269. Johnny Guitar (1954)

Running Time: 110 minutes
Directed By: Nicholas Ray
Written By: Philip Yordan, from novel by Roy Chanslor
Main Cast: Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge, Scott Brady, Ward Bond

RAY WEEK: PART II

Continuing right along with "Ray Week" (that's Nicholas Ray Week), we come to Ray's 1954 Old West offering of "Johnny Guitar" - a western starring Joan Crawford and Sterling Hayden, which I recorded off of Turner Classic Movies months (probably even years) ago.

Hayden is Johnny Logan a.k.a. Johnny Guitar, who, when the film opens, strolls into Vienna's, a saloon/gambling joint, to meet with the owner herself...Vienna (Crawford). Vienna is a strong woman who plans to capitalize when the railroad is built through the area. As the film opens, a lynch mob, lead by Emma Small (McCambridge) and John McIvers (Bond), storm into Vienna's looking for the culprits who pulled off a stagecoach robbery. They suspect The Dancin' Kid (Brady) and his cohorts, but when that gang swaggers in behind them, they deny having anything to do with it. Already some pretty combustible elements are put into play, as you have the lynch mob and the fiery Emma Small, Dancin' Kid's gang, with Ernest "Bart Lonergan" Borgnine in tow, Johnny Guitar, who wields a guitar in one hand and happens to be a pretty feared shot and Vienna, a tough cowgirl, played boldly by Crawford. When The Dancin' Kid's gang are accused of robbing the coach and ARE innocent, they decide that if they're going to be accused, they might as well actually do something to be accused for. So they head to the bank one morning and hold it up, planning to take the gold, buy some new horses and make way for California. Of course, all doesn't go as planned and all the combustibility that is originally introduced, comes to a head in the climax of the film.

SPOILER ALERT!!

Despite the seeming excitement of the plot, the movie is actually quite a drag. They introduce lots of fire early on and in my opinion, fail to deliver the goods, as the movie is never really building to anything particularly exciting. Westerns were never really my bag anyway and the few that I have liked from THE BOOK were, more than likely, just cases of being in the right mood, at the right time and the fact that those particular westerns hit the nail right on the head, in my eyes. In fact, I can only name a handful - three or four - things I actually liked about this movie and for your convenience, I now present them in list form:

1. The initial confrontation between Johnny and Bart, at the bar and the subsequent fist fight. Pretty great stuff and had they featured Ernest Borgnine a little more prominently, I may have taken to this better. Love that guy, can't wait to review "Marty".

2. The shot where the lynch mob storms into Vienna's to find her playing the piano. The tracking shot as Emma swings open the doors and the beautiful camerawork that follows, Crawford in her billowing white dress. Was it just me or did anyone else think that Turkey was hiding under her dress skirt?

And finally

3. The finale and of course I'm talking about the shoot out between Emma and Vienna, the beautiful backdrop behind Crawford's head, the bullet between The Dancin' Kid's eyes and Emma falling over the balcony of the lair.

That's about it. The rest of the film was kind of a drag and I didn't, in the least, buy Sterling Hayden as a cowboy. You have to understand that the only other two Hayden movies I've ever seen are "The Killing" and "The Asphalt Jungle" where, in both, he plays a crook. I've been conditioned to view his as a crook, not a cowboy. And while I'm on the subject of the cast, I really didn't like Joan Crawford as a cowgirl either. She played the role fine, with confidence and vigor, but I'd rather see Crawford in noir too and to be brutally honest, she lost a lot of her attractive qualities with short hair (or was her long hair just pinned up?) and wearing western shirts and blue jeans.

RATING: 4/10  I can't even get it to the average marker and Nicholas Ray is turning out to be a big disappointment. To be honest, that rating may have been lower if this hadn't been the first movie I watched AFTER "Too Early, Too Late", which in comparison would make ANYTHING look appealing. Next up for "Ray Week": "Rebel Without a Cause".

MOVIES WATCHED: 632
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 369

March 12, 2013  12:08am