Upends nearly every convention of the traditional western. Its eponymous hero (Sterling Hayden) is a sensitive soul who wields only six strings, not a six-shooter. Johnny becomes an unwitting spectator in an Arizona cattle town’s internal squabble over whether to allow a railroad to pass through its limits, and the citizens who oppose the symbol of coming civilization are portrayed as ignorant and trigger-happy. And contrary to the panoramas for which the genre is known, the vast majority of the film occurs indoors, using the restricted settings to concentrate focus on the characters’ psychological states.
The biggest aberration of the film is that its conflict, propelled by belligerent men seeking to prevent the railroad from coming to town, actually revolves around the psychosexual war between two women. The first, Vienna (Joan Crawford), owns a saloon she intends to convert into a tourist attraction by erecting an adjoining train depot. Crawford brings all her steel to the character, who’s introduced in a black blouse and slacks with a sickly green tie, immediately looking more dangerous than any of the men who come to destory her, and her sardonic smiles are so sharp they could etch glass.
Vienna becomes the repository of the entire town’s hatred for her insistence on building the depot, but her true nemesis is Emma Small (Mercedes McCambridge), a sexually repressed firebrand who resents Vienna, in part for the woman’s relationship with an outlaw, The Dancin’ Kid (Scott Brady), whom Emma secretly loves. Aptly described by film critic B. Ruby Rich as “both a witch and witch hunter, ” Emma finds her only emotional outlet in the war she manipulates the town into waging with Vienna.
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Still feels radical. Its subverted norms of genre and gender are rendered in vivid images that sear themselves into the brain: Johnny and Vienna standing against a painted sky; Vienna meeting a posse primed to kill her while dressed in virginal white, a statement of silent protest; Emma riding away from Vienna’s burning saloon and turning to the camera with one of the most savage, wild-eyed grins in cinematic history. The film also contains one of the most tender moments in any western, in which Johnny’s taciturn façade breaks down and he begs Vienna to lie to him and tell him that she still loves him. Her acquiescence, delivered with a stony poker face, is bitter succor.
On a serviceable Blu-ray in 2012, but their new 4K remaster easily outpaces that release as the definitive home-video edition of Nicholas Ray’s film. The Trucolor images lack the stability of better processes like VistaVision or Technicolor, but the Blu-ray maximizes the hallucinatory colors of the costumes and backgrounds to the extent that even the hazy images look significantly sharper. For the first time, you can even see the dust gathered on everyone’s clothes. Most importantly, Olive presents the film in its correct 1.66:1 ratio, instead of the full-frame of the prior release. Audio is similarly strong, with stable dialogue levels and well-balanced music.
The prior release’s only feature, an introduction by Martin Scorsese, is ported over, and along with it come a host of new extras. Critic Geoff Andrew provides an informative commentary track that breaks down Ray’s idiosyncratic visual style and the film’s production. A group of critics—Miriam Bale, B. Ruby Rich, Kent Jones, and Joe McElhaney—appear in two separate video packages that tackle the film from two different perspectives, one on the film’s bucking of genre traits and the other on the question of its feminism. One featurette, “Tell Us She Was One of You, ” explores the film’s relation to the Hollywood blacklist (exiled writer Ben Maddow had to give credit to colleague Philip Yordan), and it even interviews one of the last surviving members of that blacklist, Walter Bernstein, to give an idea of what it was like to suffer the wrath of the House Un-American Activities Committee. There’s also a brief overview of Republic Pictures, the B-movie studio that released
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Producer Chris Sievernich and actor Tom Farrell about working with Ray toward the end of his life. Finally, the disc comes with a trailer and a booklet containing an essay by Jonathan Rosenbaum, a longtime champion of the film.
Olive Films kicks off its Signature line in style with an essential update of one of their early Blu-rays, presenting Nicholas Ray’s acid western in all its visual splendor.
