A cult 50’s Western that’s colorful, melodramatic, surreal and mesmerizing
The railroad is coming soon to a town in northern Arizona where a tough saloon owner (Joan Crawford) faces off with a power-mad cattle baron (Mercedes McCambridge) over the Dancin’ Kid (Scott Brady) and more. Into this mix Johnny Guitar (Sterling Hayden) rides into town, a former love of the saloon proprietor. Who will be left standing when the ashes settle?
“Johnny Guitar” (1954) is melodramatic to the point of being surreal, not to mention implausible, but it's colorful, passionate, original and spellbinding. It's a Tarantino Western 40 years before Tarantino movies existed. The director, Nicholas Ray, also did “Rebel Without a Cause” (1955) so imagine that kind of overwrought 50’s melodrama translated to a Western, albeit in glorious color.
Despite the title, Crawford’s Vienna is the undoubted protagonist counterbalanced by McCambridge’s fiendishly neurotic antagonist, who might bring to mind the Wicked Witch of the West.
Interesting quirky bits are thrown in that enhance the picture, like the A-framed saloon built into the side of a cliff; Vienna’s piano recital in a bridal dress; and Old Tom (John Carradine) reading a book while on guard duty. Then there’s the mystery of why no one in the area would be aware of the secret passageway behind the waterfall that leads to the “hideout” curiously located on top of a rock mount plain for all to see.
I shouldn’t fail to mention Ernest Borgnine as a gang member of questionable character.
The film runs 1 hour, 50 minutes, and was shot in the Sedona region of north-central Arizona, including Oak Creek Canyon, with studio stuff done at Republic Studios in North Hollywood.
GRADE: A-