full-blown Western that film goers expected in the Hollywood of the 1950's. It was very much appreciated by the French who probably did not class it as a Western at all and it received the seal of approval from the New Ripple brigade.

Westerns have often been called 'horse operas' and they don't come much more operatic than this one. Mr. Ray hit the nail on the head when later referring to his film as 'baroque, very baroque.'