Flicker
The frontier town of Red Butte has its history changed forever when an outsider rides through. Then with big sky landscapes, cowboys, a saloon, miners, a town marshal, sharpshooters, and a lynch mob, do we have a classic Western? You might think so, but there's just one thing: it's women who are calling the shots in Nicholas Ray's Johnny Guitar.
As boss of her own saloon bar, Joan Crawford stuns as Vienna, delivering her lines like silver bullets, flanked by the enigmatic Sterling Hayden as outsider Johnny Guitar, and Mercedes McCambridge as the intense and twisted small-town grandee, Emma Small. In lesser roles, Ben Cooper channels Cagney as Turkey, Ernest Borgnine is rotten Bart, and Scott Brady is Dancing Kid.
In this seriously underrated 1954 film, we are in the familiar territory of hero versus villain. But instead of the hero wearing a white Stetson hat, we have the hero in a white dress, and the villain in a black one. That is not mere casual experimentation with gender roles. In this genre-changing narrative, the action is wholly driven by two women whose sheer force of will power compels the men to follow their lead. Both Vienna and Emma are supremely competent businesswomen, equestrians, gunslingers, and confident public speakers - so much so that the men ultimately daren't cross them - unless goaded by the other woman.
As well as treating us to an iconic Arizona landscape and cracking dialogue, this Western confounds expectations in other ways too. For a start, its production company, Republic Pictures, had director Ray as investing co-producer, so he wasn't beholden to a big mogul unwilling to bankroll character development and visual symbolism. For Ray had had a tutor in playwright Thornton Wilder, whose influence can surely be felt - characters are stripped so bare as to reveal their unique, but basic, human predicament. Ray had also studied under Frank Lloyd Wright, and that influence is revealed in spacious and geometrically composed camera frames. But our real focus of attention is how and why mature and experienced cattlemen and townsmen, just being ordinary men, neither fey nor effeminate, would let themselves be out manoeuvred by a brave female's resolve. The men's acquiescence seems entirely due to female strength of personality appearing as a direct response to circumstance, and as such, the acquiescence does not carry with it a sense of weakness or being emasculated. It's a level playing field we are seeing - and this from a male director in the 1950s.
It's hugely moving to see any character who, in the face of death, calmly decides to withdraw her cash from the bank to pay her loyal men their wages, in case she's murdered. It's surprising, too, when that character undermines a shoot-out by using as armamentarium a command to help with breakfast. It's risky, it's funny, it's empowering, it's non-violent. It is fundamentally female, and contrasts sharply with stereotypically masculine, power-seeking provocation to violence.
The resolution and dramatic balance achieved at the end results from how adults contain their passions, male and female. A firecracker of a film.
jakob13
Nicholas Ray has taken a theme of America's expansion westward to the Pacific and brought us two strong women who embody landownership, cattle barons and the ever widening industrial revolution and urbanism that will challenge and ultimately vanquish older capitalist forms of power. Love is a theme but the women, Vienna played with nerve and steel by Joan Crawford and the impulsive Emma Small by Mercedes Cambridge overshadow the men in the film. And it's a duel in sun between the whore that made good as a bar girl and now has a title for land the railroad will develop and she will build a town on it, and Small the gun totting land and cattle baroness. is 'Johnny Guitar' a precursor of feminism? It's up to you to judge. Nonetheless, it's Crawford's finer hour.
utgard14
Although it's largely known today for its camp value (most of which is due to Joan Crawford), this wonderful film is so much more than something to snicker at. It's an intelligent, colorful western with a great cast and solid direction from Nicholas Ray. It's a story of a battle of wills between two women - - saloon owner Vienna (Joan Crawford) and rancher Emma (Mercedes McCambridge). Emma hates Vienna with a passion and intends to see her dead no matter what it takes. Brought into the struggle between these two is a gang of outlaws led by the Dancin' Kid (Scott Brady), a mob of 'upright citizens' led by rancher John McIvers (Ward Bond), and a guitar-playing gunslinger named -- you guessed it -- Johnny Guitar (Sterling Hayden).Joan Crawford does a fine job as Vienna. As with most of Crawford's later output, her performance is overshadowed by her looks and wardrobe. I'm as guilty as the next person of having a laugh at Joan but I try to keep in mind she was a great actress who, more often than not, delivered the goods. I see some reviewers referring to her performance here as hysterical or campy but I don't see that. She's pretty subdued by Crawford standards. This isn't Queen Bee or Torch Song. Mercedes McCambridge does an amazing job as Emma, almost to the point of making me uncomfortable while watching. Emma is a virulent character seething with hatred and, given the behind-the-scenes stories of how McCambridge really did hate Crawford, it makes you wonder where the line is blurred between the actress and her role. You definitely feel the tension between the two in all of their scenes. Of the rest of the cast, the other standout is Sterling Hayden. He's a wooden actor I'm not always a big fan of. He walks that fine line between bad and good that few actors pull off successfully. I will say that he gives one of his more charming turns here and it's possibly my favorite performance of his for that reason.The movie was filmed in Republic's Trucolor process and it looks fabulous. A lot's been written about this one over the years. There's certainly a great deal of symbolism and subtext for movie buffs to chew on. So it works on the level of giving you something to think about but it also works as simple entertainment. Nicholas Ray wanted to do a different kind of western than people were used to in 1954 and he certainly accomplished that. Definitely recommended, not just for western fans or fans of the actors, but for anyone who likes their movies to be both entertaining and smart. Oh and it served as partial inspiration for Once Upon a Time in the West. It warrants viewing for that alone.
blueglas-159-114603
Hello. My Mother took me to see the movie Johnny Guitar on my sixth birthday in 1954 at the Majestyk Theater in San Antonio, Texas. I remember many of the cast and the plot and within the last year caught the movie during the wee hours one night on TV. The movie theater was memorable as well, like I am still standing in it. Inside, it is a striking, pleasant 50's Mexican-deco with splashy, flashy swirls of colors including oranges, yellows on the walls and in the plush carpets throughout including the carpets on the stairs. The movie house is in the downtown district very near the Alamo. The whole event is engraved in my memory.
