Rent Johnny Guitar (1954)

This Means Nothing to Johnny - Johnny Guitar review by griggs

Nicholas Ray, renowned for his celebrated Film Noirs In A Lonely Place and They Live by Night, took a captivating detour into the Western genre with Johnny Guitar. This film, at first glance, may seem like a typical Western, but upon closer inspection, it reveals all the hallmarks of a Film Noir—morally ambiguous characters, sharp dialogue, and simmering tension. If you strip away the dusty saloons and frontier landscapes, you might easily mistake it for one of Ray’s shadowy urban dramas. This unique blend of genres is what makes Johnny Guitar a must-see for any film enthusiast.

The title is misleading. Johnny Guitar, played by Sterling Hayden, is a supporting figure at best, strumming through the film while the real fireworks happen between Joan Crawford’s Vienna and Mercedes McCambridge’s Emma Small. Both women dominate the story, and their performances are full of venom and defiance. Yet, their contributions have long been sidelined by the title itself. Why call it Johnny Guitar when Vienna practically carries the entire film on her shoulders? It’s a curious choice that arguably erases the centrality of its female leads.

But what a film it is. This isn’t your standard Western shoot-’em-up. Ray boldly plays with the genre’s conventions, crafting something deeply psychological and subversive. Its themes of power, gender, and loyalty feel decades ahead of their time. You’d be hard-pressed to find another Western that bends the genre this much until the revisionist takes of the 1970s. This subversion of Western genre conventions is what makes Johnny Guitar a film that stands out and intrigues any film enthusiast.

Johnny Guitar stands out not just as a Western but as an essential film from the 1950s that refuses to conform, much like its central character, Vienna. It’s bold, operatic, and unmistakably Ray. For anyone who thinks Westerns are all the same, this is the film to prove them wrong. Its refusal to conform to the typical Western narrative is what makes Johnny Guitar a film that inspires and opens up new possibilities for the Western genre.