Cult Classic or Just Plain Bad?

I thought it was a fairly entertaining western melodrama with some sharp dialogue, interesting use of Freudian symbolism and a for the time progressive attitude toward women. These elements alone however never really coalesced for me into this transcendent cinematic experience like it seems to for so many other people. I found it merely a well-done enough, enjoyable film like any other stagy romantic Hollywood actionfest of the period. All these other aspects like the women taking charge of most of the main action over the men, the villains all wearing black, the sly phallic references like that smart remark Johnny makes to the kid he out-shoots in the bar and so on feel more like clever tangential winks rather than anything that really uplift the whole piece into another realm entirely. I'm just not seeing what is either so hysterically, hilariously campy or what is blindingly brilliant, as hailed by the likes of the Cahiers du Cinema and Martin Scorsese about it. I dunno, Douglas Sirk and Anthony Mann do this sort of thing better for me in their own ways I guess.

I was much more impressed with The Savage Innocents and On Dangerous Ground though so don't take it as a knock (on any door) against Nicholas Ray or anything.

I was told about this great movie by a colleague at work who, like me, is a classic film buff and I am so grateful for his recommendation. I'm pretty sure that 'unique' was one of the adjectives he used to best describe the film and, boy, was he right about that.

I love this film and have probably watched it a half-dozen times since that first viewing a couple years ago. I think that whoever labeled it as western noir was spot on. The dialogue is sparkling. Sterling Hayden has some priceless lines that evoke, for me at least, his role in Asphalt Jungle a few years earlier.

The impressive leading female characters are certainly part of what makes this film so appealing and different from pretty much every other western I've ever seen. I mean, how many westerns end with a gunfight between two women? The confident, self-assurance of Crawford, in eternal conflict with the vengeful, loathsome, self-righteousness of McCambridge is cinematic gold. The offscreen animosity between McCambridge and Crawford is legendary, thoroughly palpable, and makes their on-screen conflict completely believable.

Add to this the wonderful supporting cast, beautiful soundtrack and location shots, and what we have is a high quality finished product that Nicholas Ray should have been more proud of.

Favorite lines:

'Down there I sell whiskey and cards. All you can buy up these stairs is a bullet in the head. Now which do you want?'

'You better stick to dancing, Kid. You'll live longer.'

'Like the man said: all a fella needs is a cup of coffee and a good smoke.'

'Spin the wheel, Eddie... I like to hear it spin.'

A class B movie. I can't believe she agreed to act in a western as just what she portrayed. What a waste of talent all around.

Well, here's the deal as far as I know it. Yes, this thing was an intentional deconstruction of the western. I mean, Joan Crawford IS John Wayne!! The final shoot out is between two women. Ray intentionally breaks the films fourth wall early on. And the dialogue is priceless. You picked one of the lesser ones. The best goes something like this: "I hear they call you Johnny Guitar." [pause] "Yep. I hear they call you the Dancing Kid."
"Kin you play guitar?"
"Yep. Kin you dance?"
In ANY normal western here's where a big shoot out would be. But here? Oh no! he plays the guitar and the other dances. It is totally surreal.
Ray knew what he was doing, which was poking his fingers in the eyes of the Industry :)

I've been wanting to see this for years and tonight I did. I was worried I might be disappointed. I was not.

I'd say a masterpiece. Admittedly, I can imagine that if I watched it in the right - make that wrong - company, I could mock it mercilessly, but I'll make sure that will never happen. I was spellbound from the first to the last minute. The dialogue is completely over the top but I've never heard so many killer lines. Mercedes McCambridge is truly evil, she scared me! Joan Crawford is chilling, too, in her way, but an amazing and admirable character. It's fascinating how the two between them drive the action forward. The guys play second fiddle here. Even Johnny Guitar, but then again Sterling Hayden always has awesome presence whatever he does. Don't even get me started on the overall look of the movie, the colours, I'm still stunned.

Have to add that I am completely serious about all this.

I either like something or I don't like it. How much I like things vary. If it's a movie, I usually know how I feel about it after watching the first quarter. It isn't something I ponder days after I've seen it! I'd hate to be like that with food or anything, actually. Warning! Warning! I'm having trouble computing whether I should like or dislike broccoli!

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You have to take in mind that this wasn't your normal western type of film, it is almost operatic in nature with the haunting dialogue spoken by the 2 main characters(female)
Even the star being a female was not the norm.
But the acting was first class in my opinion if you take into consideration it being
different than the norm.It rates as a classic and one of the best westerns by most serious western/film critics and i agree totally.Its without doubt a great film.