Johnny Guitar (1954)

Joan Crawford is intense. Either as a kept mother or a saloon-owning entrepreneur, her glass-deer-in-headlights-look will either frighten you or keep you on the edge of your seat. Add to this glassy stare the claustrophobic feel of Nicholas Ray's direction (see his work in Bigger Than Life), and you have the benchmark non-Western Johnny Guitar. Crawford owned the rights to the story, wanted another middle-aged woman to take the secondary lead, but left angry when a younger woman was cast. This anger, either intentional by Ray or merely fate, solidified Crawford as a diva, BUT also added to the needed on-screen tension. To call Johnny Guitar a Western would be odd, because it lacks everything that underlines mainstream Westerns. Yet, it is. It is outlaws, it has bar brawls, it has nicknames, it has women, it has whiskey, it has gunfights, it has a hanging, and it has you rooting for the underdog. It has the elements, BUT again, is this a Western?

For those that love Joan Crawford, this is the role you have been waiting for. More man than woman, she controls every element of the screen. Even if she is in the background and other characters are developing plot, one cannot help but get lost in those big glass eyes, wondering what Crawford is thinking and understanding that she is capable of anything. She is the loose cannon in this film, and there is no telling what spark will set her off. Could it be the lacking noise coming from the roulette wheel? Or is that she merely wants to make a simple withdraw from the bank? Whatever the case may be, Johnny Guitar is impressive to watch because Crawford leads like Wayne would in any of his roles. Secondly, this is a film about women, a direction most Westerns put in the background. This entire movie is about two women and their need for power and the heart of one outlaw (who, in fact, isn't really an outlaw). The plot moves because these two independent women will not budge in their idea of place. Johnny Guitar surprised me because I was never sure what was going to happen next. Where was Crawford's mind? Why is she so angry? Is there real love here or merely a strong business plan? As the railroad approaches, our cast's dreams unravel, and the corrupt nature of scorned women becomes the dynamite to this story.

Yet, Johnny Guitar wasn't a favorite, while I had some favorite scenes in the film (the shot Ray sets up where Crawford is playing the piano as the local town mob bursts into her saloon is phenomenal), and I liked the roles of the women in a male dominated genre, overall, I just felt like Johnny Guitar suffered from having too much. The script was too witty. It is one of those films where the lines, the witty dialogue is fun at first, but within twenty minutes of this language it gets tedious. The banter becomes less original and more repetitive. I personally just got bored with it. Also, Johnny Guitar is a troubling title, while Peggy Lee's song is a great element to the film it isn't the theme song nor do we hear it until the very end. Our character of Johnny Guitar is also only a minor character, albeit the lead minor character, but seems randomly dropped in to fill in the gaps of the plot. There is one point of the film where he is missing for twenty minutes, yet the plot continues to progress. Was Johnny Guitar the most appropriate title? With miscast characters//actors, a missing soundtrack, and an emotionless (albeit uber intense) scene to scene, Johnny Guitar just had more going against it than for it. Crawford was the woman in a man's world, and wasn't afraid to get out of her burning dress and into a more comfortable pantsuit.

In a film lacking good guys (this is a movie purely about the evil with an evil), Johnny Guitar had more potential than you could imagine. The direction was outstanding, I eagerly await the opportunity to see Nicholas Ray's vision in another genres. What this film lacks is specifics. The writing seemed overwhelming and the characters seemed misused. Crawford's intensity was grand, and the way Ray uses that to tell the final chapter of a bigger story is impressive, but the secondary players just sat around and absorbed instead of being involved. In the end, Johnny Guitar just falls short. I hate to say that because I felt a bit of love to Ray's direction, but I just don't think that this lasts the test of time. With a shrug, I am giving this a pink mark - alas, not to be watched again, but at least suggested to friends and semi-family. Pro-women unite, this may be the western for you! Found in my "Defining Moments in Movies", the line "I'm a stranger here myself" from Johnny Guitar became Ray's life motto.

I wish I could muster a bigger "wow".