MovieChat Forums > Johnny Guitar (1954) Discussion > An Amazing Western

An Amazing Western

posted 15 years ago by plwblj
11 replies | jump to latest

This film & its image captivated me back in the 50's;

Today i marvel at the depth of the film which reaches different strata.

The music is more than superb and Peggy's vocal is sssssssssooooooo haunting;

The actors are ripe and you have a bushel-ful of tremendous character actors to boot !

The garish colour works !

Nice rugged scenery adds immeasurably and the Freudian stuff going on is unbelievable for that era !

Nick Ray directs w\ a vision and is a pioneer ...

This is an original piece of work and is a perfectly realized cult flic-and particularly exotic to me in which i have to revisit this filmic morsel as often as i dare >>>>

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] shandy8 15 years ago

I am a huge fan of westerns, and have always held Ray's 'Johnny Guitar' in a class of its own. It is amazing that many fans of westerns smirk and scowl when this masterpiece is mentioned.

I understand some of their points, but to discount it as a western is not valid. It is very much a western in every way.

See "High Noon" and "Once Upon a Time in the West", and "Man of the West" to see other movies that do not fit neatly into the genre but are considered classics.

I think it is disliked because it is a movie where women hold the power, and most of the men are impotent. Manly men can't take that stuff seriously.

"What do you want me to do, draw a picture? Spell it out!"

[–] funkyfry 15 years ago

also in this film, action is sublimated in favor of emotion.

Did I not love him, Cooch? MY OWN FLESH I DIDN'T LOVE BETTER!!! But he had to say 'Nooooooooo'

[–] Noir-It-All 15 years ago

Yes, the first scene, taking place in Vienna's saloon, was full of dialog and was quite long. Imagine a film with that feature being released today.

"Two more swords and I'll be Queen of the Monkey People." Roseanne

[–] plwblj 9 years ago

Class 'of it's own' for sure;

lots of dialogue but arresting at the same time...gender of the "gentler" kind is on display here but forceful and combustible at the same time !

[–] Bree_33 13 years ago

I love it for many reasons:
1.confusing subtext
2.rare exploration of gender roles,
3.powerful dominant female characters ...

I... I will begin again

[–] plwblj 12 years ago

Yes,very unique in the way the woman are portrayed and how they duel to the end !

It is really quite pathological ! {Hell hath no fury as a woman scorned}

The men appear to be background tableau for the gals to romp and fuss as they MAY

[–] nutsberryfarm 11 years ago

heard it's on tcm tomorrow.

The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.

[–] flanger216 8 years ago

Gosh, I envy you getting to see this first-run in a theater in the '50s.

I just saw this for the first time a few days ago, and it utterly blew me away. It's so far ahead of its time. The psychosexual undertow, the political subtext, the way it plays everything straight and as camp at the same time... It definitely belongs in that pantheon of wonderful outre westerns, though this one came out far earlier than the others I've encountered (stuff like "The Wild Bunch," "Once Upon a Time in the West," "The Hired Hand," "McCabe and Mrs. Miller," "Ulzana's Raid" -- all came decades later)...

Can't believe I went this long without getting into Nicholas Ray. "Bigger Than Life" might be the strangest movie I've yet seen from 1950's Hollywood, and "In a Lonely Place" instantly went into my top 10.

[–] plwblj 7 years ago

Nick Ray was versatile, unique-and, perhaps, iconoclastic..

[–] jdforyou1983 (1469) 3 years ago

I thoroughly enjoyed myself watching it

my rating 7.5/10