Johnny Guitar (1954)

Director:

Nicholas Ray

Writers:

Roy Chanslor (novel)
Philip Yordan (screenplay)

Release Date:

27 May 1954 (USA)

Genre:

Film-Noir | Western

Tagline:

Gun-Queen of the Arizona Frontier ! . . . and her kind of men !!!

Plot:

Vienna has built a saloon oustide of town, and she hopes to build her own town once the railroad is put through...

Plot Keywords:

Trucolor | Whiskey | Allegory | Saved From Hanging | Love Triangle

Cast

Joan Crawford	...	Vienna
Sterling Hayden	...	Johnny 'Guitar' Logan
Mercedes McCambridge	...	Emma Small
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
Ian MacDonald	...	Pete

Runtime:

110 min | West Germany:104 min (cut version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Trucolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Norway:16 | West Germany:12 (nf) (cut version) | West Germany:16 (nf) (original rating) | Iceland:12 | Argentina:16 | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:Approved (certificate #15815) | Canada:PG

Filming Locations:

Red Rock Crossing, Sedona, Arizona, USA

Company:

Republic Pictures (I)

Trivia:

Joan Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge fought both on and off camera. One night, in a drunken rage, Crawford scattered the costumes worn by McCambridge along an Arizona highway. Cast and crew had to collect the outfits.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the beginning of the film, when Johnny Guitar passes by the miners riding, his shadow is projected to his left side. In the next shot it is projected to his right side.

Quotes:

Vienna: If you remember, McGyvers gave me 24 hours to close. I drew out my own money, paid off my boys... and I'm closed. You can't buy a drink or turn a card. I'm sitting here in my own house, minding my own business, playing my own piano. I don't think you can make a crime out of that.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in C'era una volta il West (1968)

Soundtrack:

Johnny Guitar

Perverse and fascinating...

"Johnny Guitar" is a perverse and fascinating Western where sexual drive plays an important part in the story... It is known that Emma's madness/hysteria is a result of sexual repression... She detests Vienna, who has her choice of men, when the only man she can stir up herself is ugly Bart... And what is especially enraging for Emma is that while she is desperate for the Kid's love, Vienna, who now has Johnny back, turns the Kid away and still he doesn't stop being loyal to her... Even before Johnny returned to her life, Vienna had reached control over her sexual desires; but Emma hasn't such will power...

Johnny Guitar rides into a small town in the wilds of Arizona... He has been hired to work as guitarist by an aggressive lady of fortune, owner of a saloon-casino... Five years earlier they had been lovers, but he walked out on her, too restless to settle down...

There is a stage robbery, and a banker is killed... Emma Small (Mercedes McCambirdge), the dead man's sister, comes to Vienna's accompanied by the town marshal (Frank Farguson), and the wealthy rancher John McIvers (War Bond), and a bunch of vigilantes...

Emma and McIvers are determined to keep the area an open range for cattle... Emma also despises Vienna because the man she loves, the Dancin'Kid (Scott Brady), is attracted to her... She would rather see the Dancin'Kid dead than with Vienna, and tries to convince her companions that Vienna, the Kid, and the Kid's partners— stingy Bart (Ernest Borgnine), sickly Corey (Royal Dano), and young Turkey (Ben Cooper)—are responsible for her brother's death and should be hanged... Neither the marshal nor her ally McIvers will go along with her without real evidence, but McIvers orders Vienna and the Kid's gang to clear out the town...

That night, Vienna and Johnny admit they still love each lover... They agree to start again, but neither is certain the other can be relied upon... Vienna doesn't like Johnny's violent nature and Johnny is jealous that Vienna has had many lovers...

The following day, the Kid and his three companions decide to rob Emma's bank - figuring that as long as they are being forced to flee the area it might as well be for a genuine crime and not a stage robbery which they had no part in... The bank robbery takes place just as Vienna was withdrawing her money...

Joan Crawford wears black and packs six-guns... She makes all the decisions, initiates the action, and takes the majority of heroic stands—Privileges traditionally denied women in Westerns... Vienna dreams of a railroad and a new town... She wants to remain neutral, and sit and wait for the railroad to come and make her rich... She is at her best when she refuses to allow Emma and the vigilantes to arrest her for the murder of Emma's brother... She sees herself still in love with Johnny... She searches his face in every man she mets... Now she finds it hard keeping the peace between the two men who love her...

As Johnny Guitar, Sterling Hayden is a loner with a past... His character struggles to control hostile impulses... In fact, he begins with true explosion that occurs when he rides across the screen... Soon he finds himself compelled to strap on his gun again to protect his love...

Dressed in a black funeral dress, Mercedes McCambirdge is a highly frustrated Emma who constantly reminds the cattle people that Vienna is a foreigner, having lived in the region only five years... Appealing to their bigotry, she warns them that if the railroad comes through as Vienna plans, dirt farmers will push the cattlemen out of the territory...

As the Dancin'Kid, Scott Brady is a left-handed-draw, leader of a wild bunch, whose only desire is 'to leave the town so broke.' He tosses a coin into the air, promising Johnny Guitar he'll kill him if it turns out "head."

Nicholas Ray will be always remembered for "The Lusty Men," "Run for Cover," "The True Story of Jesse James," and "Johnny Guitar," his first film in color... With great skill, he makes a fantastic Western with two gun-carrying ladies in a showdown to-the-death...