Vienna runs a casino in a remote western outpost but her prospects are looking up when the railroad plans to build in the area. However, she is not popular with the local cattle barons, who intend to run her off her land ...
Johnny Guitar is a much beloved and iconic little western, and a lot of fun to watch, mostly due to its snappy dialogue and sensational cast of wacko character actors. The script by Philip Yordan (from Roy Chanslor's book), is in some ways a laughably stodgy set of clichés - the small town railroad scam, the ostracised scarlet hussy, the good time gang with a den hidden in the hills, the mysterious stranger from the past, the gun-happy lynch mob - and it sometimes degenerates into awkward melodrama. In another sense however it's an extremely original, revelatory story about two powerful and indomitable women who defer to nobody and will stop at nothing to protect their interests. The idea of a western where uber-tough-guys like Hayden and Bond kowtow to the ladies and which culminates in an all-female gunslinger shootout must have been incredibly daring in 1954 and doesn't disappoint. Everyone is great, with Crawford and Brady never better, Hayden a classic hardball-chewing enigmatic dude, and Borgnine and Carradine both as excellent as ever. Best of all however is an incredible McCambridge as the zealous, repressed, cracking pint-sized bundle of fury that is Emma Small. If you're not familiar with McCambridge, check her out in Giant, Touch Of Evil or her legendary vocal performance in The Exorcist. She was an amazing actress who lead a fairly wild life and threw herself into her art, and she is just amazingly intense in this picture. There's also a great lurching score by the prolific Victor Young (featuring a memorable song coda by Peggy Lee) and the movie was shot on location in the rugged red sandstone mountain scenery of Sedona, Arizona. This is one of many great examples of an intelligent, original B-picture (it was one of the last hurrahs for Republic Pictures) which has long outlasted its more expensive contemporaries purely through the talent and tenacity of its makers.
Johnny Guitar is a much beloved and iconic little western, and a lot of fun to watch, mostly due to its snappy dialogue and sensational cast of wacko character actors. The script by Philip Yordan (from Roy Chanslor's book), is in some ways a laughably stodgy set of clichés - the small town railroad scam, the ostracised scarlet hussy, the good time gang with a den hidden in the hills, the mysterious stranger from the past, the gun-happy lynch mob - and it sometimes degenerates into awkward melodrama. In another sense however it's an extremely original, revelatory story about two powerful and indomitable women who defer to nobody and will stop at nothing to protect their interests. The idea of a western where uber-tough-guys like Hayden and Bond kowtow to the ladies and which culminates in an all-female gunslinger shootout must have been incredibly daring in 1954 and doesn't disappoint. Everyone is great, with Crawford and Brady never better, Hayden a classic hardball-chewing enigmatic dude, and Borgnine and Carradine both as excellent as ever. Best of all however is an incredible McCambridge as the zealous, repressed, cracking pint-sized bundle of fury that is Emma Small. If you're not familiar with McCambridge, check her out in Giant, Touch Of Evil or her legendary vocal performance in The Exorcist. She was an amazing actress who lead a fairly wild life and threw herself into her art, and she is just amazingly intense in this picture. There's also a great lurching score by the prolific Victor Young (featuring a memorable song coda by Peggy Lee) and the movie was shot on location in the rugged red sandstone mountain scenery of Sedona, Arizona. This is one of many great examples of an intelligent, original B-picture (it was one of the last hurrahs for Republic Pictures) which has long outlasted its more expensive contemporaries purely through the talent and tenacity of its makers.