atroylen
This movie had a personal EFFECT upon me. my husband - at the time was named John - but we called him Johnny because he was the baby of the family. As my mature husband - he was a "traveling employee for Avildson Tool Corp, - (Yes, the same Alvidson that won an Academy Rewardfor "Rocky") I played piano at the time - I started lessons at age six - It was after many years that I was was married to Johnny . I played mostly classical music. Chopin was my favorite - Etudes an Nocturnes. I saw the film - "}Johnny Guitar" and was very intrigued with especially with Mercedes' Cambridge part. But, of course - the fiery passion between Joan Crawford and Sterling - oh , well - we know how that goes.The song also got into my guts and I had to learn how to play it, AND I did ! My version was very good . from piano to forte. A crescendo from start to finish. It exemplified the two main characters - Joan Crawford and Sterling Haden.
treywillwest
I first saw this in film-grad school and didn't like it. I knew it was beloved by man cineasts but I just couldn't get over how artificial and over-the-top it was. I rewatched it recently and thought it fantastic! A bizarre experience, this film at once seems a work of genius and "so bad its good". Its allegorical critique of McCarthyism is spot-on and politically on-point. The gender-dynamic is one-of-a-kind. Both the main protagonist and antagonist are women, perhaps singular for a western of its era. Even yet, however, I can't call any work feminist that contains the following dialogue: "She hates him because he's the only man who ever made her feel like a woman, and she can't stand that!" The, um, operatic story is undeniably involving, if also ridiculous.
msmith-87318
Many people just think of this as simply a fantastic western movie, I mean it must have had a big distribution deal because it had huge box office takings world wide. But I think there is more depth to this movie than just that, I think the music that went along with it was truly amazing. I really like the pace at which the action in this movie plays out. The screen writers did a fantastic job is writing the script for the film also.I can't rate this film enough, I gate it 8 out of 10, maybe there were moments that could have been better but there are not many. Credits go out to all of the cast stand out performances from each one of them.Watch this film you will not be disappointed.
Scott44
***User reviewer JohnRouseMerriottChard ("You're nothing but a railroad tramp who's not fit to live amongst decent people", JohnRouseMerriottChard from United Kingdom, 6 November 2010) and CitizenCaine ("Nicholas Ray Ahead Of His Time With Shakespearean Western", CitizenCaine from Las Vegas, Nevada, 23 December 2011) both compare Johnny Guitar to the McCarthy hearings. Telegonus ("Color, Color, Everywhere!", telegonus from brighton, ma, 9 September 2002) also has a nice summary.***Johnny Guitar (1954, Nicholas Ray), is a rare, barrier-breaking cult film which is interpreted very differently among viewers. Two traditional paradigms of the western genre are thrown away. The first is male patriarchy. Here the two strongest, most influential characters are the perpetually bickering females. Another excised paradigm is the power that the most skilled gunfighter has over a community. In this western landscape, mob rule is the most powerful force, and the decisions made by women are usually obeyed.The label "camp" is frequently used to describe it. "Guitar" has moments that clearly comment on transgenderism, gay men and lesbians. Vienna (Joan Crawford), a former prostitute who has (somehow) become a casino builder and proprietor, spends money (i.e., what were once called "Dollars" convertible to gold) freely. Her roulette wheel croupier (Paul Fix) describes her as "more of a man than a woman." Crawford's appearance is odd. In every scene she wears a lot of bright red lipstick and mascara--even after a swim. To many viewers she represents either a trans-gender or a butch lesbian. "Guitar" makes only a single obvious reference to lesbianism, when the steely, well-armed Vienna descends the staircase in her casino and pauses when her crotch is in the line of sight of her arch rival Emma Small (Mercedes McCambridge). Emma's face noticeably registers euphoria, quite unlike how she appears a few minutes later when she reluctantly dances with the Dancin' Kid (Scott Brady). Moving to the Kid, he seems to swing both ways. Late in the film, he and Johnny Guitar (Sterling Hayden) are hiding out in the same cabin. While goading the other man, the Dancin' Kid is suggestively leaning against a wall, his body-language making a pass. Overall, the appearance of (brief but persistent) gay subtexts is surprising considering "Guitar" was first seen during an era when such ideas were largely suppressed from popular culture. A matriarchy is in place. Emma and Vienna don't merely control the men who are nearby, they emasculate them. Emma, one of the most spiteful females in cinema, destroys any perception of conviction in (Ward Bond's) John McIvers; she manipulates the posse leader very easily. Despite Johnny Guitar's reveal as a formidable gunman, Vienna still (literally) calls the shots in their partnership. The central premise that the toughest male would rather carry a guitar instead of a gun (i.e., a more obvious phallus) solidifies the stature of women. The characters are in conflict because of the expected arrival of the railroad. However, this is not a western community that works out its differences at church socials or square dances. Instead, each character is adept at direct verbal confrontation with another individual or the group at hand. Peace is nowhere in sight. The posse is a threat to justice until the concluding duel has been fought. Only then is the posse finally satisfied. From the opening scenes when Vienna wears black, Nicholas Ray increasingly employs vivid colors in her clothing as the story unfolds. She wears an elegant white dress when the posse claims her, a sporty red blouse when she's on the run and a Sun-like yellow top (with red scarf) when she is forced to renounce her pacifism and fight. Ray seems to matches the luminosity of Vienna's colors with how vulnerable she is.(On an unrelated note, I wonder why the cabin hideout is only accessible by passing through a waterfall. Also, there are some interesting filming anecdotes describing how both Hayden and McCambridge both hated working with Crawford, with McCambridge battling her off the set as well as on.) "Johnny Guitar" is an entertaining study of mob rule that also upends many conventions of movie westerns, particularly by adding LBGT undercurrents. Cinephiles, regardless of how they prefer to receive horizontal refreshments, should ride fresh horses over to the revival theater showing it to experience Nicolas Ray's very unique western on the big screen.
