Johnny Guitar
Nicholas Ray’s “Johnny Guitar” (1954) is surely one of the most blatant psychosexual melodramas ever to disguise itself in that most commodious of genres, the Western. Ray’s mesmerisingly strange western takes the stock idea of ranchers trying to keep out newcomers and turns it into a heady allegorical fable about xenophobic persecution centred on the sexual rivalries of saloon owner Vienna (Crawford) and repressed, vengeful and well-named harpy Emma Smalls (McCambridge). It’s a splendid, elemental drama ripe for feminist, Freudian and Marxist interpretation.
Director
Cast
Year
1954
Duration
1h 50m
Country
USA
Language
English
Captions [cc]
English [cc]
Studio
Paramount