Johnny Guitar is a cultish western with a feminist subtext. The climax is a shootout between two females.
It is a standard western with all the tropes of a western. One dominant, rich, landowning family and their hangers on who are bullying another group.
There is a robbery, a posse, a hanging and some bad lines. The film is melodramatic, even campy.
Sterling Hayden is Johnny Guitar who is hired to protect Joan Crawford (Vienna) his past lover. What people do not know that he is more than just a guitar player.
Vienna has a saloon and when the railroad arrives she hopes to get rich. Vienna has a volatile relationship with the local townsfolk, especially Mercedes McCambridge (Emma.) Emma is determined to see the back of her by hook or by gunfire.
Both it seems have a thing for the local bad boy The Dancing Kid. A bank robbery is the catalyst to sort out past grudges and Johnny Guitar might have to reveal his true identity.
McCambridge bristles with venom, she has more balls than the rest of the posse together as seeks to finish of Vienna.
Meanwhile Crawford is no slouch and here she reveals a vulnerable side, this is no arch, campy Joan Crawford. She gives the odd schlock look here or there but she rises to the acting chops despite the campiness of the script. Hayden provides sterling support.
It is a standard western with all the tropes of a western. One dominant, rich, landowning family and their hangers on who are bullying another group.
There is a robbery, a posse, a hanging and some bad lines. The film is melodramatic, even campy.
Sterling Hayden is Johnny Guitar who is hired to protect Joan Crawford (Vienna) his past lover. What people do not know that he is more than just a guitar player.
Vienna has a saloon and when the railroad arrives she hopes to get rich. Vienna has a volatile relationship with the local townsfolk, especially Mercedes McCambridge (Emma.) Emma is determined to see the back of her by hook or by gunfire.
Both it seems have a thing for the local bad boy The Dancing Kid. A bank robbery is the catalyst to sort out past grudges and Johnny Guitar might have to reveal his true identity.
McCambridge bristles with venom, she has more balls than the rest of the posse together as seeks to finish of Vienna.
Meanwhile Crawford is no slouch and here she reveals a vulnerable side, this is no arch, campy Joan Crawford. She gives the odd schlock look here or there but she rises to the acting chops despite the campiness of the script. Hayden provides sterling support.