Cast: Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes Mccambridge, Scott Brady, Ward Bond, Ernest Borgnine, John Carradine Director: Nicholas Ray Screenwriter: Philip Yordan Distributor: Olive Films Running Time: 110 min Rating: NR Year: 1954 Release Date: September 20, 2016 Buy: Video
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Since 2001, we've brought you uncompromising, candid takes on the world of film, music, television, video games, theater, and more. Independently owned and operated publications likeStarring: Joan Crawford, Mercedes McCambridge, Sterling Hayden Director: Nicholas Ray Released: 1954 Mood: If you love classic movies and badass women and had no idea there was a powerful Joan Crawford Western but now that you know you desperately need to see it. “I never seen a woman who was more a man. She acts like one, thinks like one, and sometimes makes me feel like I’m not.”
The title came up on a list of Westerns with strong female roles – which are hard to find, especially among the older movies. A classic Western with a genuinely female-driven story? I couldn’t wrap my head around it, but I was here for whatever it might be.
And what it is, is a brilliant Revisionist Western – flipping traditional Western roles to depict not just one but TWO strong women commanding a town full of men. At the same time, it uses the Western setting to comment on themes like feminism, blacklisting, sexuality, persecution, and mob mentality – it’s HUGE.
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’ is the name of a male character and not either of the two leading ladies… but you could only push 1950s audiences so far.
‘s story has all of the aforementioned messages, but it doesn’t get too hard on your brain because it uses a relatively simple framework.
You’ve got a tough, pro-railroad saloon owner named Vienna (Joan Crawford) on the outskirts of an Arizona town. And you’ve got a righteous cattle rancher named Emma (Mercedes McCambridge) who will stop at nothing to keep the railroad out of town, destroy Vienna’s business, and to see her hang.
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Emma has her pack of local ranchers up in arms, making repeated attempts to drive Vienna out by trying to pin a stage robbery on her. Vienna fights hard for her saloon despite Emma’s antics plus two distracting former lovers: the Dancin’ Kid (Scott Brady) and Johnny Guitar (Sterling Hayden).
But even though there’s a bit of romance and it’s deliciously smart writing, the movie doesn’t sacrifice on classic Western action – which seriously surprised me. You get shootouts, fist fights, horseback chases, attempted hangings, and a lot of characters die.
Was actually SO GOOD that I barely took any notes and didn’t play with my phone. I couldn’t look away. And much of that credit goes to Joan Crawford.
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Her passion and emotional range are intense and terrifying. You’re afraid to look away from those flashing eyes, like losing that staring contest could cost you your life. There is no question that she commands the room, and it’s just perfect for Vienna’s HBIC character. I fully bought that every man in that Arizona town would bow to her will.
And yet, in her scenes with young Turkey (Ben Cooper) you see glimpses of softness. Not a total weeping 180 – that wouldn’t fit her character. What Crawford evokes is a softness long since buried inside, out of necessity to survive and succeed in a man’s world.
Which is, of course, what she herself did as an actor. She was notorious for putting her career first, and working tirelessly to be the star that she needed to be and then some.
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I wish I could be all cool and say I’m a diehard fan of Crawford’s work, but I had honestly never seen one of her films until
I’d obviously heard of her, who hasn’t? But her enthralling performance here prompted me to do some research, and now I’m disappointed to realize that all I ‘knew’ – all most people know – of Crawford is the bizarre “No wire hangers!” villain that wasn’t actually her. That was Faye Dunaway PLAYING Crawford in a movie made from her adopted daughter’s memoir.
If, like me, you thought Crawford was that shrieking monster favoured by drag queens, I HIGHLY recommend this article that dives deep into Crawford’s decades of hard work, dedication to her career, and professionalism – and how it was ruined by that memoir.
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Mercedes McCambridge does a damn fine job as Vienna’s repressed rival. Her reason for hating Vienna is a bit disappointing (of course it’s about a man), but it’s also highly realistic. We’ve all been there. McCambridge radiates a shameful longing and fiery hatred that reach biblical levels in her epic monologue to her lynch mob.
On that note – you can find all kinds of dirt on the making of Johnny Guitar,
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