Johnny Guitar – Gejagt, gehaßt, gefürchtet (1954)

Johnny Guitar – Gejagt, gehaßt, gefürchtet: Directed by Nicholas Ray. With Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge, Scott Brady. After helping a wounded gang member, a strong-willed female saloon owner is wrongly suspected of murder and bank robbery by a lynch mob.

“I would love to know what prompted a studio executive in the early 1950s to green-light u0026quot;Johnny Guitaru0026quot;. Not that itu0026#39;s a worthless movie, but itu0026#39;s just so incredibly strange. Who thought that audiences wanted to see a Western where gun-slinging outlaws go by none- too-frightening nicknames like Johnny Guitar, Turkey, and the Dancinu0026#39; Kid? Where the primary plot interest isnu0026#39;t with the male characters, but with two antagonistic women played by Joan Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge? (And whose bright idea was it to bring Peggy Lee in to do the theme song?) Were the storyu0026#39;s parallels to McCarthyism enough to get this film made? Was Nicholas Ray a respected enough director that the studio approved this project of his? I donu0026#39;t know, but I certainly would like to.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOf course, nowadays u0026quot;Johnny Guitaru0026quot; enjoys a reputation as a camp classic that makes subversive statements about things like feminism and homosexuality. Traditional gender roles get reversed: Johnny (Sterling Hayden) is a relatively passive hero, while his love interest, saloon-owner Vienna (Crawford) is described as being almost more man than woman. And there are many campy, laughable moments: the sight of Johnny holding a teacup, Viennau0026#39;s poufy dress catching on fire, and most of McCambridgeu0026#39;s intense performance as the vindictive Emma Small.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn some sense, though, the movie doesnu0026#39;t go as far as it could. We hear about Viennau0026#39;s supposed masculinity more than see it: Crawfordu0026#39;s voice and mannerisms are much too refined to suggest any kind of manliness. Maybe this is part of u0026quot;Johnny Guitaru0026quot;u0026#39;s camp appeal, but otherwise Iu0026#39;d simply call it a bad performance. In another example of telling, not showing, the charactersu0026#39; convoluted psychology gets spelled out within the first fifteen minutes (e.g. Emma loves the Dancinu0026#39; Kid, but is so afraid of her own sexuality that she thinks she wants him dead). But wouldnu0026#39;t u0026quot;Johnny Guitaru0026quot; be even stronger, and more subversive, if Vienna were truly masculine? Or if the charactersu0026#39; twisted motivations were allowed to unfold naturally, rather than told to us from the start?u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWatching u0026quot;Johnny Guitar,u0026quot; you get the feeling that the filmmakers were trying to make a big thematic statement of a kind not usually found in Westerns. But the exact nature of that statement is never clear (thatu0026#39;s probably why this film is so tantalizing to modern scholars who want to decode its secrets). The result is a very bizarre, rather campy, completely unforgettable movie that hints at something more substantial, but never reveals what it is. Maybe if I knew the reason that this movie was initially made, Iu0026#39;d have a chance of figuring it out. But somehow I doubt even that would help much.”