Johnny Guitar (1954)
A western with an unflinching female protagonist, Nick Ray’s still-startling and richly resonant classic rewards on many levels.
Saloon-owner Vienna (Crawford) plans to profit from a new railroad, but Emma (McCambridge) – who harbours a passion for a prospector enamoured of her rival – has turned the local ranchers against her. When Vienna hires former gunslinger Johnny (Hayden) to work in her bar, the mix of fear and suspicion, jealousy and hatred becomes ever more explosive... A Freudian, proto-feminist response to McCarthy’s anti-red witch-hunts, Ray’s bizarre, beautiful, improbably moving blend of hot-headed horse-opera, tender love story, political allegory and elemental drama casts a mesmerising spell; its vivid performances, stylised sets, careful colour coding and aching score together conjure a dream drenched in primal emotion. Sheer magic.
USA 1954
Dir Nicholas Ray
With Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge
110min
Digital 4K (in NFT1, 2K elsewhere)
Certificate PG
A Park Circus release
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