Legendary Joan Crawford

Home | Films | Biography | Photos | Ask Casey | Radio Days | Joan A to Z | Lucille Le Sueur Name Contest | Joan's Homes | Letters | Collecting Joan | Boutique | Links | News | About Me / Fans

johnnyscript.jpg

"I should have had my head examined. No excuse for a picture being this bad or me making it." ~ Joan Crawford on "Johnny Guitar."

johnnyppos.jpg

"Johnny Guitar" 1954


Cast: Joan Crawford ~Sterling Hayden~Mercedes McCambridge~Scott Brady~Ward Bond~Ben Cooper~Ernest Borgnine~John Carradine~Royal Dano~Frank Ferguson~Paul Fix~Rhys Williams~Ian MacDonald.

Director: Nicholas Ray

Producer: Herbert J. Yates

Costumes by Shelia O'Brien

Box Office Figures for "Johnny Guitar":

Top Grossing Film Position: Ranked #41 out of 163 films.

Gross Rentals: $2,500,000.


If you have seen this movie, please write a review below. Once your review is submitted, I will post the review below. Thank you for your review on this film.

Your Email Address:
How many stars would you give this film? Four being the best.
Your review/thoughts on "Johnny Guitar":
  

johnnyg.jpg

Reviews

Review: babyc22_5

Stars: 5 star

Review: This is one of Miss Crawford first western movies and I really enjoy, Joan as Vienna and Sterling Hayden as Johnny Guitar and Mercades McCambridge as Emma. This has to be a great movie for all action western fans. Vienna is my one of my favorite Crawford roles.

johnnystairs.jpg

Reviewer: writerdonna7

Stars: Four out of four stars

Review: "Johnny Guitar" is a Nicholas Ray western that has developed a cult folllowing, gaining its earliest avid appreciation in Europe among the New Wave directors like Francoise Truffaut and Americans like Martin Scorcese. Although not one of my favorite Joan Crawford films and although never particularly drawn to westerns, in general, "Johnny Guitar" is distinguished by several fascinating factors -- one being style, including creative use of color (Tru-Color was the method used, unnaturally vibrant and saturated) and the rhythm of scenes, and the other being the non-traditional gender roles and situations. Women here are in power and the men, by and large, although comprised of many "western" stereotypes like "the kid" and the strong, enigmatic and silent stranger (think "Shane"), essentially defer to them.

Crawford plays Vienna, the owner of a casino (supposedly won brick by brick through sexual favors, or so it is implied), who is maintaining her hold on a boomtown that promises greater expansion with the upcoming railroad. Her nemesis Mercedes Cambridge is Emma who loves the Dancing Kid and despises Vienna for having romanced him and also for supposedly being involved in a stagecoach robbery that took the life of Emma's brother. The hatred between the two women, which extended off-screen, is palpable, contributing an intense psycho-sexual drama to the plot. Crawford was beginning to take on her harsher "steel rose" look at this point, her lips done up in her mid-career signature red "smear" and with the film's saturated color, they do seem to leap from the screen. Like McCambridge, she, as a formidable force in a one-horse town, has taken on an appropriately "butch" look with short hair and is often shot from low angles. Without her usual high heels, she is tiny, but nonetheless mighty, her stance dominant in typical cowboy fashion, a holster slung around her hips. Exteriors show wide vistas of clay mountains in shades of rust and burnt orange, and interiors are steeped in the same clay colors with green and red, giving everything a rustic look. The characters wear colors significantly, too, with Emma and "boys" in, as Vienna puts it, "funeral colors" (black), as Vienna sports a flowing white dress when her enemies come to confront her. Johnny Guitar nee Johnny Logan (Sterling Hayden) is Vienna's former lover, come to town to help her against her adversaries; once a sure shot, he has traded in guns for a guitar. He wears pink.

Incredible scenes here include the conversation between Crawford and Hayden when they discuss their relationship, which is orchestrated to a sublime and perfect pitch. The dialogue below had me jumping in my seat in glee. The pair have completely exchanged a-typical gender dialogue; with Hayden's goofy sincerity and Crawford's steely detachment, it's a hoot:

Johnny: Don't go away.
Vienna: I haven't moved.
Johnny: Tell me something nice.
Vienna: Sure, what do you want to hear?
Johnny: Lie to me. Tell me all these years you've waited. Tell me.
Vienna: All those years I've waited.
Johnny: Tell me you'd a-died if I hadn't come back.
Vienna: I woulda died if you hadn't come back.
Johnny: Tell me you still love me like I love you.
Vienna: I still love you like you love me.
Johnny: Thanks. Thanks a lot.

The plot builds in intensity as the undesirables are targeted and intimidated, interpreted by many as an allegory for the McCarthy hearings in which fear of communism led to witch burning hysteria and testimony. To add to the oddness, the film culminates in a romantic clinch between Crawford and Hayden as Peggy Lee sings on the soundtrack. Not for all tastes perhaps, but definitely one of a kind and audacious.

johnnywheel.jpg

~~CLICK ON THE YELLOW STARS BELOW TO VOTE FOR THIS SITE!~~

p4stars.gif

Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include;

(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;

(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and

(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.

joan crawford picture joan crawford mommie dearest joan crawford biography joan crawford movie bio

<!--Begin SiteStats Code Dec , 38--><STYLE>.ivanC11654435781495{position:absolute;visibility:hidden;}</STYLE><DIV CLASS=ivanC11654435781495 ID=ivanI11654435781495><A HREF=http://freestats.com CLASS=ivanL_FR TARGET=_blank>FREE hit counter and Internet traffic statistics from freestats.com</A></DIV><script language='JavaScript' src='http://joancrawford.freestats.com/cgi-bin/sitestats.gif/script/11654435781495'></script><noscript><a href='http://joancrawford.freestats.com/cgi-bin/sitestats.gif/map'><img src='http://joancrawford.freestats.com/cgi-bin/sitestats.gif/img' border=0></a></noscript><!--End SiteStats Code-->

<html>
<body>

Page Content

<!-- Start of StatCounter Code -->
<script type="text/javascript">
var sc_project=2846823;
var sc_invisible=0;
var sc_partition=29;
var sc_security="e6c0de95";
</script>

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.statcounter.com/counter/counter_xhtml.js"></script><noscript><div class="statcounter"><a class="statcounter" href="http://www.statcounter.com/"><img class="statcounter" src="http://c30.statcounter.com/2846823/0/e6c0de95/0/" alt="counter create hit" /></a></div></noscript>
<!-- End of StatCounter Code -->

<body>
<html>