Johnny Guitar

For the song, see Johnny Guitar (song)

For other uses of "Johnny Guitar", see "Johnny Guitar" (disambiguation).

Johnny Guitar
Original theatrical poster
Directed by	Nicholas Ray
Written by	Ben Maddow, credited to Philip Yordan Roy Chanslor (novel)
Produced by	Herbert J. Yates
Starring	Joan Crawford Sterling Hayden Mercedes McCambridge Scott Brady
Cinematography	Harry Stradling Sr.
Edited by	Richard L. Van Enger
Music by	Peggy Lee Victor Young
Distributed by	Republic Pictures
Release date	May 27, 1954 (1954-05-27)
Running time	110 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Johnny Guitar is a 1954 Republic Pictures Western film Drama film starring Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge, and Scott Brady.

The screenplay was based upon a novel by Roy Chanslor. Though credited to Philip Yordan, he was merely a front for the actual screenwriter, blacklistee Ben Maddow. The film was directed by Nicholas Ray and produced by Herbert J. Yates.

This was the last feature film produced by Republic Pictures in its Trucolor process. The film has been broadcast on American television, released in VHS and DVD formats, and adapted to musical theater.

In 2008, Johnny Guitar was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot

On the outskirts of a wind-swept Arizona cattle town, an aggressive and strong-willed saloonkeeper named Vienna maintains a volatile relationship with the local cattlemen and townsfolk. Not only does she support the railroad being laid nearby (the cattlemen oppose it), but she permits a suspected stage robber called The Dancin' Kid to share her bed, and his confederates to frequent her saloon.

Vienna's ex-lover Johnny Guitar, a reformed gunslinger whose real name is Johnny Logan, arrives at the saloon, renews his love for Vienna, and offers her needed protection. Life is cozy for the two until The Dancin' Kid and his gang rob the town bank. The townsfolk suspect Vienna has played a part. Led by the vengeful Emma Small, a cattle rancher who has long hated Vienna, the posse descends on Vienna's saloon and burns it to the ground. Emma persuades the men to hang Vienna, but at the last second she is saved by Johnny Guitar.

Vienna and Johnny escape the posse and find refuge in The Dancin' Kid's secret hideaway. The posse tracks them. The Kid and his men are killed. Emma challenges Vienna to a showdown. Vienna is wounded in the duel, but she manages to kill Emma. A halt is called to the bloodbath by the posse's leader, McIvers. Vienna and Johnny depart, hopeful that better days lie ahead.

Cast

• Joan Crawford as Vienna
• Sterling Hayden as Johnny Guitar (Johnny Logan)
• Mercedes McCambridge as Emma Small
• Scott Brady as The Dancin' Kid
• Ward Bond as John McIvers
• Ben Cooper as Turkey Ralston
• Ernest Borgnine as Bart Lonergan
• John Carradine as Old Tom
• Royal Dano as Corey
• Frank Ferguson as Marshal Williams
• Paul Fix as Eddie
• Rhys Williams as Mr. Andrews
• Ian MacDonald as Pete

Production notes

Jealous of a younger Mercedes McCambridge, Crawford fought but failed to have Claire Trevor cast in the Emma Small role. After filming, McCambridge and Hayden publicly declared their dislike of Crawford, with McCambridge labeling Crawford, "a mean, tipsy, powerful, rotten-egg lady."

Reception

Variety commented, "It proves [Crawford] should leave saddles and Levis to someone else and stick to city lights for a background. [The film] is only a fair piece of entertainment. [The scriptwriter] becomes so involved with character nuances and neuroses, all wrapped up in dialogue, that [the picture] never has a chance to rear up in the saddle...The people in the story never achieve much depth, this character shallowness being at odds with the pretentious attempt at analysis to which the script and direction devotes so much time."

The film is beloved of French critics and filmmakers, such as François Truffaut, who described it as the "Beauty and the Beast of Westerns, a Western dream". Truffaut was especially impressed by the film's extravagance: the bold colors, the poetry of the dialogue in certain scenes, and the theatricality which results in cowboys vanishing and dying "with the grace of ballerinas".

Spanish Director Pedro Almodóvar pays homage to the film in his 1988 release, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. His lead character Pepa Marcos (Carmen Maura), a voice artist, passes out while dubbing Vienna's voice in a scene where Johnny (voiced earlier by Pepa's ex-lover Iván) and she banter about their conflicted past. Almodovar's film also ends with a chase and an obsessed woman shooting at his lead character.

The Chicago Reader's Jonathan Rosenbaum lists Johnny Guitar as one of the 100 best American films.

Commentary

Many critics have pointed out that the film is a hidden commentary on the McCarthy witch-hunts. The film is certainly more than just a Western — Truffaut called it "a phony Western".

In an interview in the Criterion Collection version of The Killing, Sterling Hayden stated that he did not care for Johnny Guitar. "They put string, like you get at the grocery store, over my guitar in case I accidentally hit them," he said, acknowledging that "I can't play guitar, and can't sing a good-goddamn, either." "I was at war on that film, during the daytime, with Joan Crawford," he recalled, "and at night with my second wife." Despite his reservations about the film, Hayden acknowledged its popularity.

Adaptations

Johnny Guitar was adapted into a stage musical, which debuted Off-Broadway in 2004, with a book by American television producer Nicholas van Hoogstraten, lyrics by Joel Higgins, and music by Martin Silvestri and Joel Higgins. It starred Ann Crumb, Steve Blanchard, and Robert Evan, and was the recipient of the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical, as well as a nominee for the Lucille Lortel Awards and the Drama Desk Awards. The musical adaptation favored a more "camp" approach toward the material, which seemed to work in its favor, at least among the critics. The musical version was also staged in regional theaters across the United States.

In popular culture

• The title song, "Johnny Guitar", written by Peggy Lee and Victor Young and originally sung by Peggy Lee herself is a hugely popular song covered many times
• The song "Johnny Guitar" can be heard throughout the 2010 game Fallout: New Vegas.
• The guitarist of the band Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine had the stage nickname "Johnny Guitar".

External links

• Johnny Guitar Musical official website
• McCarthyism and the Movies
• Grant Tracey in images journal
• Burton in pif magazine
• Brian W. Fairbanks in angelfire
• Johnny Guitar at IMDb
• Johnny Guitar at the TCM Movie Database
• Johnny Guitar at AllMovie
• Literature on Johnny Guitar