Johnny Guitar

Director: Nicholas Ray, Herbert J. Yates Nicholas Ray

Overview

One of the strangest westerns on record, Johnny Guitar has less in common with Zane Grey than it does with Sigmund Freud and Krafft-Ebbing. The title character, played by Sterling Hayden, is a guitar-strumming drifter who was once the lover of Arizona saloon-owner Vienna (Joan Crawford). Though her establishment doesn't make a dime, Vienna doesn't care because the railroad is going to come in soon, bringing a whole slew of thirsty new customers. This puts her at odds with bulldyke rancher Emma Small (Mercedes McCambridge), who doesn't want any new settlers on her land. Hating Vienna with a purple passion, Emma will do anything to drive her out of the territory...and even worse, Emma's got the law and the other ranchers on her side. Hoping to keep Emma at bay, Vienna hires Johnny Guitar, who unbeknownst to everyone else in town is a notorious gunslinger. But Johnny prefers to bide his time, waiting for Emma to strike before he makes his move. As a result, Vienna endures several life-threatening experiences, culminating with a feverish chase through the Arizona wilds with lynch-happy Emma and her minions in hot pursuit. According to most sources, the animosity between Joan Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge was quite real, added several extra dimensions to their scenes together. Director Nicholas Ray and screenwriter Philip Yordan stuff the film with so much sexual symbolism that one wonders why they left out a train going into a tunnel. Ms. Crawford's vivid red-and-blue wardrobe scheme was later appropriated by Ray for James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause--with equally stunning results. In addition to the stars, Johnny Guitar is well stocked with reliable supporting players, including Ernest Borgnine, Ben Cooper, Royal Dano (superb as a consumptive, book-reading hired gun) and Paul Fix.

Product Details

Release Date:	08/07/2012
UPC:	0887090044707
Original Release:	1954
Rating:	NR
Source:	Olive
Region Code:	1
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:50:00
Sales rank:	19,925

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Joan Crawford	Vienna
Mercedes McCambridge	Emma Small
Sterling Hayden	Johnny Guitar
Scott Brady	Dancin'Kid
Ward Bond	John McIvers
Ben Cooper	Turkey Ralston
Ernest Borgnine	Bart Lonergan
John Carradine	Old Tom
Royal Dano	Corey
Frank Ferguson	Marshal Williams
Paul Fix	Eddie
Rhys Williams	Mr. Andrews,Posse Member,Posseman
Ian MacDonald	Pete
Will Wright	Ned
John Maxwell	Jake
Robert Osterloh	Sam
Trevor Bardette	Jenks
Sheb Wooley	Posse Member
Denver Pyle	Posse Member
Clem Harvey	Posse Member
Frank Marlowe	Frank
Victor Young	Actor,Composer
Philip Yordan	Actor
Roy Chanslor	Actor
Howard Wilson	Actor
India Adams	Singer for Miss Joan Crawford
Bob Burrows	Posseman
Curley Gibson	Posseman
Rocky Shahan	Cowboy at Hanging
Jack Montgomery	Actor

Technical Credits

Philip Yordan

Roy Chanslor

Nicholas Ray	Director
Philip Yordan	Screenwriter
Theodore Lydecker	Special Effects,Special Effects
Herbert J. Yates	Producer,Director
Roy Chanslor	Screenwriter
Howard Wilson	Sound Effects,Sound/Sound Designer
T.A. Carman	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Few Westerns more obviously begged the question "What was the studio thinking?" than Nicholas Ray's brilliantly perverse Johnny Guitar. Ray had a knack for finding subversive subtexts in standard material, and on the surface Johnny Guitar's outlaws on the run, factions battling over a town's future, and love and betrayal among the tumbleweeds seem like the stuff of a typical Western. But in Johnny Guitar, nearly all the men are unwilling or afraid to fight, the action is dominated by two aggressive women who hate each other (but are also oddly drawn to each other), the title character is at once the lover and the employee of the female lead, and her arch-rival is driven to near-psychotic hatred and violence by unrequited affection for a handsome outlaw. Lust rules nearly everyone in this film, and in ways that generally fall outside the boundaries of mainstream Hollywood's sexual economy; one look at Joan Crawford's butch Western outfit, complete with string tie, should be enough to signal that this isn't an ordinary sagebrush shoot-'em-up. Ray plays this saga of unusual appetites in a hyper-emotional style against a broad and colorful backdrop, and the result feels more like an opera than a Western, as Martin Scorsese has pointed out. Throw in an allegory of 1950s anti-Communist blacklisting, the bold visual style, Victor Young's moody score, and the con brio performances of Crawford, Mercedes McCambridge, and Sterling Hayden and you have a unique movie that's fascinating and entertaining throughout.