Review of Johnny Guitar (1954) by Mike P — 11 Sep 2011

Vienna (Joan Crawford) owns a saloon in an empty, desert valley of Arizona, adjacent to small town that doesn't like her too much. One day, her world comes spiralling down altogether within her saloon, when her ex-love Johnny Guitar (Sterling Hayden) comes back; her enemy (Mercedes McCambridge) makes a stink that local gunslingers slayed her brother; and the gunslingers themselves (Ernest Borgnin, Scott Brady, Ward Bond, Ben Cooper). Vienna is ordered to close shop and the gunslingers, who were innocent, decide to rob the local bank. The townspeople, thanks mainly to McCambridge, connect Vienna to the robbery and her brother's murder, and order that they all be killed.

I can understand why critics were repelled by this film's release in 1954 because it is bizarre. New York Times critic Bosley Crowther was particularly dumbfounded, calling the film "a fiasco." It is considered one of the strangest westerns, but it also undeniably entertaining and very exciting. Crawford has rarely been in better form as the rock-hard Vienna, and McCambridge gives one her greatest performances on reel. As usual, the cinematography for a western is gorgeous, along with the fantastic score and notable costumes. The ending is truly one a kind. It is a western that a viewer will love her hate, of which many hated back them, but it has gained greater appeal today. I personally adore this film.